Spinel

Spinel is one of the most commonly misidentified gemstones in the world. It has been sold and displayed as ruby more times than can be recorded. One of the most famous instances is that of the British Crown Jewels. Known as the Black Prince's Ruby, this infamous spinel is still part of the Imperial State Crown of Britain. So impressive was this giant spinel that for hundreds of years, no one realized it wasn't a ruby.

Besides red, spinel comes in shades of blue, green, yellow, orange, brown and black. It is formed in metamorphic or igneous deposits rich in aluminum and magnesium. These are the same deposits where rubies are usually found, spinel actually being an earlier stage in the development of a ruby. In fact, red spinel is actually harder to find than the more expensive ruby.

The main differences between spinel and ruby are that spinel ranks at 8 on Moh's Scale of Hardness, slightly lower than the ruby. Spinel is most often mined in southern Asia, specifically Myanmar, (formerly known as Burma), where the majority of the natural red spinel originates. Spinel is also found in large quantity in Sri Lanka and Thailand. Other popular producers are Iran, Tadjikstan and Tanzania, although other lesser deposits have been discovered in North American and European locations.

There is debate regarding the origin of the word "spinel", some believing that the word originates from a Greek word for spark, "scintilla" probably in reference to the red color that spinel is known for. Others are of the opinion that it comes from the Latin word "spina", which means "thorn", possibly in reference to the sharp pointed crystals that are its natural form. Either way, for most of its life as a gemstone it was known as "balas ruby", named for Balascia, which was the central Asian area where the gem-stone was originating at that time.