Spinel and Ruby of historical royal jewelries

Ayano Nakajima Aya Co, Ltd.

Masaki Furuya Japan Germany Gemmological Laboratory

Generally ruby is more evaluated than spinel as ruby is categorized in so-called "precious stone" and spinel is in "semi-precious stone". However in the history of iconic royal jewelry, often spinel was used as ruby. From this aspect of history, isn’t possible to think that spinel has made ruby as valuable and popular as it is now? First, the "Black prince's ruby", 170cts, has been used as ruby in the British crown jewelry, since it came into British Royal Family’s possession in 1367 until it was revealed to be spinel in the 19th century. Second, the red spinel of 398.72cts used in the crown of Catherine the Great, in Russia was also used as ruby. Third, the "Timur ruby" of 361ct had been also used as ruby in British royal collection until it was found to be spinel in 1851. These spinel had enchanted people as famous ruby of royal collection. The red spinel was also called as "Balas ruby" in ancient time. Balas means Balascia, current Badakhsan. And these spinels are said to be from Kuh-i-Lal mine between current Tajikistan and Afghanistan. On the other hand, not so many important rubies were used in royal jewelry. The Hixon ruby, the largest known ruby of 196.10cts is still in crystal shape. Also the Rosser Reeves Star Ruby of 138.7cts from Sri Lanka and the Delong Star Ruby 100.32cts from Myanmar are not set in royal or famous jewelry. The rubies used in royal jewelry are much smaller than spinel. For example, the Stuart coronation ring uses the ruby of 1.5cm x 1.3cm in size (Probably 10-15ct). Borghese ruby from Myanmar set in the parure for Princess Pauline Bonaparte is quite good quality but not so big as 2-3cts as estimated from its size. They are not impressive as the spinel mentioned above. Also, their origins are mostly Myanmar and some such as star rubies are from Sri Lanka. As mentioned above, rubies used in important royal jewelry are sometimes spinels in fact. And those spinels aroused people’s adoration to ruby and increased the value of ruby itself. As Mr. Masashi Furuya expressed "Ruby gained the status of today thanks to spinel. Spinel was the great pinch hitter in the gemstone history", we could say that spinel played a great rule in the history of royal jewelry. Acknowledgments: Dr. Jack Ogden, Albion Art Co. Ltd. References: H. Emanuel, 1867, “Diamonds and Precious Stones” (2nd edition), London, Spottiswoode and Co. Gübelin gem lab “Gemmological report” of Borghese rubies M. Furuya 2006, “Lecture materials for gemmology course spinel” Institute of Gemology and Jewelry Art Yamanashi prefectural government. R. Hughes, 1997 “Ruby & Sapphire”, Thailand, RWH Publishing A.Keay, 2012, “The crown jewels”, London, Thames & Hudson Ltd. Royal Collection - Gems and Jewels, http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/ C.Smith, 2013 “SPINEL: A once forgotten gem on the rise”, The SGA Conference 2013. T. Themelis, 2000, “Mogok” USA, A&T publishing Wikipedia, “Timur ruby”, “Black Prince's Ruby” and etc