CORUNDUM; INTERNATIONAL RUBY, SAPPHIRE COLLECTION (03/16/2011)

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CORUNDUM; INTERNATIONAL RUBY, SAPPHIRE COLLECTION

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CORUNDUM; INTERNATIONAL RUBY, SAPPHIRE COLLECTION

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Sold Date: 03/16/2011
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Natural History

This is a suite of ten corundum specimens from various World-wide localities. Win this lot, and all the rocks you see are yours! I will be posting more in the next few days.

Details of some of the specimens follow the group shot. For size reference, paper behind the specimens is ruled off into 1-inch (2.54 cm.) squares. Below are some brief comments about each specimen. For more information about localities and photos of our finest "keeper" specimens, you may go to our website, . You may email me through the Ebay service or at for more info or pictures of the particular specimens in this lot.

Top row (left to right):

Photo 4: S pecimen of pink ruby with traces of green fuchsite and brown phlogopite is from the area of the Chumar Mine in Ganesh Himal , Nepal . The Chumar Mine is a prized locality, as it was a personal playpen of F. John Barlow, noted American mining engineer and collector who was the principal developer. The mine produced only a small amount of material, (maybe 15 to 20), but the best ones (maybe 15 of them) were World class museum grade, and so far as I know all are permanently held in private collections. Several can be seen on our Corunduminium website. This specimen was recovered and obtained from a Nepalese dealer about four years ago.

Rare fragment of a large ruby crystal from the Sivec Mine near Prilep , Macedonia . It's a fine, translucent pink, and would produce an attractive cabochon. It's rare because almost all of the rough from this mine goes to Idar Oberstein for precision cabs or carvings. I was able to obtain a kilo of rough several years ago with the help of a Serbian colleague who purchased it at the mine site. After etching away the calcite, we had some interesting "keepers" and others we were willing to part with, like this one.

Photo 3: Green interpenetrant twin with two euhedral prismatic greenish bluish sapphire crystals from Ncheu, Malawi. This is a very fine specimen from the locality.

Middle row:

Ruby from Kenya . It's not euhedral, but it is of fine bluish red color and translucent. It may cab, but there is an internal parting that may have to be avoided.

Photo 10: Tanzanian drum-shaped prismatic ruby crystal. Very euhedral with lustrous, almost mirror-like faces.

Photo 6: Singly terminated, slightly complex ruby crystal from Luc Yen , Viet Nam . Luc Yen, Yen Bai Province , in the extreme north, was the first important corundum producing region of Viet Nam . The termination (not photographed) is striking, with prominent elevated triangles having almost mirror-like interiors. The other end, alas, is made for gluing onto a clear plastic base. The crystal has fine pinkish red color and is tanslucent. It fluoresces a hot cherry red under long wave ultraviolet light. Rumor has it that the Viet Cong found ruby-bearing calcite seams while tunneling under their villages during “the war” – a nice story, but unlikely. The earliest specimens I am aware of, from the same general area, contained ruby crystals in brown syenite. More can be learned and specimens from our permanent collection can be seen our website by going to URL /VietNam.htm .

Photo 5: Subhedral ruby in calcite from the Hunza Shah Mine , Hunza Valley , Pakistan . I acquired it from a Pakistani dealer in Tucson in 2000. It's a neat thumbnail, but not as well crystallized as they can be.

Bottom row:

Photo 8: Translucent blue sapphire from Nigeria . It is somewhat rounded and it shows some waterwear and surface conchoidal fractures, but overall is an attractive specimen not really special but hey, it's blue!

Photo 7: Very unusual elongated tapered prismatic sappire from Yinnietherra in extreme northwestern Australia . I purchased several of these from an Australian who frequents the locality a couple of years ago.

Photo 9: Doubly terminated tabular translucent pale green s...