The Price of Ruby
As
the Burmese kings did not allow rubiea to go out of Burma, they were
more valuable than diamonds. In 1880, rubies under 1/2 a carat if
English cut, cost from £4-£10, and if Indian cut cost from £l-£4.
Stones of greater weight than 4 carats, being rarities fetched fancy
prices. Rubies with flaws and specks or only having silky or milky
appearance or pale in colour have low prices. A pale ruby of 4 carats
might be worth less than £12; spinels, balas rubies and garnets have
been parsed off as rubies. Rubies of a fine colour and which are clear
and flawless are very valuable and cost as much as Rs.4,000 per carat.
Sapphires are less expensive and may cost from Rs.20 to Rs. 400 per
carat.
Marvellous and Medicinal Powers attributed to
Ruby
Superstitions
even amounting to stupidity played a great part in the attribution of
the marvellous, properties of precious stones. The ancients used a
powder of rubies, topaz, emerald, sapphire and hyacinth as a medicine
of great value. ' The physicians used to pocket the real gem by
substituting false ones in their places. The ruby used internally or
externally was an antidote to poison and plague. It drove away sadness,
evil thoughts and wicked spirits. It was used as an amulet against all
illness. It would warn the wearer of the approach of any misfortune, by
a change of colour to blackness and would recover its brightness after
the peril passed away.
Occurrence
Corundum
is composed of aluminium and oxygen, and when they combine with silicon
form alutnino-silicates, which make up half of the earth's crust. So
corundum cannot occur in a rock that contains an excess of silica, but
can in a rock with an excess of alumina over silica.
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