Since biblical times, ruby has been one of the most revered and coveted gemstones on Earth. According to the Book of Exodus, July's official birthstone was one of the 12 gem varieties affixed to the Priestly Breastplate worn by Aaron (1396 BC - 1273 BC), elder brother of Moses. Each gem represented one of the 12 tribes of Israel.
In Indian culture, rubies have been mentioned in literature for more than 2,000 years. The Sanskrit word for ruby is "ratnaraj," which means "the king of gemstones." According to The International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA), whenever a particularly beautiful ruby crystal was discovered, the Indian ruler would order high-level dignitaries to meet the precious gemstone and welcome it in appropriate style.
The ICA also noted that in the fascinating world of gemstones, the ruby is the undisputed ruler. This is because it has everything a precious stone should have: magnificent color, excellent hardness, outstanding brilliance and extreme rarity.
The ruby's rich, vibrant red color is an important part of its appeal, as it conveys love, romance and passion. On the mystical side, a ruby is said to promote health, wealth, wisdom, creativity, loyalty and courage.
The International Gem Society, wrote about how the ancient Burmese soldiers took rubies to battle because they believed the blood-red gem bestowed invulnerability. There was one proviso, however. Wearing a ruby as a piece of jewelry wasn’t good enough. The gems had to be physically inserted into their flesh to protect them from physical harm.
Ruby is a variety of the mineral corundum (aluminium oxide). Gemstone-quality corundum in all shades of red are generally called rubies. Corundum in other colors are called sapphires.
The word “ruby” comes from “ruber,” Latin for red. Pure corundum is colorless, but rubies get their color from slight traces of the element chromium in the gem's chemical composition. Ruby boasts a hardness of 9.0 on the Mohs scale. Only diamonds are rated higher at 10.0.
The value of a ruby increases based on its color, cut, clarity and carat weight.
Since the late 15th century, Burma, particularly the region around Mogok, has been a vital source for high-quality rubies. The area, known as the “Valley of Rubies,” is regarded as the original source of pigeon’s blood rubies.
While Myanmar (formerly Burma) has earned the reputation for producing the finest rubies, the coveted red gems have also been mined in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. In the U.S., rubies have been found in Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Wyoming.
Credit: Photo by NMNH Photo Services / Smithsonian.
This 58.19-carat, honey-colored "Maharani Cat’s Eye" displays one of the world's finest examples of an optical phenomenon called "chatoyancy" — or the cat's eye effect.
A chatoyant gem presents a single band of reflected light that seems to move just beneath the surface of the stone, and the effect looks very much like the vertical-slit pupils of a cat's eye.
Chatoyant is derived from the French word "chatoyer," which literally means "to shine like a cat's eyes."
Chatoyancy arises when light reflects off of needle-shaped inclusions present within the body of the gemstone, in this case chrysoberyl. When a stone is cut with a domed top and flat bottom, called a cabochon, the light reflected off the inclusions is focused into a bright band that forms the "eye." To get the best results, cutters will orient the needle-shaped inclusions to be parallel to the base of the gem.
When the needles are oriented in a single direction, the result is a cat's eye. When the needles grow in three directions, the result will be a six-rayed asterism or "star."
Chatoyancy occurs in many gemstone varieties, including corundum, tourmaline, spinel and quartz, but the most coveted cat's eyes are cut and polished from the mineral chrysoberyl.
The International Gemological Institute clarified that while other minerals can be polished to produce a similar cat’s eye effect, only chrysoberyl can be referred to as “cat’s eye” with no other designation. Other minerals require a qualifier, such as cat’s eyes quartz or cat's eye sapphire, etc.
The stone seen above was sourced in Sri Lanka and is now part of the Smithsonian's National Gem Collection. The Smithsonian obtained the gem in an exchange in 1961.
Credits: Gem photos by Chip Clark / Smithsonian. Cat's eye by Keith Kissel, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
An impossibly rare 5.09-carat electric blue Paraiba tourmaline fetched $377,650 at Bonhams' Jewels and Jadeite auction in Hong Kong last night.
The modified shield brilliant-cut gem was the most anticipated lot of the event because a stone of this color, size, quality and origin is a unicorn in the world of colored gemstones. Faceted specimens larger than a few carats are virtually unheard of.
To put the rarity of such a large intense blue Paraiba tourmaline into some perspective, note that the Smithsonian has one in the National Gem Collection in Washington, DC. It's an oval-cut gem and weighs a mere 1.22 carats.
"Paraiba" is the most prized tourmaline variety. The vivid teal, turquoise and neon blue stones caused a sensation when they were first discovered by prospector Heitor Dimas Barbosa in Brazil’s tropical, coastal state of Paraiba in 1989.
Worldwide demand sparked a mining frenzy and, within five years, the supply beneath “Paraiba Hill” — an area measuring 400 x 200 x 65 meters — was largely tapped out.
Bonhams explained that Paraiba tourmalines are typically seen in smaller carat sizes because the crystals mined at their original source were extracted from pencil-thin veins. The material was delicate and prone to splintering or fragmenting during the mining process.
Common tourmalines come in a rainbow of colors, which are determined by the trace amounts of iron, manganese, chromium or vanadium in their chemical makeup. Paraiba tourmalines are different. They owe their spectacular blue hues to a high concentration of copper, an element not previously seen in tourmalines.
Bonhams noted that while traditionally mined in Brazil, copper-bearing tourmalines have been discovered in both Mozambique and Nigeria.
Some gem experts believe that the uncanny connection can be attributed to continental drift, the theory that the Earth’s continents have moved over geologic time and that South America and Africa were once connected. Paraiba, on the far eastern tip of Brazil, would have been adjacent to the west coast of Nigeria.
“Thus we may suppose that the radiant copper tourmalines from Nigeria came into being under the same conditions as those from Paraiba, at a time before the ancient continent drifted apart,” writes the International Colored Gemstone Association on its Paraiba Tourmaline web page. “Is that the reason why it is so difficult to tell one from the other? This remains one of the great riddles in the fascinating world of gemstones.”
Credit: Image courtesy of Bonhams.
Two miles above sea level in the rarefied air of the tiny, landlocked Kingdom of Lesotho, twin diamond mines are churning out some of the largest and highest-value diamonds in the world.
Continuing a run of impressive discoveries, Gem Diamonds announced that it had recovered an exceptional 245-carat white Type II diamond from its Letšeng mine.
The mining company's newsworthy find is the third 100+ carat diamond unearthed this year and the 121st since Gem Diamonds acquired Letšeng in 2006. (Type II diamonds are extremely rare, colorless and chemically pure with no traces of nitrogen impurities.)
An aerial view of the Letšeng site shows side-by-side diamond mines — the Main and Satellite kimberlite pipes. The pits are currently just over 250 meters deep and have a planned final depth of 450 meters, placing them among the deepest pits in the world. Ironically, at twice the elevation of Denver, Letšeng is also one of the world's highest diamond mines.
Despite a land mass about the size of Maryland (12,407 square miles) and a population less than that of Houston (2.3 million), Lesotho flexes its muscles on the world diamond stage.
Among the country's highest-profile rough diamonds are the Lesotho Legend (910 carats, sold for $40 million), Lesotho Promise (603 carats, $12.4 million), Letšeng Star (550 carats, undisclosed amount), Lesotho Legacy (493 carats, $10.4 million), Light of Letšeng (478 carats, $18.4 million), Letšeng Icon (439 carats, $16.1 million), Letšeng Princess (367 carats, $9.6 million), Letšeng Dynasty (357 carats, $19.3 million) and the Letšeng Destiny (314 carats, undisclosed amount).
The destiny of the unnamed 245-carat diamond has yet to be determined. About 40% to 60% of a diamond's weight is typically lost during the cutting and polishing process, so there is a very good chance that the sizeable rough will yield a gem-quality faceted stone larger than 100 carats.
The United Kingdom-based Gem Diamonds holds a 70% stake in the Letšeng mine with the government of Lesotho owning the remaining 30%. In October 2019, the partners renewed the mining lease for an additional 10 years. Gem Diamonds claims the Letšeng site generates the highest average dollar per carat of any kimberlite diamond mine in the world.
Trivia: Lesotho is one of only three countries fully surrounded by another country. Lesotho is encircled by South Africa, while San Marino and The Vatican are fully contained within Italy.
Credits: Diamond and mine images courtesy of Gem Diamonds. Map by Google Maps.
Exactly a week after the Golden State Warriors put an exclamation point on the NBA’s 75th Anniversary season by defeating the Boston Celtics in the Finals, the basketball association's senior director of social media, Ashley Atwell, revealed the backstory of how a bedazzled basketball became the unofficial mascot for NBA 75.
It all started with a fresh take on the NBA's iconic NBA logo, which features a silhouette of former LA Laker and Hall of Famer Jerry West. For the league's diamond anniversary season, the NBA "Logoman" was reimagined in the center of a blue and red diamond with the number 75 superimposed over facets rendered to mimic the seams of a basketball.
“It was the NBA’s diamond season, so we took that theme of the diamond logo while creating the ball,” Atwell told NBA.com. “The idea was sparked because we previously used the bedazzled ball at an award show. This was a really good opportunity to bring that idea back to life. So, once we saw the logo, we thought it would be cool to put it on a ball. This really started because we needed a cool idea for the NBA Draft.”
All the draftees who were in Brooklyn last July got to take a pic with the gem-encrusted ball. And slowly but surely, the ball started making appearances everywhere.
It appeared at the G League Winter Showcase, NBA All-Star Weekend, Formula One Grand Prix and NBA venues throughout the country. There was so many requests for the ball that the league decided to create eight additional promotional balls to fill the demand.
We're guessing that the white, red, blue and black stones affixed to the "diamond" balls are actually glass crystals.
Atwell challenged fans to search for the NBA 75th Anniversary ball on Tik Tok, Instagram or Twitter. The results will be collection of celebrities, players and fans of all ages posing with the ball.
“The celebrities are cool,” Atwell said. “There are definitely moments where you’re like, 'Oh my God, I can’t believe that celebrity had the ball.’"
Atwell said that actor Kevin Hart was the first to post to IG a picture of himself with the ball. Then there was a photo of former Indiana Pacers star Reggie Miller sharing the ball with actor-director (and NY Knicks fan) Spike Lee.
"The ball has become the face of the 75th anniversary, especially on social media," said Atwell. "It’s a big part of the campaign. I don’t think I realized that was going to happen."
Atwell said that she remembers pitching the diamond ball idea in preparation of the 75th anniversary season. At the time, she said, it seemed insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Now, in retrospect, she acknowledged that the diamond ball evolved into one of the biggest fan-facing initiatives of the season.
"It’s helped us carry the campaign all season long," she said. "And bring these generations together – fans and players.”
Credits: Houston Rockets rookie Jalen Green with the 75th anniversary ball, photo courtesy of the NBA. Logos via NBA.com.
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, the legendary Neil Diamond sings about how “gold don’t rust” and “love don’t lie” in a country classic from his 1996 Tennessee Moon album.
Diamond, who was a pre-med student at New York University and can certainly find his way around a periodic table, took an interesting fact about a chemical property of gold and spun it into a love song.
Besides its rarity, value and radiance, gold in its purest form is an element that will never oxidize or rust. That’s why gold is considered a "noble precious metal" and has been used for jewelry and coinage for millennia.
In “Gold Don’t Rust,” Diamond assures his lover that she doesn’t have to worry every time he goes away. His sweet feelings for her will continue to shine.
He offers her a 24-karat commitment in the chorus, which goes like this: “Gold don’t rust / Love don’t lie / I’ll be true ’til the day that I die. / Trust in me, you will find / Baby, you’re the gold in this heart of mine / And that gold will shine for a long, long time.”
“Gold Don’t Rust,” which Diamond co-wrote with Gary Burr and Bob DiPiero, was the seventh track of Diamond’s 23rd studio album, Tennessee Moon. The album was certified gold (500,000 units sold) by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Over the course of his stellar 60-year career as a singer-songwriter-musician, Diamond has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Diamond was a member of Erasmus Hall High School’s Chorus and Choral Club along with close friend Barbra Streisand. Diamond was inspired to write music after meeting folk singer Pete Seeger, who visited a summer camp he was attending.
“And the next thing, I got a guitar when we got back to Brooklyn, started to take lessons and almost immediately began to write songs,” he told Rolling Stone magazine.
Just 10 credits short of an undergraduate degree from New York University, Diamond dropped out of college to take a 16-week assignment writing songs for Sunbeam Music Publishing. The job paid $50 per week. Later in his career, he would joke, “If this darn songwriting thing hadn’t come up, I would have been a doctor now.”
The 81-year-old Diamond shook the music world four years ago with the news that he'd been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and wouldn't be touring anymore. Instead, he's been collaborating on a Broadway-bound musical based on his life story and extensive catalog of timeless hits. "A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond Musical" premiered on Tuesday at Boston's Emerson Colonial Theatre.
Diamond was a surprise guest on opening night and earned a standing ovation as he took his seat in the audience. The show began a six-week engagement in Boston before it opens this fall in The Big Apple at the Broadhurst Theatre.
Please check out the audio track of Diamond’s “Gold Don’t Rust.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
“Gold Don’t Rust”
Written by Gary Burr, Bob DiPiero and Neil Diamond. Performed by Neil Diamond.
I know you worry every time I go away
You wonder will these sweet, sweet feelings shine or fade
Well, that’s a question you don’t have to ask
What heaven makes, it always makes to last
Gold don’t rust
Love don’t lie
I’ll be true ’til the day that I die
Trust in me, you will find
Baby, you’re the gold in this heart of mine
And that gold will shine for a long, long time.
I wish that I could give you
What you need from me.
But what good is a promise or a guarantee?
Love is still a simple act of faith
And a faithful heart is always worth the wait
Gold don’t rust
Love don’t lie
I’ll be true ’til the day that I die
Trust in me, you will find
Baby, you’re the gold in this heart of mine,
And that gold will shine for a long, long time
Love is still a simple act of faith
And a faithful heart is always worth the wait
Gold don’t rust
Love don’t lie
I’ll be true ’til the day that I die
Trust in me, you will find
Baby, you’re the gold in this heart of mine
And that gold will shine for a long, long time
Baby you’re the gold in this heart of mine
And that gold will shine
For a long, long, long time
Yeah
Credit: Image by Irisgerh at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
An exceptional pair of Mozambican rubies — one weighing 32.5 carats and the other 29 carats — headlined Gemfields' most recent series of ruby auctions in Bangkok. Each ruby is expected to surpass 10 carats when cut and polished.
Exhibiting a vivid red hue and remarkable crystalline luster, the featured rubies represent the finest production from Montepuez, the most prolific ruby mine in the world.
More specifically, the sizable rough gems were sourced at the Mugloto mining pit, a secondary deposit at the Montepuez mine, where rubies have been concentrated by alluvial flows along ancient paleochannels. Gemfields explained that the stones found in Mugloto secondary deposit are often the most exceptional because they had to survive the arduous journey along the ancient riverbed.
Among the world-famous rubies found at Mugloto are the 45-carat total weight matched pair of vivid red gems called the "Eyes of the Dragon" (2015) and the 40.23-carat "Rhino Ruby" (2014).
Overall, Gemfields reported that the $95.6 million generated during seven mini-auctions held between May 30 and June 17 represented "an all-time high for any Gemfields auction." The company sold 94.1% of the 119 lots offered, with 49 companies participating in the sealed-bid process.
A portion of the proceeds arising from the sale will be donated to the Quirimbas National Park in Mozambique, a long-standing Gemfields conservation partner.
The Montepuez ruby mine is 75% owned by Gemfields and 25% by Mozambican partner Mwiriti Limitada. Gemfields also operates Kagem, the world’s largest and most productive emerald mine. Kagem is 75% owned by Gemfields and 25% by the Government of the Republic of Zambia.
Credits: Images courtesy of Gemfields.
Flaunting a gold chain strung with three NBA championship rings, Finals MVP Steph Curry and the rest of the Golden State Warriors paraded up Market Street in San Francisco on Monday afternoon to celebrate their six-game victory over the Boston Celtics and their fourth Larry O'Brien Trophy in eight years.
When questioned about his jewelry during NBC's coverage of the parade, Curry said, "I had to bring the jewelry back out. I don't look at it during the year… But, every once in a while you've got to remind yourself. You got four!"
Curry turned to his Instagram Story to show off his three previous championship rings and an armful of trophies. The 2021-2022 championship ring will be unveiled prior to the team's home opener in late October.
In the world of professional sports, championship rings tend to get more elaborate as teams become dynasties. This was seen with the NFL's six-time Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots and now with the NBA's Golden State Warriors (7th title overall).
To mark their 2017-18 championship run, the Warriors employed designer Jason Arasheben, aka Jason of Beverly Hills, who created a technically challenging championship ring composed of nearly 20 pieces.
The ring's most compelling feature was a reversible top, the first-of-its-kind for a championship ring. The head of the ring, which could be completely detached from its band, had a centerpiece that could be flipped to show blue sapphires on one side or white diamonds on the other. Blue and white are two the Warriors’ primary colors with golden yellow being the third. Twisting off the top of the ring revealed the slogan ‘Strength in Numbers’ etched in gold.
We expect the 2021-2022 edition will be even more impressive.
Curry had a hunch that this year's team could make it all the way to the championship.
"It's all about the journey," he said. "I knew last year, the way that we finished the season, we could carry that momentum into this year. I'd be lying if I said I knew for a fact that we would be NBA champions. [We had to] make that the goal and stay in the present."
After a stunning 18-2 start to the season, the team was on its way.
The Warriors players began the parade waving to fans from an open-top tour bus. But as the parade progressed, many players jumped down from the bus to meet and greet their passionate and proud Dub Nation fans one-on-one.
Credits: Steph Curry images via Instagram / stephencurry30. Ring image via Instagram/Jason of Beverly Hills.
Russian journalist Dmitri Muratov put his 18-karat gold Nobel medal on the auction block last night, with the proceeds benefiting children who have been displaced by the war in Ukraine. Nobel medals rarely come to auction, and until last night the highest price ever paid for one was $4.76 million. Now the record is $103.5 million.
Muratov, the editor-in-chief of the now-shuttered independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, had already donated his $500,000 cash reward for winning the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. The melt value of the 175-gram medal is less than $10,000, but the historical and humanitarian significance of Muratov's medal pushed the bidding at Heritage Auctions to more than 10,000 times that amount. The event was streamed live from The Times Center in midtown Manhattan.
The live auction began at 7:26 p.m. EST with the opening bid at $875,000. Over the first 14 minutes, the bids grew gradually in increments of $100,000. When the price hit $10 million, auctioneer Mike Sadler asked for bids in increments of $200,000.
Four bidders — two on the phone and two online — kept the excitement going until the bidding seemed to stall at $16.6 million. But then, at 7:49 p.m, a Heritage Auctions associate holding paddle #303 shocked the auctioneer, Muratov and the live crowd when he stood up to declare his head-turning bid.
At first, Sadler seemed to not quite comprehend what the associate was saying and asked him to take off his mask and repeat the bid. At that point it was clear the winning bid would be $103,500,000. At the conclusion of the auction, Muratov returned to the stage to hug members of the Heritage Auctions team. The identity of the phone bidder was not immediately disclosed.
Just before the auction, Muratov had said, "I will not see this medal again, but I will like to see the future of those people who will benefit from it."
The proceeds will go directly to UNICEF to aid with efforts to support Ukrainian refugees, 90% of whom are women and children and 5.2 million who Muratov classified as needing desperate help. Heritage Auctions waived all of its fees related to running the sale.
Fittingly, the bidding had opened on June 1st, International Children's Day, and concluded on June 20th, World Refugee Day.
Established and financed by Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833-1896), the Nobel Prize is regarded as the ultimate recognition for contributions to humanity. Nobel wanted to recognize the remarkable achievements of "those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind." Since 1901, Nobel Prizes have been awarded annually for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace by the Nobel Foundation.
On the rare occasions Nobel prizes come to auction, the results can be spectacular. In 2014, a bidder paid $4.76 million for the medal earned by James Watson, whose co-discovery of the structure of DNA earned him a Nobel Prize in 1962. In 2017, the family of Watson's co-recipient, Francis Crick, received $2.27 million for his Nobel medal.
Heritage Auctions explained that the Nobel Peace Prize is distinct from the Nobel medals for sciences and literature. Unlike the other prizes awarded in Sweden, the Peace Prize is presented by the Norwegian Nobel Institute. The artistic engravings of the two different medals are distinct, with the Peace Prize more bas-relief than medallic in form. Gustav Vigeland executed the engraving, which since 2012, has been struck by Det Norske Myntverket (Mint of Norway) in Kongsberg.
Prior to the auction, the Norwegian Nobel Institute lauded the sale of a medal for this fundraiser. In a letter of support, Director Olav Njølstad stated, "This generous act of humanitarianism is very much in the spirit of Alfred Nobel. The intended sale is therefore subject to the wholehearted approval of the Norwegian Nobel Committee."
Measuring 66mm in diameter, the Nobel medal is smaller than the Olympic medals (85mm) awarded in Tokyo last summer. But unlike the Olympic medals, which are made mostly of silver and clad with just six grams of pure gold, the Nobel medals are composed of 18-karat green gold plated in 24-karat gold. The Nobel medals contain 75% gold and about 25% silver, with trace amounts of copper.
This type of alloy is often called green gold, but is also known as electrum, a naturally occurring precious alloy that had been cherished by the ancients. According to sciencenotes.org, the Egyptians used the metal for jewelry, ornaments and drinking vessels. In addition, they used the metal to adorn pyramidions (capstones) atop pyramids, dating back as early as the third millennium BC.
Credits: Images courtesy of Heritage Auctions, HA.com. Screen captures via HA.com.
In an effort to draw hundreds of thousands of adventure tourists each year to its stunning Tsalka Nature Reserve, the country of Georgia has just unveiled a first-of-its-kind "Diamond Bridge" featuring a multi-level diamond-shaped cafe that seems to float like a pendant 280 meters above the Dashbashi Canyon.
The cafe is believed to be the largest and tallest hanging structure in the world, a notion that may soon be affirmed by the authorities at Guinness World Records. The diamond-shaped cafe weighs 9 tons and can accommodate 2,000 tourists.
Designed and constructed by the Georgian-Israeli Kass investment group at a total cost of $38.7 million, the bridge and related amenities took three years to come to fruition.
Tomer Mor Yosef, Vice President of Kass Group, told The Jerusalem Post that the inspiration for the diamond cafe came from how the canyon itself is shaped like a diamond, spanning some 800 meters at the top while only 4 meters at the bottom. The canyon has been carved over time by the Ktsia River.
The bridge spans 240 meters and is made of glass and steel. Tourists can literally see the gorge beneath their feet as they traverse the bridge. The developers also created a bicycle zip line that runs parallel to the bridge and a 40-meter cliff swing.
The complex also includes hiking trails to the canyon, caves and waterfalls, as well as cottages, a hotel, camping site and a visitor's center.
A two-hour drive from Georgia's capital of Tbilisi, the Diamond Bridge was opened for visitors last Wednesday. The fee to access the bridge is 29 Georgian Lari ($9.91) for Georgian citizens over 12 years old and 49 GEL ($16.75) for foreigners. Discounts are available for younger visitors and children under 3 can cross for free.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Georgian Government Administration.