The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-08-09
GEMS OF HIGHEST VALUE,
The Recent Discovery Of q Ruby That
Weighed Three Hundred
Carats..
Precious Stones That the Dissolutt
King Theebaw Had When He
Was Dethroned.
Mhere Arc the Gems of Former Days p
!. Some Famous Stones-The Bur
NAH Mines.

That great expectations have no market
able value is fact which the London
Standard thinks the shareholders of the
Ruby mines of Burmah twill be wise to re-
member The first years experience has
not fulfilled the hopes which were JUSTIN
ably entertained of those mysterious depths
from which for ages past the lord OF many
elephants had filled his treasure jars with
precious stones, but on the other hand, IL
appears from Sir Lepel Grittin's statement
to the shareholders that among those
brought to earth is perhaps the largest ruby
which has ever been handled. This gem, it
appears, weighed 00carats. There NAV be
bigger ones in some private collections not
open to the mineralogist, but this stone
may Professionally claim to be the greatest
at present out of the soil.
.Unfortunately. ruby requires to have
other merits besides weight, and the latest
Burmah find is admitted by ts best Fl lend
not to possess the value which can be as
sessed in current coin of the realm. How
ever, it is the embodiment of hope, and as
gem hunting is even more OF fight with
fortune than gold working there is no rea-
son for doubling that at any moment the
waiting men, to whom all things are said to
come, like Marlowe's Moor, will pick out OF
the eastern rocks the precious gems as
thick as 'pebble-stones.'
ut is impossible to say what Burmah has
in store. King Theebaw when sober used
great chatties, heaped with the product OF
his mines. He permitted them to dip their
arms into the vessels, but his thrifty majesty
took uncommonly good care that nothing
stuck to their palms. Most OF these treas
ures were either taken away by the king or
thronement, and as they have still to be
disposed of the dealers are making their
calculations accordingly. And into the
market they must eventually come.
Nothing in the world is SO indestructi-
BILE as precious stone. Time scarcely at
fects its surface, and its size is SO insigniti-
cant that without trouble it may be con-
cealed and carried about, and even swal.
lowed on an emergency. Unlike gold and
silver. it is never worn away, or converted
INTO currency, or beaten into the semblanct
of things in heaven or upon earth. mus
first-class ruby or diamond is about tn
nearest representative of an Interchangeable
where, to borrow the words of Pliny, moth
ing is certain except everything is uncertain
''There is really no reason for doubling
that some of the rubies in the shop window
Of Regent street may be the identical stone
which flashed in the tiaras of queens thou
dems of kings. The ring bought in Lon
don last week may be set with the sam
ruby, worth a hundred ducats,' which. a
the loyal serviteur' tells us, the Cheyalie
Bayard won at the tourney of Carignan
Or, it is quite open 10 believe that, anon
the jewels into which the wife of the Amer
Jean millionaire has converted part of hi
quickly acquired wealth is that 'ryng o
gold with a rubyey the value Of thousan
scuttes,' which Henry VII. offered to tn
knight who 'juisted best in the justly
roiall,' 400 years ago. The gold has lon
since vanished, but the stone is everlasting
What has come OF ths sparkling ak1a RoI gem
in Rome or in Byzantium? They canno
all have perished in fire, or have beel
crushed under foot, or lie buried in tn
ruins of great cities. They who. according
to wonderful tale in the 'Gesta Romanor
um,' 'rayled in the roofe with rubyes ryche
must have possessed many more than hav
been identified in the jewel houses of Eu
rope, or have been disinterred amid tn
sands of Africa on the sites Of fair town
and graceful temples. 1t is true that
does not do to place too much dependenc
on the stories of medimyal travellers.
Yule is no longer here to defend him, ma
be doubted WHEN he tells us how in Ceylo
the king of his day had q ruby so fine tina
the great khan offered a city in exchang
for it. Yet host of other writer's of a sui
sequent date are equally positive regardin
this gem. Friar Jordanus describes one !
this sovereign's possession 20 large tha
when Rrasped in the hand it projected
fingers breadth at either side, and Andre
Coraai, writing in 1515, ii almost as enthusi
astic over two rubies which he saw in tn
Cinghalese sovereign's palace. Ibn Batr
tab, that earliest and most entertaining {
Moorish vagabonds. atiirms that he wa
shown in the house of Arya Chakravasti,
Tamil chief ruling at Pathan, "a ruby bow
as big as the palm of one hand,' and. I
come to times more tangible. one the size {
q pigeons egg was owned by the ex-king
Burmah. These, if they could be authent
Gated, might, in size alone. run prett
closely the stone referred to by Sir Lep
Griffin.
'.Chardin, indeed, described one which
saw in Persia, engraved with the name
Sheik Sephi. which must have been quite
big, though he does not give its weight; an
Tavernier. an old traveller and dealer
such goods. gives drawing, of anothe
without crack or blemish, which weighe
175 carats. and is, no doubt, still cherishe
by the shah. The largest ever seen
Europe was that presented by Gustayus II
of Sweden to the czarina. 1t is of the bu
of hens egg and of fine color. exceedir
even In size the uncut gem winch. on
last visit to William I'LL, Peter the Gre
pushed into the kings hand, wrapped in
bit of brown paper. There used to be a
other fine one among the French crow
jewels, as an adornment of the insignia
the Golden Fleece, and, as it was cut int
the form of q dragon, it was preserv'
as triumph of art when the I
public disposed of most of
fellow gauds by auction. But perhaps Il
largest ruby of which any accurate know
edge has been obtained was found during Il
sack of the Summer palace at Pekin.
was carved into the image of a Buddh
and purchased on the return of the expet
ton by the famous Duke of Brunswic
but. on his death. was sold for the iIisi
nihcant sum of 9600. owing we believe,
the inferior character of the stone,
1T is justifable to expect quite as no.
bic finds in the future as have been =
earthed in the past. For there is no grou
for holding that the best gems are on
surface, or that, with modern machine
such as has enabled South Africa to d
cover more diamonds than the world e,
owned before, the deeper deposits of B,
NAH, India and Ceylon, not to speak
Others still unsupported, may not be pro,
to hold in store stones as wonderful
those foot-long rubies with which-the '
acious Sir John Maundeville assures .
the emperor lighted all his chambers
night Corundum, the poor relation of
precious ruby and sapphire, is of wide