Corundum var. Ruby

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Since 500 BCE, or over 2,500 years ago, this Balkan marble quarry was exploited for its excellent quality dolomitic marble, and reached its productive heyday during the reign of the Roman empire. During the excavation of this marble, miners would find Calcite veins in the rock that was full of well-formed, lovely pink Ruby crystals. Many were opaque and light, but some, like this specimen from Kennedy's collection, had incredibly bright color and saturation. Incredibly, the matrix even shows the boundary between the marble and the aforementioned Calcite vein that the crystals were typically formed in. It is easily one of the finest cabinet examples to represent this historic and long-documented locality. Of course, it fluoresces beautifully as well! This specimen comes with a custom acrylic base (note that the base says "Republic of Macedonia," which since 2019 has been renamed North Macedonia).