If red is, in the West, the first color that man has mastered both in painting and dyeing, as explained by the specialist Michel Pastoureau, in jewelry, it has long sown confusion. Before gemologists were equipped with serious machines, any carmine stone with a beautiful refraction was classified as a ruby, and strongly associated with power. This is the case with the famous "ruby of the Black Prince", set on the royal crown of England, or the famous "Côte-de-Bretagne" exhibited at the Louvre on the Golden Fleece, both of which eventually turned out to be spinels.
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Today, while specialists are armed to distinguish them, and red now evokes passion more than power, these stones enchant jewelers. Especially since rubies and red diamonds have reached astronomical prices, and the variety of blood-colored gems seems infinite...
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