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THE PRECIOUS CORUNDUM.
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been of the size of a half hen's egg and bearing an inscription.
A pink ruby used as a signet by one of the Persian kings was engraved with the motto, " Riches are the source of prosperity," while another seal of the same kind of gem bore the inscription, " Splendor and Prosperity." The best recent engravings on this stone are a head of
Louis XII. ; a fine specimen, belonging to the Queen of Great Britain; the head of Henry IV. of France, with the date 1598, in the Orléans collection ; a Venus Victrix, an Osiris, and a Gorgon's head, among the Devonshire jewels. The most approved form of cutting is the half-brilliant. The number of fine large rubies of undoubted genuineness
is small, few even of Indian origin exceeding twenty-four carats, though there are on record several gems of immense size reputed to be rubies. The largest of these are owned by Asiatic princes, while those belonging to the crown jewels of European sovereigns, those of Russia, perhaps, excepted, are generally small or of ordinary size. The large gems in the English crown regarded as rubies have been suspected of being spinels, and the same doubt has been raised in reference to those of some other countries. The fine ruby cut in the form of a dragon, of only eight and three-sixteenths carats, which adorns the Golden Fleece belonging to the French crown jewels, is one of the largest in Europe, according to King, decidedly known to be genuine, though this collection is said to comprise a specimen of seventy-three and three-sixteenths carats. Probably the finest collection of rubies, including some of vast size, belongs to the imperial treasury of Russia. The specimen presented to the Empress Catharine IL, claimed to be as large as a pigeon's egg, if it is genuine, is the largest ruby, without doubt, on the continent. Several of fine quality and considerable size are found among the crown jewels of Austria. |
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