Top 10 Famous Individual Gemstones Mined in Myanmar (Former Burma)
Myanmar (former Burma) is a famous source of high quality rubies and sapphires. Prized rubies have been mined in Myanmar since the sixth century. About 90% of the world's best rubies come from Myanmar.Burmese rubies are prized for their purity and the color aka "pigeon blood red" - red with undertones of purple and vivid saturation.
But Myanmar mines have also produced spinel, apatite, scapolite, moonstone, alexandrite, zircon, garnet, jade, iolite, amethyst, lapis lazuli, peridot, and more.
This is the most expensive ruby of all time so far - in 2015 it was sold for more than a million dollars per carat (one carat = weight of a coffee bean, approximately).
The star is real and natural
It was found in 1996 and it has the unique pigeon-blood red color characteristic of the rubies from Mogok region mines.
It was found in Myanmar (former Burma) but sold in Sri Lanka
It's a spinel and not a ruby though
It is red spinel and not ruby (it has been set into the British state crown).
It was discovered on June 30, 1919, just two days after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919 - a peace document signed at the end of World War I, hence the name.
An incredible gem I put last only because the source of this ruby is unknown but judging by its features, the most probable source is Burma (Myanmar) and not Sri Lanka (Ceylon). Other countries are excluded because the gem is over a hundred years old and at that time the only two countries in the world producing star rubies with perfect stars were Burma and Ceylon.