Ratnarj, the king of precious stones
Ruby
Ratnarj, the king of precious stones. Sanskrit for ruby, a gem whose lure, more than any other gemstone, has touched all cultures of the world from the beginning of history to modern times.
The origin of the 13,72 carats Gemforest Ruby is linked to a recent and disruptive event that has changed the ruby trade and industry: the discovery of a new mining area in Montepuez, Mozambique.
It’s said that the finding in 2009 was purely by chance. A local farmer happened to discover rubies while cutting some wood in the area. Montepuez is currently the largest and most exiting ruby deposit in the world and the gems extracted from this area have gained appreciation by the most exclusive jewellery houses.
This rough gem was bought in an auction held by the mine owner and brought to one of the most famous Burmese cutters, traditionally the best for rubies. It took 10 days to cut this rarity. Very small steps and extreme care was needed to keep the extraordinary size of over 13 carats.
It exhibits a true-red, defined as “pigeon’s blood”, the most desirable hue colour for Rubies, combined with an excellent purity.
The lack of treatment further accentuates the rarity of this fine gem. No heattreated materials of such high quality represent a fraction of 1 percent of the entire mines production.
Only very few rubies of the same size have been found in the world.
In this area of Mozambique miners wear colorful dresses to keep warm during the evenings. They are captured happy and proud to have found a good pocket of rubies.
