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Ruby & Sapphire
Ruby & Sapphire is a journey into one of mankind's most fascinating subjects.
A technical work that elicits anything other than yawns is always a scarce item. But Ruby & Sapphire is just such a book--a rare combination of fact and fun, the pertinent and the peculiar.
Open Ruby & Sapphire and you step into a secret world where, with each page turned, a new adventure awaits. Journey to Burma's Mogok Stone Tract, where pigeon's blood rubies are pried from both soil and central government control. Marvel over India's maharajahs, the world's greatest gem collectors, for whom no price was too great. Explore the legendary Valley of Serpents, into which pieces of meat were cast to trap rubies. And ascend to the lofty snows of Kashmir, home of storied blue-velvet sapphires. These are but a few of the amazing and colorful tales within.
But Ruby & Sapphire is also much more. The product of over 15 years of firsthand experience, it covers every facet of the subject from A-Z. Sources, prices, quality analysis, synthetics and treatments, everything is here, a virtual encyclopedia of the subject.
Ruby & Sapphire
A technical work that elicits anything other than yawns is always a scarce item. But Ruby & Sapphire is just such a book--a rare combination of fact and fun, the pertinent and the peculiar.
Open Ruby & Sapphire and you step into a secret world where, with each page turned, a new adventure awaits. Journey to Burma's Mogok Stone Tract, where pigeon's blood rubies are pried from both soil and central government control. Marvel over India's maharajahs, the world's greatest gem collectors, for whom no price was too great. Explore the legendary Valley of Serpents, into which pieces of meat were cast to trap rubies. And ascend to the lofty snows of Kashmir, home of storied blue-velvet sapphires. These are but a few of the amazing and colorful tales within.
But Ruby & Sapphire is also much more. The product of over 15 years of firsthand experience, it covers every facet of the subject from A-Z. Sources, prices, quality analysis, synthetics and treatments, everything is here, a virtual encyclopedia of the subject.
Ruby & Sapphire
511 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
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88 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 23, 2014
In this general reference which can be looked upon as an update and supplement to his classic Ruby and Sapphire, Hughes, as usual, offers a uniquely personal insight into the world of corundum.
His ability to blend up to date information with arcane references is a delight. This volume together with his previous opus, together make the best general reference on ruby & sapphire published to date though I do wish Hughes had come up with a title that was not so similar to his first book.
As a bibliophile, I was particularly taken by his section on books and gem libraries. Despite the fact that I have written and read extensively in the field and own a voluminous library, Hughes always seems to come up with obscure sources which send me scrambling back to that library to search for an obscure passage and just as often to online sellers of rare books.
Never dry, Hughes offers a lively, if somewhat self-conscious and definitely idiosycratic narrative that is rarely off-putting and never dull.
Unfortunately the book, published by The Gemmological Institute of Thailand (GIT) is not readily available in the U. S. Still, given its quality and the limited print run, it is well worth paying the ridiculously high shipping costs to get it sent from Bangkok.
His ability to blend up to date information with arcane references is a delight. This volume together with his previous opus, together make the best general reference on ruby & sapphire published to date though I do wish Hughes had come up with a title that was not so similar to his first book.
As a bibliophile, I was particularly taken by his section on books and gem libraries. Despite the fact that I have written and read extensively in the field and own a voluminous library, Hughes always seems to come up with obscure sources which send me scrambling back to that library to search for an obscure passage and just as often to online sellers of rare books.
Never dry, Hughes offers a lively, if somewhat self-conscious and definitely idiosycratic narrative that is rarely off-putting and never dull.
Unfortunately the book, published by The Gemmological Institute of Thailand (GIT) is not readily available in the U. S. Still, given its quality and the limited print run, it is well worth paying the ridiculously high shipping costs to get it sent from Bangkok.
November 4, 2015
Very entertaining book with lots of photos of very nice Rubies and Sapphires - good read
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews