Spinel from Pamir: the new Book on Badakhshan People, Mountains and Crown Jewels

The Black Prince’s Ruby set above Cullinan II diamond on Britain’s Imperial State Crown, is in fact a 170 carat Tajikistan Spinel. The major Red Gemstone in the Great Imperial Crown of Russia, known as Catherine the Great’s Ruby, is the 398.72 carat Pamir Spinel. The 361 carat Timur Ruby, set in Queen Victoria’s necklace, is perhaps the most beautiful of all the great Balas Rubies we know today. The largest but perhaps least well known of the royal Spinels is the 500 carat Samarian Spinel, in the crown Jewels of Iran. All these world heritage treasure come from one single mine on the planet: Kuh-i-Lal mine in Badakhshan, Pamir, Tajikistan. Kuh-i-Lal was yielding precious Pamir Gems for thousands years, until it stopped operating a while ago. By the time of Marco Polo’s travels (ca 1254-1324 AD), the Kuh-i-Lal mine was fully operational and already mentioned in the literature of Arab scholars and travelers. Vlad Yavorskyy:
“One single afternoon in August 1991, I decided: I have to go to Pamir Mountains. And I call my friend and say: “Let’s hitchhike, let’s go to Pamir Mountains!”
This is our absolutely new book, devoted to one single mine: Kuh-i-Lal, Pamir, Badakhshan, Tajikistan. Even Marco Polo visited this mine.
All photographs in this book were taken in the last century, film photography.
And I realize: as of today, there was no one single western gemologist or geologist ever visited this mine inside. 
And we were very lucky to take incredible photographs inside of Kuh-i-Lal Spinel Mine.” “I visited the Kuh-i-Lal mine twice in the 1990’s, and collected most wonderful Tajik Spinels as well as unique photographs of local life taken with my Leica M6 film camera. Of all the deposits of precious stones around the world, Kuh-i-Lal mines is one of the most unreachable, and it has been closed to visitors since the beginning of the century. Among all my fellow gem collectors I am perhaps the only one who was able to go deep inside the tunnels when the mine was still functioning and the Badakhshan Gems were still being extracted from the ground. In the recent years, the Tajik Red Spinel is gaining its long-deserved recognition, especially with the Bonhams’ Hope Spinel and Christie’s Mughal Jewels. But you don’t see much of the historical records... So I believe it’s high time for my long-cherished new Book: Spinel from Pamir. The Place, the People and the Gemstones which stole my heart.... forever.” New collectible Book by Yavorskyy is the best Christmas Gift! Order now for free worldwide shipment: gemstonesbook.com