In the scale of age vintage sits in between retro and antique. Antique is considered anything over a century old and retro is loosely defined as anywhere between 20 and 30 years back. This makes the vintage era today the 1920s-1960s. The 20s and 30s are a good and popular time period for vintage engagement rings. There was a lot of competition in the market and many creatively personalized designs were made.
A word of caution for anyone interested in a vintage engagement ring is these rings tend to be big and have a lot of gemstones on them. If your fiancee does not where a lot of jewelry or prefers more minimalist styles then you probably should consider a different type of engagement ring.
One of the most beautiful precious gems is the Ruby stone. It is a deep red colored stone that makes nearly everything around it pop out. They get their red pigment from the element Chromium and the most valuable rubies are the ones with the deepest colors of red. These are called pigeon blood-red.
The Ruby is one of the four precious stones. The others are Sapphire, Emerald and Diamond. It has a hardness of 9.0 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness and is only behind the diamond and moissanite. The majority of ruby minds are in Thailand but since World War 2 many mines have sprung up in the Carolina's of U.S. And recently Greenland.
It can be quite difficult to find a vintage ruby engagement ring. For starters, it is already much harder to find a vintage engagement ring compared to new ones. In addition, you are looking for a ruby stone which is also less common inside an engagement ring setting.
One good thing is that engagement rings from the 20s and 30s were known for incorporating many gemstones into their settings. If you are willing to stay traditional and have the diamond as the center stone then you will not have any trouble finding a vintage ring surrounded by rubies.
The best places to look is the internet via eBay or antique jewelry forums. You can also check with your locally owned jewelry and antique stores as they might have one. If they don't then there is a good chance that they can help track one down for you.