Enhancements
Red Spinel is not enhanced.
More information on gemstone enhancements.
Red Spinel ...
Now only the famous mines of Mogok, Burma, hold substantial quantities of fine red spinels.
Red Spinel
Transvaal Jade
Translucent Green Hydrogrossular Garnet ...
Red spinel’s near identical resemblance to ruby results in it being a prodigious, albeit accidental feature in many of the world’s most famous gem collections, including the Vatican’s and the Crown Jewels of Russia, Iran and England.
red Spinel, red garnet and red tourmaline
Natural Pearl
moonstone and white coral ...
Good red spinels and good blue spinels command prices near the top of the secondary market, but are not anywhere near on par with their ruby and sapphire counter parts. Pink spinels, and other pale colors have far less value.
2 stones ...
Red spinel has always resided in the shadow of ruby, with the result that prices are just a fraction of what the equivalent ruby would cost. Prices of intense cobalt-blue spinels can rival, or even exceed, those for the finest reds.
Ruby and red Spinel derive their coloration from the same Chromium Cr(3+) ion plus trace amounts of iron, manganese, and zinc. This is why spinel and ruby are often found imbedded in the same matrix.
A faceted red spinel of more than 400 carats belonged to Empress Catherine II of Russia, and is now part of the Russian Treasure in the Kremlin.
Mining of red spinel begins in Badakshan, Afghanistan between 750 and 950 AD
Cloisonné enamel finds its way into the workshops of Byzantine goldsmiths
In choosing a court style Charles picks the Romanesque style after Byzantine exampe
962 ...
Ironically red spinels, often referred to in ancient texts as balas rubies , are actually more rare than ruby but, unlike ruby, they can sometimes be found in very large sizes.
Transparent red spinels, which in the past were confused with rubies, are prized gemstones, but spinels come in other colors as well. Enlarge Photo credit: © International Colored Gemstone Association
Spinel ...
The transparent red spinels are called spinel-rubies or balas-rubies and were often confused with actual rubies in ancient times.
Distinguished from red spinel, garnet or glass (all isotropic) with polariscope. R.I. for other red stones is sufficiently different to distinguish.
From synthetic ruby by microscopic examination or fluorescence in a few cases.
Spinel is the great imposter of gemstone history: many fine historic red spinels have been confused for rubies.
Such red spinels should be called "Ruby spinel" (and not spinel ruby).
Many famous 'rubies' of antiquity are in fact red spinels; for example the "Timur Ruby" and the "Black Prince Ruby." Other famous collections, including the Crown jewels, are filled with red spinels.
The most famous is the Black Prince's ruby, a magnificent 170-carat red spinel that now adorns the Imperial State Crown of England in the British Crown Jewels after a long history: Henry V even wore it on his battle helmet! ...
Red spinels that are deep red, large and relatively free of inclusions are also highly desired. So too are rare, deep blue spinels, particularly when a gemological laboratory has determined that cobalt is the colouring agent.
In early times many red gemstones, including garnet and red spinel were mistaken for Ruby.
> The Black Prince's Ruby set in the British Imperial State Crown, is actually a red spinel.
> The Delong Star Ruby
> The Hixon Ruby Crystal
> The Mandalay Ruby
> The Midnight Star Ruby
> The Mogok Ruby (aka the Alan Caplan Ruby) ...
Balas Ruby
Trade name for Red Spinel.
Baroque
May apply to certain gemstones or pearls. Either a gemstone or pearl with an irregular shape, such as Tumbled Stones or Baroque Pearls.
The Smithsonian is home to a 137 carat cabochon star ruby. Only that some of the most famous rubies in History have turned out to be red spinels. Earlier, it was common enough for red spinels to be confused with rubies.
A mineral which resembles corundum, especially red spinel which has been mistaken for a ruby.
spodumene
A mineral consisting of aluminum silicate and lithium and comes in the shape of prisms.
(shades of blue); Balas Ruby is red spinel, flame, black, purple, yellow, greenish blue
Comments: The magnesium aluminate mineral spinel is used as a GEM when transparent and finely colored.
The Black Prince's Ruby, which is not a ruby at all, is perhaps the most famous spinel ever known. This 170 carat red spinel is set in the Imperial State Crown of England in the British Crown Jewels, ...
Some varieties include: Balas ruby (red spinel), Almandine spinel (purple-red), Rubicelle (orange), Sapphire spinel (blue), Ghanospinel (blue), Chlorspinel (green). Spinel is also laboratory synthesized.
The most famous 'Black Princes' ruby, that decorates the Imperial State Crown of England actually bears a 170 carat red Spinel. It was only in the 16th century Spinel gained its individual status as a gemstone in Asia.
Spinel is the great imposter of gemstone history: many famous rubies in crown jewels around the world are actually spinel. The most famous is the Black Prince's Ruby, a magnificent 170-carat red spinel that currently adorns the Imperial State Crown ...
Prior to that date, the word "ruby" was also applied to red spinel and garnet, or else all three were simply called "carbuncle stone." In the past, the ruby was regarded as a symbol of power, courage, and dignity.
scatter the light), and viewed in some direction other than parallel to an optic axis. Ruby and sapphire have two color shades and are pleochroic; in ruby, for example, yellow-red and purplish-red, which distinguishes it from garnet and red spinel, ...
named Jean Baptiste Louis Rome de Lisle concluded that spinel was actually a completely separate mineral from ruby. This confusion is apparent in the British Crown Jewels where the Black Prince's Ruby and Timur Ruby are transparent red spinel.
There is a synthetic blue spinel that can be distinguished from natural blue spinel by use of a colour filter, and a synthetic red spinel that resembles ruby but is distinguished by its fluorescence.
The deep red spinel is often mistaken for a ruby and in fact, some famous rubies, including ones in the English crown jewels, are actually spinels. Rare star spinels occur naturally.
 See also: Stone, Ruby, Spinel, Color, Gemstone
  
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