The blue variety of sapphire being less sought after in ornamentation than the diamond, has not had a fixed scale in valuation. Still, prior, or for a few years prior, to 1850, the ordinary sapphire was placed by jewellers upon the same valuation as the emerald, or at about $15 the karat. Since this period its value has quadrupled, but has not kept pace with that of the emerald. The pale-blue stones have only a nominal value, and the same may be said of the very dark blue. But those sapphires which exhibit the perfect tint of the prismatic blue can command very high prices. The ancient Romans excelled in their imitations of the ruby, both in hardness, color, and lustre; and a number of examples are yet preserved in some of the European cabinets. The bold robber, Charles, the Duke of Burgundy, was the possessor of several famous gems which he carried with him on his campaigns, and used as personal decorations on particular occasions. One of the choicest of them was a monster ruby more than an inch in diameter, which the famous Margaret of Anjou had given him. On that fatal day at Grandson it was placed with the historic diamond in a golden box, and left in the tent of the Duke, where it was captured by the mountaineers. The gems were carried to Berne by the victorious Swiss, and afterwards offered for sale to the rich Nuremberger, Jacob Fugger. Then it was discovered by the expert that the ruby was indeed a lump of red glass of ancient make, and probably of the date of the Roman Empire. As the red sapphire is one of the rarest as well as the most beautiful of all gems, its value is in keeping with its attributes. As it overpowers all other gems with its gorgeous red, which is a pure prismatic hue, so it transcends all others in price. There are but very few gems with which it can be confounded in color. But no matter what the material may be, provided it displays the royal tint. It is extremely rare that the red tourmaline or spinel exhibit the perfect tint which is the characteristic of the red sapphire. The zircon sometimes displays a fine red color, and may imitate the sapphire. It is also within the range of possibilities that the diamond and garnet may closely resemble the true ruby. We have seen small garnets that exhibited the pigeons’-blood tint. The scarcity of the ruby is so great that fine gems are only to be acquired by the very wealthy. In the times of Cellini, three centuries ago, the price of the red sapphire was eight times that of the diamond. And to-day we may safely adopt Cellini’s estimate, for the gem is so rare that we cannot readily compute its value in comparison with the diamond, which is so abundant.