Corundum var: Ruby on marble

Item Description

Ruby is one of the most historically famous gem minerals (more specifically its the pink/red variety of the mineral Corundum), and is renowned for its beauty and rarity. Everybody has heard of Ruby, but I will point out that it is incredibly difficult to find specimens featuring sharp, well-formed crystals on matrix. The crystal on this specimen good quality, 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 Jagdalak are among some of the better / well-crystallized examples of Ruby ever found, with beautiful color and crystallization. I would say that only the Rubies from Mogok, Myanmar are better, which can show the finest red hues . This specimen features a sharp, very well formed, lustrous, rich reddish-pink color trigonal crystal measuring 2.0 cm long sitting beautifully on a soft grey-white marble matrix. The front of the crystal is incomplete due to some embedded marble, but it's still a very good Ruby specimen from a locality that is not producing nearly as many good pieces as it did 15-20 years ago. For reference, if this piece were from Mogok, Myanmar, I can say with certainty that the value would be higher, and because it's somewhat gemmy , it may not have survived the mines and might 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.