Mineral Specimen  #207 Ruby Corundum

Mysore District, Karnataka, India

This is an absolute monster of a Ruby crystal. My old-fashion Ohaus triple beam only measures up to 600 g , so I had to use a postage scale (in lbs) and it came to a little less than 2 1/4 lbs. So the weight is approximately 2.2 lbs. or 1 kg.  Like many of the Mysore rubies, the color is red with purple tints. Under LW UV, it fluoresces a nice chromatic red. And like most rubies, the specimen must be held close to the UV light source. There is a whitish unidentified material encrusting parts of the specimen which flouresces a light green to light blue. There is also a patch of brown material on the surface of the bottom (last picture) which is also unidentified. The specimen appears to be made up of multiple layers of crystals like poker chips. There are also small black Chromite crystals on the surface. There are a few chips from the corners missing. These are most noticiable under the LW because the exposed areas fluoresce better.

A note about the colors in these photos: This was a difficult specimen to get the color right. I did not want it to look better than it really is. In reviewing the pictures, the specimen is probably a little redder in real life. The color in the LW photo is a little off also, it should be a more chromatic red. Also, the whitish material which under LW glows blue and green is not nearly as bright.

9.5 x 8.5 x 6.8 cm

$450                                                                                                                                                                                   300-499