Corundum var. Ruby

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This is a large and very colorful cluster of rich pink-red ruby crystals from the super-high altitude mines in Ganesh Himal in Nepal. It is extremely sculptural and artistic. It is rare to see large groups of incised ruby crystals and this particular piece shows very attractive complex etching patterns. It has a very complex shape exhibiting intricate detail wherever you look. The color of the piece is variegated from translucent rich pink to transparent-translucent hot pink-red and it also has a wet, almost resinous, luster to it, characteristic of the best ruby localities. This ruby cluster is composed of dozens of crystals between 1 and 4 cm in length with numerous smaller ones isolated or in clusters among, and situated on, the larger crystals in random orientation. There are three larger crystals in this cluster that display a very good, hexagonal (trigonal) prismatic shape and are terminated on at least one end. Two of them are in slightly divergent growth at the top and the third is near the bottom with a slightly smaller crystal and there are numerous, 1 cm-ish crystals distributed in the cluster along with the later growth of small sprays of crystals on the larger ones. A very intricate and eye-catching piece! This complex ruby specimen fluoresces a bright pink-red in long wave UV light. Note this piece was in the treasured Nepal suite of the F. John Barlow collection (sold in 1998), # 3633 on back. John once told me that he actually flew to Nepal himself to chase some of the first Nepalese minerals, and funded ruby mining at the time in the 1980s-early 1990s. Featured in the book Addicted to Beauty: The Legacy of Jack Halpern (Mineralogical Record, March 2025) on page 146, fig. 148.