Myanmar is a country full of mystery and seduction in the minds of people, particularly because of its abundant resources of precious stones and jades, which fascinate innumerable jewelers.
Myanmar has discovered and used approximately 50 different types of precious stone resources, including the world-renowned ruby, sapphire, emerald, as well as amber, peridot, moonstone, spinel, and so on.
Today, we’ll take you to Myanmar to admire the native precious stone specialties.
Ruby:
Ruby, the world’s most renowned king of colorful gemstones, is also the July birthstone; its fiery red hue is always associated with passion and love, and it is regarded as the “stone of love.”
Myanmar rubies have long held the top spot in the ruby world. Until the 1960s, the two main mining sites of Mugu and Monsoon were the principal producers of high-quality rubies, accounting for 90% of the world’s rubies.
Mugu：
Mugu is the market’s oldest and largest provider of high-quality rubies, and the rubies produced here are pigeon’s blood colored, hence the term pigeon’s blood red, the king of rubies.
The color of matcha ruby is typically irregularly dispersed, with flocculent, lumpy shapes of varied intensity.
It also exhibits a fluid, swirling pattern, also known as the “honeyed” structure. Originally, this structure was utilized to determine the origin of Matcha rubies from Burma.
Silky luster:
Rutile, calcite, dolomite, spinel, chrysoberyl and other minerals are also found in Matcha rubies.
Among them, rutile inclusions, the needle body is small, each other for 60 ° angle directional arrangement. Due to the interfering effect of rutile on light, the surface of the finished gemstone often shows a colorful luster, i.e. “silky luster”.
Montsou:
In contrast to the long-established Mogok mine in Myanmar, Montsou was discovered in the 1990s as a ruby producer.
The rubies from this area are well shaped and have a predominantly purplish-red and maroon color, with distinctive bands and color zoning in most cases.
Montsou rubies, like Matcha rubies, are rich with solid inclusions such as white micas, rutile, fluorite, spinel, apatite, and so on, with white micas being the most prevalent.
Fluid inclusions are more abundant in Montsou Ruby than solid inclusions, and the majority of them are pseudo-secondary “feather cracks” or “fingerprints.”
Myanmar ruby resources have become increasingly limited in recent years as mining areas have expanded, and auctions of high-quality rubies from Myanmar can easily cost tens of millions of dollars.
Sapphire:
In addition to rubies, Myanmar’s Mugu and Montsou mines are also traditional sapphire producers.
Mugu sapphires are exceptionally clear, of high quality, and come in a variety of colors, including blue, pink, green, and purple.
The best blue sapphires, known as “royal blue,” are even similar to Kashmir sapphires.
Although the color and quality of Mangsoo sapphires are not as beautiful as those from Mugu, they are produced in vast quantities and became Myanmar’s leading sapphire producer in the mid-1990s.
Burmese Sapphire Characteristics:
Burmese sapphires are abundant in solid mineral inclusions, the most prevalent of which is rutile, with needle-like rutile of varied lengths scattered in a directed pattern.
The majority of them are short to medium in length, but others are longer and run throughout the stone.
Bicrystals are very well developed in Burmese sapphires, with one or two groups of bicrystals.
“Double-sided hollow tubes” are common, and some sapphires have “bell-shaped” healed cracks.
Jadeite:
Jadeite is a pyroxene-like mineral aggregate composed of a variety of fine minerals, predominantly steatite.
Currently, it can be found in Japan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Guatemala, and Burma.
Among them, jadeite from Myanmar is especially recognized as the orthodox jadeite.
Myanmar jadeite:
The jadeite here is spicy, high water, colorful, and the reserves are very rich, ranking first in the world, more than 95% of the world’s commercial jadeite are produced here.
Myanmar Jadeite deposits are located in the upper and middle reaches of the Misty Dew River in the northwest of the Magu Valley in northern Myanmar, divided into the Hau Giang Mining Area.
The Pagang – Daw Mao Mining Area, and the Maguang Mining Area, with the Pagang – Daw Mao Mining Area being the largest and most famous, and also the oldest mining area.
Two basic indicators:
The color and species are the two most important factors in determining the quality of Jadeite.
Colorless, green, purple, yellow, and color combinations are all available in jadeite. Green is the most popular of these colors.
The green color can be further classified into emperor green, sunny green, yellow sunny green, apple green, light green, blue green, oil green, and so on due to the varying amounts of Cr, Ti, Fe, and other elements.
How to distinguish top grade jadeite:
Pay attention to the following characteristics of top Myanmar “emperor green” jade: thick, Yang, positive, uniform, not only dazzling color, strong stiffness, and light that is one of the hundred miles good.
And Yang green, full green jade, most of the light will be presented after the white cotton flakes of the silk pull.
“Seed” refers to the density and thickness of the crystal, which is basically classified into bean seed, sticky seed, ice seed, glass seed, glass seed texture is delicate, clear and faultless, fluorescence visible to the naked eye, is the best of the jade, natural price.
Bean seed:
fine particles visible to the naked eye, opaque.
Glutinous species:
more delicate, the naked eye does not see particles, basically opaque.
Ice glutinous species:
slightly translucent, between ice and glutinous species.
Ice seed:
like ice, translucent.
Glass seed:
like glass, translucent and bright.
Myanmar’s jewelry law:
According to Myanmar’s jewelry law, the raw jadeite stones extracted from these mines are forbidden to be traded privately.
Only after public trading can they be processed, transported and sold at home and abroad, otherwise they will be considered illegal.
However, in recent years, affected by the escalation of the civil war situation in Myanmar and other factors, the Myanmar jadeite public market is not opened according to the rules.
The supply of raw jadeite stone has essentially halted, yet customer demand is extremely high.
Some high-quality top-grade jadeite is frequently auctioned for tens of millions of dollars, or even more than a hundred million dollars, and the auction has routinely set new records.
Spinel:
Spinel, as a colorful gem in the new “dark horse,” became the world’s best “impostor,” once set in the Russian tsar’s crown, the British imperial crown above.
Currently, the majority of the world’s spinel production is concentrated in Burma, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Afghanistan, and other countries.
Myanmar is the world’s most well-known spinel producer, with deposits primarily in the Mugu and Myitkyina regions.
Mogok is the greatest known source of pure red spinel in small to medium particle sizes, and the majority of the spinel produced here is gem grade.
The hue is rich and intense, ranging from red to orange-red, pink to purplish-red, and lacks a “velvety appearance.”
Mudani spinel :
Mudani spinel from Myanmar is distinguished by a large number of calcite and apatite mineral inclusions as well as octahedral negative crystals. Inclusions of hard gypsum, magnesite, feldspar, and magnesium silicate can also be found.
In the Myitkyina region, there are two deposits: the Yewadi deposit and the Namia deposit. The Namia deposit is well-known for generating the “Jedi Knight” spinel.
Jedi Knight:
In recent years, “Jedi Knight” spinel has eclipsed red spinel in the world, and its price has skyrocketed.
In addition to merchants and market supply and demand, the Jedi Knight is pricey. Its own benefits are also completely worth the price: Ultra-saturated hot pink, strong neon sensation, and vivid hues with no dark spaces.
Because pure color “Jedi” spinel manufacture is extremely rare, the color clarity cut a bit better Jedi spinel carat unit price of tens of thousands (excellent quality considerably more).
Moonstone:
Moonstone is also known as “moon feldspar” or “moonstone” because “moonlight cold as the autumn moon” gave rise to the term.
The most well-known gemstone in the feldspar group is moonstone, which belongs to the feldspar family. The stone is named after the blue-white halo that hovers on its surface during rotation.
The majority of moonstone is mined in India, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar. Burmese moonstone and Sri Lankan moonstone are both good in terms of qualities, with somewhat better crystals. Some high quality moonstones feature blue halos and are more popular in the market since they are vitreous and largely perfect.
Peridot:
Peridot is a green stone with a yellowish tint with a unique name: “dusk emerald,” sometimes known as “evening primrose emerald.”
It was found around 3,500 years ago in ancient Egypt. It was later discovered in Myanmar’s Mugu area and the American state of Arizona.
Myanmar’s Mugu area is one of the world’s leading suppliers of gem-quality peridot. Peridot of good grade from Myanmar has less yellowish tones and a greenish tint, making it appealing.
Due to the abundance of ferrous ions, the color of peridot here is more vivid than in other regions, making it a rare variety of peridot. In particular, peridot with a rich, fruity green color commands a high price.
In addition, the peridot crystals here are quite large, producing large stones of high quality, with faceted stones weighing more than 100ct.
Amber:
Amber is an organic combination created by geological activity from the resin of the Pinaceae plant from the Mesozoic Cretaceous period to the Cenozoic Tertiary period.
The finest amber is completely translucent and flawless.
Characteristics of Burmese amber:
Myanmar is one of the world’s leading producers of amber. Burmese amber, unlike Baltic amber, is mined amber that formed between 80 and 100 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, making it one of the world’s oldest ambers.
Burmese amber is classified into four varieties based on its transparency and color: golden amber, brownish-red amber, blood amber, and root amber, with brownish-red amber being the most prevalent.
Brownish red amber is golden brown or brownish red in color, transparent to translucent, and typically contains brownish-red cloud-like particles or flow patterns.
Part of the brown red perth has a slight purple or purple-red color in daylight; when exposed to ultraviolet light, the surface turns blue, but the cast light remains brown-red; this type of brown red perth is also known as violet perth.
