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The mineral spinel occurs in several colors, like black, blue, green, orange, and of course, red, which was often confused with ruby. It was back in 1783, that spinel was first identified as a different gemstone than ruby. Consequently, it was discovered that many gems that had been purchased as rubies were actually spinels, giving spinel a bad name and being considered a fake ruby. In reality, however, a good quality red spinel can be rarer than a ruby.
Spinel is mainly composed of magnesium and aluminum in contrast to ruby which is mainly composed of corundum. It is one of the hardest minerals, reaching 7.5-8 on the Moh's scale, which makes spinel ideal for jewellery. Today spinel is mined in mines all over the world with the most important ones being in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Tanzania, Brazil, Madagascar, Canada, Russia, and the USA. Jewellers love spinel because of its intense and vibrant colors that add color to their creations. Spinel is considered the birthstone of Augustus, a position it shares with peridot.
Black Prince's Ruby
The Black Prince's Ruby is an irregularly shaped red spinel cabochon and is one of the oldest gemstones in the British Crown Jewels. It is named after Prince Edward of Woodstock, who had the nickname "Black Prince", and it is called a ruby because, until the 18th century, all red-colored gemstones were considered rubies. The Black Prince's Ruby adorns the Imperial Crown of Great Britain and sits directly above the Cullinan Diamond.
Imperial Crown of Russia
In 1762, Catherine the Great commissioned the royal jewellers for a new crown for her enthronement. The new crown is adorned with 4936 diamonds, covering its entire surface, while two rows of pearls run from front to back, and in the center, right below the cross, is positioned a large red spinel weighing 398.72ct. It was used as the coronation crown by all Russian emperors after Catherine the Great and it survived the October Revolution. Nowadays, it is exhibited in the Kremlin museum.
Samarian Spinel is one of the largest spinels currently known. It is a 500ct (100g) spinel and together with a smaller 270ct spinel is part of the Crown Jewels of Iran. They were acquired by the Persian king Nadir Shah when he conquered India in the 18th century. Today they are kept together with the rest of the crown jewels of Iran, in the Central Bank of the country.
Hope Spinel
The Hope Spinel, a large spinel weighing 50ct and of excellent quality, is one of the characteristic spinels of the Kuh-i-Lal mine in Tajikistan, as is the Black Prince's Ruby. In 2015 it was sold at auction by Bonhams for £962,500. It thus became the highest price per carat spinel ever sold ($30,000), while the previous record was $16,000.
Discover wonderful jewellery with spinels in a variety of colors.
