The True Ruby- The Oriental Ruby

There exists but one true ruby, the oriental ruby.

The spinel ruby and the balas ruby must be carefully distinguished from this valuable gem, as neither in nature nor composition do they resemble the oriental ruby.

"The oriental ruby," says Babinet, "ranks first for price and beauty among all coloured stones. When its colour is of good quality it has the vivid tint of arterial blood (a tint called `pigeon's blood' in commerce), or of the very centre of the red ray in the solar spectrum. It is the perfect red of the painter's palette, without any mixture of violet or of orange. Several of the reds in the stained glass of our ancient cathedrals, when the daylight pours through them, give an idea of this brilliant colour.

"The ruby is extremely hard; and after the sapphire, which surpasses it a little in this respect, it is the hardest of precious stones; always excepting the diamond, to which nothing can compare. M. Charles Achard, the highest authority in France in all that concerns the traffic in coloured stones, remarks that weight has not the same effect in their case as in that of the diamond. Every diamond, from the very smallest specimen upwards, has its value like gold or silver, according to weight; but in the case of rubies and other gems the little specimens have hardly any value; and these stones only begin to be appreciated at the moment when their weight withdraws them from the common ruck, and assures at once their rarity and high price. When a perfect ruby of 5 carats enters the market a price will be offered for it double the price of a perfect diamond of the same weight; and if a ruby reaches the weight of 10 carats it will bring triple the price of a diamond of the same weight (from three to four thousand dollars).

"I have seen many collections of amateurs, visited and consulted many lapidaries, and everyone admits that a perfect ruby is the most rare of all the productions of nature. The tint of the ruby is as admirable by artificial light as by the light of day."

The precious stone called the carbuncle by the ancients is the same as our modern ruby.

The most fantastic qualities were formerly ascribed to these wonderful stones. The carbuncle served to furnish light to certain great serpents or dragons when old age had enfeebled their eyes; they constantly carried these magical stones between their teeth, only dropping them when it was necessary to eat and to drink. And according to St. Epiphanius the carbuncle has not only the property of shining brilliantly in darkness, but its light is of a nature so extraordinary that nothing can arrest it; so that it shines, for instance, through vestments with undiminished fire.

At the same time that it is averred that the carbuncle of the ancients included our oriental ruby, it is equally certain that this name was applied to all red stones--oriental ruby, spinel ruby, garnets, &c.--in the same indiscriminate manner as the East Indians apply the name ruby to all coloured precious stones.