Journey of a Ruby – The journey of an extraordinary 22-carat ruby from distant Bangkok to the Kobler studio in Zug

 

We would like to share the story of one of our latest finds with you.

It all began with an offer for an exceptionally large ruby, which we were told was completely untreated and weighed over 20 carats. It is May 2024, and flying to Asia for such an opportunity is nothing out of the ordinary for us at Kobler Zug. However, with over 20 carats, we feel a little more excitement than usual: what if everything works out? In other words, will we reach an agreement with the seller?

Before we give you an exclusive insight into this adventurous journey, we would like to clarify the following: even we jewellers very rarely see a ruby of this size. Now that we actually have the stone in our possession, it not only challenges our studio in terms of creating a piece of jewellery, but also our ‘marketing’. How much do we want to reveal, how many details do we want to disclose? We already have one or two interested parties in mind. Discretion can be crucial in a sale like this. However, we don’t want to deprive you of the experience, and above all the finalisation in the film with our unique and authentic image sequences.

Bangkok – global trading centre for gemstones
We do not receive any photos in advance, not even from our local employee in Bangkok, where we are kept up to date daily in our office about the finds in this precious region.

Bangkok is an important centre for the trade in gemstones, especially rubies. The city is known for its highly developed gemstone industry and its expertise in the processing and refinement of gemstones. Many of the rubies traded in Bangkok come from various countries, including Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Africa. As a global trading centre for gemstones, specialist dealers and experts on site offer support in verifying the authenticity and quality of the gemstones, making the city a popular destination for jewellers and gemstone enthusiasts – like us.

A slightly hopeful 1960s cut
We were informed in advance that what made this ruby special was that it had been worn in a ring for the last 60 years and therefore showed signs of wear. However, it was not so much the superficial signs of wear that might detract from the first impression, but rather the 1960s cut that did not bode well for us.

The journey from Bangkok to Zug
We immediately put our contacts to work, and suddenly everything happened very quickly. We got in touch with a cutter near Bangkok who had already breathed new life into a large ruby weighing over 14 carats in an impressive manner. At that time, she transformed the stone’s somewhat pale red colour into a pigeon blood red. This is only possible through the expert alteration of certain angles/facets and perfect polishing without exposing risky inclusions. This requires an incredible amount of experience.

Another challenge was to have the ruby recertified after cutting. Only then would we be certain of our assumptions, for example that it was untreated and its exact origin, etc. We were determined to obtain this certainty while still in Bangkok.

Of course, we conduct parallel tests in our own on-site laboratory and already had an accurate picture of the gemstone. But who else but Dr. Adolf Peretti, founder of the GRS Institute, GemResearch Swisslab AG (formerly at the Institute of Mineralogy and Petrography, ETH Zurich), could have provided us with additional support?

When our long-time friend and cameraman Max Hüttermann, who also produced the Namibia film with us, spontaneously agreed to come along, nothing could go wrong. We filmed everything throughout the entire time, regardless of the outcome of this story.

Over a total of seven days in and around Bangkok, we worked as a team from Kobler Zug with our cameraman to complete the schedule. After just a few hours, we were already glad we had brought Max along. We hardly noticed him. In the end, we had over 50 hours of footage. Max told us that this is called a ‘commercial documentary’.

We think the result is impressive. The ruby, with its spectacular size of over 22 carats, has now settled in well with us in Zug, and the question ‘What do we do with it now?’ occupies the Kobler Zug team every day and leads to exciting discussions with the goldsmiths.

Will it be a ring, a pendant, or will we leave it as it is and put it in our vault – as our very own investment, so to speak?

We don’t know exactly what this stunning stone has been through over the last 60 years, but it has been in our care since 13 May 2024. It is always a pleasure to admire it, so please come and visit us! We would be delighted to show you this jewel.

Of course, it has now also been DNA-marked and comes with an SSEF certificate in addition to the GRS certificate. Kobler Zug provides you, the end customer, with the complete package for this extraordinary ruby.

DNA marking for gemstones
The selected precious stones are treated in a specially developed process with physical DNA nanoparticles that attach themselves specifically to the gemstones. Recorded in the Provenance Proof blockchain, these nanoparticles provide their future owners with digital and irrevocable information about their traceability, similar to a register of origin. The exact time of discovery, the working conditions during the mining process, the transport route, the entire processing and production history, and the exact time of arrival at the end customer are all recorded. In addition, the blockchain logs all gemstone criteria, such as carat weight, colour, shape and treatment. This is the world’s first and most secure method of creating transparency for the gemstone value chain. We at Kobler Zug are pioneers in Switzerland and have already marked well over 700 precious stones with such a register of origin. We know exactly where our gemstones come from and how they are traded. This gives us a unique selling point in the jewellery and gemstone industry.

We look forward to telling you more about our work and the exciting stories behind our finds in person at our studio, and to presenting our latest treasure from Bangkok.