RUBY. Jegdalek Ruby Deposit, Surobi District, Kabul Province, Afghanistan. ...

Description

RUBY
Jegdalek Ruby Deposit, Surobi District, Kabul Province, Afghanistan

For over 700 years the deposit at Jegdalek has provided Ruby and Sapphire to the outside world. It is the only Ruby deposit in Afghanistan and in the 1200's produced Rubies that were sold to Kublai Khan. The Ruby bearing marbles are worked with hammers, chisels, pry bars, and sometimes with gasoline powered rock drills and explosives. This specimen is an excellent matrix one with a single sharp, dipyramidal Ruby crystal of good color. It features one distinct crystal, 5/8 inch (1.5 cm) across, of dark red hue with pink overtones, perched on top of a piece of coarsely crystalline, white marble. The faces of the Ruby are glassy and covered with trigonal growth features. There is a small amount of associated minerals present in the marble but they are of little aesthetic consequence. Condition is excellent with no observable damage. [N.B. When exposed to UltraViolet light, the Ruby fluoresces a strong red - it is one of the few minerals that fluoresces under Long Wave UltraViolet.]
Overall measurements: 2.25 x 2 x 1.5 inches (5.7 x 5.1 x 3.8 cm).

Provenance: Collector's Edge [Hoppel # D0526]

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