| What fairy tales of enchanted princesses and | | | | is known as Pigeon Blood. This is the color of |
| legendary lore of the Arabian Nights does not the | | | | arterial blood. The ruby has always been greatly |
| mere mention of the ruby conjure up to our | | | | admired, and many say that the ruby in the |
| imagination! No stone has been more intimately | | | | British Crown is the most beautiful gem they |
| connected with poetry and romance, and few | | | | have ever seen. |
| gems can compare either in beauty or value with | | | | The ruby is found in limestone deposits on side |
| a perfect ruby. When Solomon exclaimed that "a | | | | hills, but the largest quantity is found in alluvial |
| virtuous woman was more valuable than rubies," | | | | deposits of gravel and clay in riverbeds. These |
| and Job, that "the price of wisdom is above | | | | deposits are about fifteen to twenty feet below |
| rubies," they both mentioned what to them was | | | | the surface and from a few inches to five feet in |
| the most valuable thing in existence. And its value | | | | thickness. This material called "byon" is mined or |
| and rarity have not decreased since their time. | | | | removed and put through a washing process by |
| Today a perfect ruby of five carats will fetch at | | | | which the rubies are recovered. |
| least five times the value of a diamond of the | | | | The genuine ruby is gotten from the mineral |
| same size and quality, while rubies without flaw or | | | | known as corundum. Emery, so much used, is an |
| blemish, and of the true pigeon-blood variety, | | | | impure form of corundum. The superbly blood-red |
| weighing as much as ten carats, are so rare and | | | | color of the perfect ruby is produced by the very |
| valuable that ten times the value of a perfect | | | | tiny portions of impurity in the substance after |
| diamond would be considered a very low price to | | | | they have been crystallized by Nature's wonderful |
| pay for so perfect a gem. | | | | processes. All genuine--that is natural stones, |
| The ruby is the oldest or first known of all | | | | contain certain tiny flaws and blemishes and |
| precious stones, dating far back in the early | | | | characteristic peculiarities. The fewer these flaws |
| history of Chaldea and Babylonia. The finest | | | | the rarer the gem. Imitation stones get their |
| specimens, as well as the largest quantities, are | | | | imperfections during manufacture, and as the |
| found in Upper Burma, and at the present time | | | | chemists are more careful than Nature, these |
| over one-half of the world's supply comes from | | | | imperfections are less noticeable. By the following |
| this locality. The rubies found in Ceylon, Siam and | | | | differences between the real and the artificial, you |
| Australia have not the deep rich color of the | | | | can test your ruby. A real ruby contains irregularly |
| Burmese ruby which is a shade of red slightly | | | | shaped bubbles; the imitation ruby contains |
| inclined to the purple and is often called "Pigeon | | | | bubbles that are perfectly round. Natural rubies all |
| Blood Ruby." The value of rubies depends upon | | | | have a silky sheen, due to a number of tiny |
| their color and transparency. | | | | parallel lines going in three definite directions; |
| The red sapphire or ruby is the most valuable of | | | | imitation stones never have this characteristic. |
| the corundum family, and when found of a good | | | | While lab-created rubies and sapphires have a |
| color, pure and brilliant, and in sizes of one carat | | | | distinct use in jewelry, they can never affect the |
| and larger, it is much more valuable than a fine | | | | sale of the real gems any more than is the case |
| diamond of the same size. | | | | with imitation pearls. Aside from the fact that the |
| Rubies and Sapphires are scientifically the same | | | | imitation can always be ultimately detected, the |
| stone, differing only in color. Corundum, the | | | | person desiring to purchase a ruby, as a ruby, and |
| predominating mineral of both, is composed of | | | | as a work of beauty and distinction wants a gem |
| nearly pure alumina. The coloring substance, which | | | | which he knows is one of nature's rarities and is |
| differentiates rubies and sapphires, is believed to | | | | therefore possessed of intrinsically great value. A |
| be chromium. In the scale of hardness the gem | | | | good illustration of this fundamental feeling is given |
| ranks as No. 9 and is thus the hardest of all | | | | by Mr. Zell a noted mineralogist, who says, "Many |
| substances excepting the diamond. Color is the | | | | perfect copies of the Sistine Madonna have been |
| most important factor in determining the value of | | | | made by good artists, the original is priceless, the |
| the ruby. The gem is always more or less | | | | copies at the most are worth a few hundred |
| imperfect, but its freedom from bad | | | | dollars, this is the relation of a gem made in |
| imperfections is also important. Since fine rubies of | | | | nature's laboratory to one produced by the |
| all sizes are extremely rare, the price increases | | | | chemist." |
| very rapidly with an increase in size, and a fine | | | | Today, the ruby is still considered one of the |
| ruby of more than four carats commands an | | | | most valuable and beautiful of the precious |
| extraordinary price and can be said to be the | | | | stones. Artisans of fine jewelry throughout the |
| most valuable of all gems, exceeding greatly a | | | | world continue to utilize this fine gem in their |
| diamond of equal weight. The color of the ruby | | | | creations. Ruby is the birthstone for the month of |
| varies from the lightest rose tint to the deepest | | | | July. |
| carmine, but the rarest and most valuable shade | | | | |