Burmese Ruby Inclusions

First Published: 7 September 2026

Burmese Ruby Inclusions

Explore Burmese ruby inclusions in Hyperion, the Lotus Gemology inclusion database. Hyperion contains photomicrographs of inclusions and internal features in natural rubies from Myanmar (Burma), documented with information on treatment, lighting conditions, field of view, photographer and published references.

This necklace of ruby beads from Mogok, Burma was high-temperature heat treated. The treatment was easily unmasked by examination in short-wave ultraviolet light, where the beads displayed a characteristic zoned chalky red fluorescence.
A large, polysynthetically twinned calcite crystal lies trapped in this ruby from Myanmar’s Mogok Stone Tract. Twinned calcite crystals are often seen in Burmese rubies, which formed in a calcite (marble) matrix.
Deep blue core and diaspore silk within an unheated ruby from Mong Hsu, Burma. Heat treatment is typically performed to remove this blue color. Its presence suggests the stone has not been heated.
A fingerprint within a rare untreated ruby from Mong Hsu, Myanmar. Most Mong Hsu rubies are heat treated, often with flux, and the individual negative crystals within the fingerprint become more rounded.
Stepped growth on the surface of a natural ruby crystal from Mogok, Burma.
This bubbly fingerprint in a Mong Hsu (Myanmar) ruby has been altered by heat-treatment with flux.
Flux-healed fissure in a heated ruby from Burma’s Mong Hsu area.
A natural fingerprint hovers above a blue color zone in this rare, untreated ruby from Mong Hsu, Myanmar.
Low iron rubies (and pink and padparadscha sapphires) from localities like Mogok, Mong Hsu (Myanmar) and Sri Lanka will often display chalky zones in shortwave ultraviolet. Here we see an excellent example in a heat-treated ruby from Mong Hsu. This fluorescence is positive proof of heat treatment.

Burmese ruby inclusions may include mineral crystals, rutile silk, healed fissures, fluid inclusions, negative crystals, growth features and other internal features formed during or after crystal growth. Such features are important to gemologists because they can provide evidence useful in identifying ruby and evaluating a possible Burmese origin.

Burmese Ruby Inclusion Photomicrographs

The Hyperion Burmese ruby gallery includes microscopic features documented in rubies from Myanmar (Burma). Each entry is accompanied by descriptive information and, where available, references to the gemological literature.

What Inclusions Can Reveal About Burmese Ruby

Inclusions are an important part of geographic origin determination in ruby. Their form, composition, orientation and associations can provide evidence that, when considered together with other gemological properties, may support or contradict a Burmese origin.

Hyperion combines inclusion photomicrography with supporting gemological information so that individual features can be compared with documented examples from Burmese rubies.

About Hyperion

Hyperion is the Lotus Gemology searchable inclusion database. It allows users to browse gemstone inclusions by gem type, geographic origin, treatment and keyword.

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