SPINEL
Often mistaken for rubies throughout the 15th and 16th century, spinel was identified as a different
mineral in 1783 by Jean Baptiste Louis Rome de Lisle. Known for its richly saturated and vibrant colour, spinels were used to adorn royal jewellery and crowns throughout the world, such as the Black Prince’s Ruby, which is set above the Cullinan II diamond on Britain’s Imperial State Crown. Many of the famous stones in history were found in the Pamir mountains, in Tajikistan, where this pear-shaped spinel of 54.03 carats was unearthed in the last decade.