World Famous Rubies – An SK Exploration

In our Schwanke-Kasten Explores the World of Gemstones: Rubies article we explored some basics about this gorgeous gemstone including its’ range of colors, its chemical composition, and a bit of history. Now we will look at some world famous rubies.

World Famous Rubies

We now turn our attention to some of the world famous rubies recently discovered and auctioned. In fact, two years ago Christie’s sold an 87.8 carat Burmese ruby for the record price of $6.4 million thus showing the continued appreciation for the beauty of rubies and their monetary value.  The lure of this gemstone, however, is not new to us.

Edward’s Ruby

The British Museum of Natural History in London is displaying the 167 carat “Edward’s Ruby”. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. is displaying the 138.7 carat “Rosser Reeves Star Ruby”.  Furthermore, the American Museum of Natural History in New York is displaying the 100 carat “De Long Star Ruby”.

Alan Caplan Ruby

Alan Caplan, a famous mineralogist and gemstone dealer, acquired this legendary ruby in Burma. In fact, Sotheby’s sold the 15.97 carat Burmese stone in New York in October, 1988 for $3,630,000.

Nawata Ruby

The “Nawata Ruby” weighs 496.5 carats and is a national treasure of the Union of Myanmar.   The Nawata Ruby was found at Dattaw in the Mogok mining area of Burma. According to some accounts, it was found by Than Htun (an owner of a brothel in Mandalay) who smuggled the ruby to Thailand, hoping to sell it for 2 billion dollars in Bangkok or Chiang Mai. One of the buyers informed the military in Burma who sent agents to recover the stone.

Burmese Ruby Tiara

Queen Elizabeth commissioned the Burmese Ruby Tiara in 1973 using her collection of rubies and diamonds. In fact, The tiara used a total of 96 rubies. Some of the rubies were a wedding present to Queen Elizabeth by the Burmese people.

Finally, Richard Burton gifted Elizabeth Taylor a beautiful 8.24 carat ruby ring. Moreover, the ring was created by Van Cleef & Arpels and in 2011 it sold for $4.2 million.