Based on the Natural Ruby Company’s (NRC) inventory, a ruby wedding ring will usually cost between $1,000 and $6,000 USD. The price will fluctuate based on ring size and the potential resizing and redesign of the ring.
This pricing is not to be confused with ruby engagement rings, which can have huge rubies as the center stone and can easily exceed the cost of the mortgage on most houses. Based on the NRC inventory of what has been made and is ready to ship, the price of ruby engagement rings can vary even more drastically.
J7419 | medium | play
Jewelry ID: J7419
Ring Size: 7.00
Metal: 14K White Gold
Price: $ 600.00
J2542 | medium | play
Jewelry ID: J2542
Ring Size: 6.00
Metal: Platinum
Price: $ 155,000.00
Only small rubies are used for wedding bands, in order to match the profile of the band and to sit comfortably on the finger. This means that the rubies are priced relatively low versus the cost of setting them into the ring. Even if the quality is high, the small carat weight significantly reduces the price of the rubies. Furthermore, the actual price of the metal is so low in comparison to labor costs that the wedding bands end up grouped by style when sorting their prices.
The white and yellow gold is priced the same, however the platinum does cost more. At this size however, the total price difference is $49.23.
When working lots of small gems into a pave setting (multiple small gems matched together) like the examples above, as much as 90% of the cost goes towards the labor of matching and setting them. I specify matching the gems because rubies come in a whole range of colors with different hues, tones, and saturations. This makes finding ones that match each point on the three different scales of color an arduous process. The second labor compensation is setting all these rubies, which depends on the number being set and how difficult the process is.