of a Tiberius' head, on white sapphire ; in St. Petersburg, and in the French museum.
Wahls
quotes a ruby of 436 carats ; and Furetière saw a ruby in Paris of 240
carats; and Tavernier quotes a ruby of half the size of an egg, with
the engraving of Scheik Séphy.
The
King of Aracan possesses a crystal of blue sapphire of an inch in
diameter ; and Sir Abram Hume possesses a distinct crystal of three
inches in length.
The star sapphire on the frontispiece, was formerly in the cabinet of Mr. Gilmore in Baltimore.
The large blue sapphire in Hunt & Roskell's case at the London Exhibition, was extremely beautiful, and the largest I ever saw.
The ruby-sapphire of the East India Company, in London, is certainly the largest in the world.
In the collection of Messrs. R. & S. Garrard & Co., in the London Exhibition, rubies were in great profusion— mostly set with brilliants and pearls.
The
price of rubies depends upon fineness and color; they are sold in the
United States at from three to twenty dollars per carat.
A
fine ruby is worth about the same price as a one carat diamond ; and a
two carat stone, if perfect, is worth more than a two carat diamond.
The
King of Pegu and the monarchs of Siam monopolize the fine rubies, as
the sovereigns of the peninsula of India have done the diamonds.
The
finest ruby in the world is in the possession of the first ; its purity
has passed into a proverb, and its worth, when compared with gold, is
inestimable.
The Subah of the Deccan is also in possession of a prodigiously fine one, a full inch in diameter.
The Empress Catharine, of Russia, possessed one ruby
