Ruby on marble

Item Description

Ruby is one of those minerals / gems that is truly known almost universally. Everybody has at least heard of a Rubies, though a lot of people probably don't have a good Ruby specimen in their collections, and it is incredibly difficult to find specimens featuring superb quality crystals on matrix like this piece. I would like to add that not only is the crystal on this specimen very fine, but it's also UN-REPAIRED, which makes it even more desirable, as many of them are often glued back on the matrix. The Rubies from Jagdalek are among some of the most well known and superbly crystallized examples of Ruby ever found. This specimen features a few remarkably sharp, very well formed, very lustrous, reddish-pink color prismatic crystals measuring 3.0 cm long sitting beautifully on a white marble matrix with minor dark colored associated Mica (likely Phlogopite). When backlit, some of the crystals light up with fiery color. A fine Ruby specimen from a locality that is not producing nearly as many good pieces as it did 15 years ago. Valued at $3,000 in the inventory. For reference, if this piece were from Mogok, Myanmar, I can say with certainty that the value would be higher, though it's gemmy enough that it probably would never have survived the mines and would have been faceted into a gemstone. It's important to keep this in mind when one is searching for a display quality matrix Ruby specimen.