Myanmar, previously often known as Burma, has lengthy been a producer of a number of the world’s priciest gems: pigeon’s blood rubies. Recognized by their deep, pure crimson fluorescence with blue hues, they command larger costs per carat than any valuable stone on the worldwide market, except for coloured diamonds.

However political battle and commerce embargoes have made rubies from Myanmar extremely controversial for greater than a decade, creating difficult sourcing issues for jewelers. Many now purchase gems mined in neighboring international locations or in Mozambique — and routinely require sellers to supply detailed documentation that gems didn’t originate in Myanmar.

“As we speak, the mines of Myanmar are now not producing massive or gem-quality stones, however demand is excessive and provide very restricted,” stated Vincent Pardieu, a world-renowned subject gemologist, explaining that the federal government suspended mining licenses in 2016. “As we speak, 99 p.c of Burmese rubies discovered in the marketplace have been extracted many years, even centuries in the past.”

Rubies, together with jade, blue sapphires, spinels, peridots, aquamarines and a big number of different gems, are present in a wealthy geological arc straddled by Myanmar, Thailand, India, Pakistan and Nepal. However as mining has been comparatively uncontrolled for generations, the yield of gem-quality rubies within the area has considerably decreased.

“To search out high quality rubies in Myanmar now, you would need to mine in depths of over 600 meters, which is simply too troublesome to be worthwhile,” Mr. Pardieu stated, referring to a depth of round 1,970 ft.

Together with their rarity, “Burmese rubies have a particular historic enchantment, like sapphires from Kashmir or emeralds from Colombia,” stated Laurent Decque, director of Imagem, a gemstone vendor in Paris. “There’s quite a lot of fable round their origin, which makes them extra fascinating, regardless that Mozambique rubies are arguably extra lovely.”

But the Mozambican deposits weren’t found till the mid- to late-2000s. “In the event you checked out gemology books predating 2014,” Mr. Pardieu stated, “you’ll discover no historical past on ruby mining in Mozambique. Elizabeth Taylor or British royalty by no means wore Mozambique rubies, so there isn’t a glamour related to them.”

And that lack of attract is mirrored in costs. François Garaude, a gemstone vendor in Paris, stated, “A rare Burmese ruby of 10 carats or extra can value anyplace from 5 to 10 million euros per carat in the present day,” or the equal of $5.7 million to $11.4 million.

“A comparable ruby from Mozambique trades for 10 instances much less,” he stated.

Vital Burmese rubies fetch equally excessive costs at public sale. On Nov. 9 in Geneva, Christie’s offered a Burmese ruby and diamond brooch by Van Cleef & Arpels for 4.17 million Swiss francs, or $4.5 million. The sum was virtually seven instances the piece’s excessive estimate of 600,000 Swiss francs.

“Sourcing good rubies has at all times been a problem,” François Graff, chief government of Graff, wrote in an e-mail.

“Very uncommon and troublesome to obtain, Burmese rubies are primarily present in property items,” he stated. “It’s not uncommon for us to purchase and promote the identical rubies many instances over.”

In 2006, Mr. Graff’s London-based firm paid $3.6 million for an 8.62-carat pigeon’s blood Burmese ruby and offered it to a shopper. In 2014, when the identical stone returned to public sale, Graff paid $8.6 million for it, greater than double the unique quantity.

Some jewelers, nonetheless, select to not deal in Burmese rubies to keep away from enterprise connections with a rustic the place the military, often known as the Tatmadaw, has repressed residents, notably ethnic minorities, since independence in 1948.

In April, for instance, the U.S. Treasury Division positioned a number of entities associated to Myanmar’s mining ministry on a “Specifically Designated Nationwide” record, barring U.S. corporations from buying and selling with them.

And between 2008 and 2016, a legislation banned rubies from Myanmar from getting into the US.

“These measures are ineffective as a result of there are at all times intermediaries,” Mr. Garaude stated. “Additionally, the most important marketplace for Burmese rubies is China, and so they don’t have any downside with Myanmar.”

Nonetheless, with shoppers more and more demanding transparency concerning the provenance and provide chains of the merchandise they purchase, geographic origin has change into a central subject for some jewelers.

“Cartier won’t purchase or promote rubies from Burma for moral causes,” stated Jacqueline Karachi-Langane, inventive director for Cartier’s Status division. “We are actually taking a look at new sources like Mozambique, which has distinctive rubies with a purer crystal and fewer inclusions than in Burmese rubies.”

Cartier’s Phaan ring, a spotlight of the jeweler’s Sixth Sense excessive jewellery assortment offered in June, featured an 8.20-carat ruby from Thailand set atop a 4.01-carat white diamond in a stacked building designed to accentuate the ruby’s coloration.

“There are only a few rubies from Thailand in the marketplace in the present day, however this one had a uncommon coloration density, very near Burmese, and an attention-grabbing violet streak,” Ms. Karachi-Langane stated.

Cartier, a part of the Richemont group that features Van Cleef & Arpels and Piaget, is a member of the Accountable Jewelry Council, which units transparency requirements for the availability chains that serve the jewellery and watch industries.

It is also a part of the Coloured Gems Working Group, an alliance created by Chopard, Gemfields, the Kering and LVMH teams, the Muzo Firms, Swarovski and others, to make sure accountable sourcing of uncooked supplies for the jewellery business.

To hint the origin of the stones it buys, Cartier — like lots of the jewelers headquartered on Paris’s Place Vendôme, the worldwide middle of haute joaillerie — requires a number of studies from dependable gemology laboratories.

“For stones valued over $500,000, the jewellery maisons require two lab studies from their selection of three trusted labs,” stated Mr. Decque of Imagem. “If a lab makes errors or produces a pretend report, it’s shortly discredited. As sellers, we can’t danger shedding a shopper by supplying unreliable studies.”

Testing on the French Gemmological Laboratory in Paris, for instance, is performed with out details about a gem’s proprietor or the stone’s mining historical past.

“We subject an evaluation report,” stated Aurélien Delaunay, the laboratory’s director, “based mostly on in depth testing utilizing state-of-the-art gear to establish the character of the stone, any therapy to reinforce its coloration, and its geographic origin.”

Nonetheless, and not using a direct and trusted chain of custody from the mine to the testing lab, figuring out a gemstone’s origin is a judgment name. “Solely the miner and God know for sure the place a stone was extracted,” Mr. Pardieu stated.

Stefanos Karampelas, the French lab’s chief gemologist, stated: “Origin is a matter of opinion based mostly on our judgment and expertise. We come as near the reality as potential.”

“The issue is that frontiers are porous relating to gems,” Dr. Karampelas stated. “If there is a matter with one nation, a stone could also be labeled from its neighboring nation. This occurs with rubies, or with emeralds from Afghanistan, if the market has an issue with the Taliban.”

As a result of there aren’t any legal guidelines or laws requiring a ruby transaction to incorporate a lab report, it’s as much as a purchaser to inquire concerning the stone’s origin.

“We’re not the gem police,” Mr. Delaunay stated. “Our studies are absolutely clear so shoppers know what they’re paying for.”