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PRECIOUS STONES.
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Tavernier mentions a ruby, owned by the Shah of Persia,
which equalled a hen's egg in magnitude, and was bored through the centre. The large specimens which he describes as ornamenting the thrones of the Indian princes, as well as the immense ruby of General Wallenstein, obtained from the Bohemian mines, were balas, it is believed, and not true rubies. Several others of immense size and marvellous beauty, —
whether genuine or counterfeit has not been fully established, — are known in the literature of gems. The Devonshire ruby, though small, weighing only three or four carats, is considered the paragon among these precious stones for the beauty of its color ; this exquisite little gem is engraved with the figure of Venus and Cupid. The royal treasury of the Burman Empire is believed to
hold a remarkably large and beautiful ruby of immense value, but as it has never been seen by any European its character has been suspected. A ruby of great size cut as a Chinese idol captured at the sacking of Peking by the French, and purchased by the Duke of Brunswick, was valued at three thousand dollars, a very small sum for a genuine specimen. The jewels of Charles the Bold, lost at the battle of Grandson, comprised three rubies called the "Three Brothers," which have been thought to be spurious, besides two others, named "'La Hotte" and "La Belle de Flandres." James I. of England mentions a jewel known as the " Three Brothers " which may have been the same as the one lost by the Duke of Burgundy. The Herz collection included a necklace of rubies and emeralds linked together by twisted gold wire ; while Rudolph II. of Austria owned a ruby of gigantic size which had been purchased for one hundred and fifty thousand ducats, and bequeathed to him by his sister, the queen-dowager of France. The two most important rubies ever brought to Europe,
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