Search This Blog

Wednesday 20 September 2017

Ruby

Ruby is one of the traditional cardinal gems, together with amethyst, sapphire, emerald, and diamond.

Natural ruby crystals from Winza, Tanzania By Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com 

Synthetic rubies were invented in 1837 by fusing potash alum with chromium.

The 40th wedding anniversary was first associated with rubies in 1937 in a marketing priority by American jewellers.

The  famous 4lb, 8500 carat Liberty Bell Ruby, found in East Africa in the 1950s was stolen from a jewelry store in Wilmington, Delaware on November 1, 2011. The ruby is a 5-inch high sculpture made from one of the largest mined rubys in the world. It is valued at over $2 million.

The ruby was stolen in a daring heist. Four men entered the jewelry store and tied up the employees. They then used hammers to smash the glass cases and steal the ruby and other jewelry. The men escaped and have never been caught.

The Liberty Bell Ruby Wikipedia

The price-per-carat record for rubies was set during a sale of Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry collection. A ring set with a 8.24 carat gem sold for more than $4.2 million - $512,925 per carat.

The record was broken in 2015, a Cartier 25.59-carat Burmese ruby sold for a record £19.6 million ($30.33 million) at an auction in Geneva.

The largest ruby ever mined is the "Estrela de Fura," which is Portuguese for "Star of Fura." It was discovered in July 2022 at the Montepuez ruby mine in Mozambique. The Estrela de Fura weighs 101.23 carats in the rough, making it the largest gem-quality ruby ever discovered. It is also one of the most transparent rubies ever found.

The Estrela de Fura was cut into a 55.22-carat gemstone, which is now the largest and most valuable ruby ever sold at auction. It was sold for a record-breaking $34.8 million at Sotheby's in New York in June 2023.

Wisdom – and a wife of notable character – are more valuable than rubies, according to the book of Proverbs in the Bible.

A ruby pendant

Rubies are usually pink or blood red. The color of a ruby is due to the element chromium.

Rubies and sapphires are scientifically the same mineral, just different colors. Rubies are the red variety and sapphires encompasses any other color, with blue being the most popular and common.

The word ruby comes from ruber, Latin for red.

A naturally occurring ruby crystal

The Crown worn by Elizabeth II, has a Ruby which has been in the Crown's possession for 700 years and worn by King Henry V in the famous Battle of Agincourt of 1415.

Source Daily Mail.

No comments:

Post a Comment