Ruby on marble (ex Dr. Stephen Small Collection)

Item Description

Ruby has a strange distinction in the mineral world, because although Ruby is known universally, it is incredibly difficult to find good quality specimens featuring superb quality crystals on matrix. You don't see many good quality matrix Ruby specimens from any locality on the market these days. This piece features a few attractive, fairly sharp, well-formed, hexagonal, purplish-red Ruby crystals measuring up to 1.1 cm associated with light green Mica on grey marble matrix. I would like to add that not only are the crystals on this specimen good quality, but they're 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 most well known and superbly crystallized examples of Ruby ever found. A good Ruby specimen from a locality that is not producing nearly as many good pieces as it did 15 years ago. Valued at $1,200 in the inventory. For reference, if this piece were from Mogok, Myanmar, I can say with certainty that the value would be higher, but because it's somewhat gemmy, so 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. Ex Dr. Stephen Smale Collection. Along with amassing one of the finest private mineral collections in the world, Steve is a renowned mathematician. His accomplishments include being awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 along with being the awarded the Wolf Prize in mathematics in 2007. You can read Steve's bio on the Mineralogical Record website ( https://mineralogicalrecord.com/labels.asp?colid=671&page=1 ) or on Wikipedia.