Top-quality rubies are rarer than diamonds, with unparalleled charm and timeless quality. It is because of its preciousness that, long and long ago, ruby was used as a symbol of power and wealth, and it began a period of entanglement with the famous scholars and the aristocrats.
Carmen Lucia, the world’s most bleak love story of ruby, weighing 23.1 carats of “Carmen Lucia” set in a platinum ring embellished with broken diamonds, is one of the world’s few giant rubies. Through this dark red gem, it looks like fireworks, after the angular refraction, it will shine. Carmen Lucia loves her husband like every happy woman and loves rubies. When she first heard about this ruby in 2002, she was very yearning and hoped to have a chance to find aside. But the disease quickly took her life – she died of cancer in 2003, at the age of 52. Although Carmen Lucia didn’t own the ruby during her lifetime, her husband, Peter Barker, completed her last wish, and he donated a large sum of money to the Smithsonian Museum to acquire and display the ruby. Take the wife’s name as a forever nostalgia.< Click >
The “Alan Caplan” ruby weighs 15.97 carats, is naturally unheated, has a perfect pillow-shaped cut, is clean with the naked eye, and has a noble lineage – the Mogok mine in Myanmar (the famous high-quality ruby producing area). The name of this gem comes from a famous gemologist, mineralogist and gem merchant Alan Caplan, who bought it during his travels to Myanmar in the 1960s or 1970s.
In October 1998, the ruby was auctioned by Alan Caplan to Sotheby’s in New York, USA. After a fierce bid, it was eventually won by the famous diamond dealer Graff Diamond in London for a total auction price of $3,630,000. The average price of $227,301 per carat created the auction record for a ruby at the time. Later, Graff inlaid the ruby on an engagement getnamenecklace rings and sold the ring to a famous royal client, Sultan of Brunei.
Graff Ruby’s price-setting ruby was created at Christie’s in February 2006. The 8.62-carat ruby was taken for $3,600,000, and the average single-carat price was $425,000, which was shot by the Lawrence Graf jeweler in London, England.
This record-breaking ruby is known as the ideal “pigeon red” and is certified by the Swiss ssef laboratory for its quality, demonstrating no signs of heating. The color is gorgeous and the cutting is excellent. The photographer Graf also said that this is the perfect ruby he has ever seen and named it “Graf Ruby”.
The DeLong Star Ruby weighs 100.32 carats and is cut into rounds. It was discovered and mined in Myanmar in the early 20th century. Martin Ehrmann sold the star ruby to Edith Haggin DeLong for $21,400, and in 1937 Mr. DeLong donated this huge star ruby to the Natural History Museum in New York, USA.
It is worth mentioning that this precious ruby was stolen with other precious stones by a notorious jewel thief Jack Roland Murphy and two accomplices. After paying a ransom of $25,000, it was put in one of the phone booths in Florida negotiated by Jack Roland Murphy which added the legendary color of Delong Star Ruby.
The Roxburgh Ruby Set is the beloved of the 19th century Duchess of Roxburgh, including a necklace and matching earrings, made in 1884, made of 24 rubies and 24 diamonds inlaid with gold and silver. The jewellery set eventually sold for $5.76 million, the highest transaction price for the ruby jewellery set at the time.
Rosser Reeves Star, a major 138.7 carat, is one of the few largest star rubies in the world. This star ruby is not only cleaner and more transparent than the famous Delong Star. And the six stars are sharper. This starlight ruby is produced in Sri Lanka. It is now housed in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, USA. In 1936, King Edward VIII of England gave a Burmese ruby necklace to his lover, Willis Simpson, to congratulate his 40th birthday. In the same year, Edward VIII abdicated and changed the Duke of Windsor. The Duke of Windsor and his wife used the rest of their lives to interpreting the passion in the red, leaving a moving legend of “not loving the country but loving the beauty.” At this moment, ruby is a love that is inscribed in the heart.
In Europe, rubies are often used to decorate the crown, representing supreme loyalty and a symbol of royal dignity. When Queen Elizabeth II married Prince Philip, many relatives and friends sent a large number of jewels to celebrate. The bride’s mother, Queen Elizabeth, chose a set of ruby crowns and necklaces as a gift for her daughter. At this moment, ruby is the mother’s favorite for her daughter and deep affection in the blood.