The best known and most popular of the corundum gems are ruby and sapphire ; and they are usually found close together.    The ruby is the rarer of the two and therefore more valuable. The price per carat of the sapphire is independent of the size of the gem, but the larger rubies fetch a much higher price per carat than the small ones. Rubies and diamonds are always associated together as the most precious of stones. Thus Dry den sings :

“His ample forehead bore a coronet With sparkling diamonds and with rubies set.”

Palamon and Arcite, iii. 54.

The Gaekwar of Baroda has a coat woven of gold and embroidered with diamonds and rubies which cost £25,000 sterling; the Emir of Scindia possesses a bril¬liant scarlet coat and a cap of black and gold studded with rubies and diamonds costing over £30,000 ; and many other Eastern potentates possess similar collections.