The Rosser Reeves Ruby is one of the world's largest and finest star rubies, weighing . This

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n stone is renowned for its great color and well-defined star pattern. The stone is named after advertising mogul

Rosser Reeves Rosser Reeves (10 September 1910 – 24 January 1984) was an American advertising executive and pioneer of television advertising; Reeves generated millions for his clients. The Ted Bates agency, where he rose to chairman, exists today as Bates ...

. Reeves who donated the gem to the Smithsonian in 1965, had carried it around as a lucky stone, and referred to it as "his baby." Reeves often claimed that he had acquired the stone at an

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

in the mid-1950s. He had actually bought the stone from Robert C. Nelson Jr. of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

who was acting on behalf of Firestone & Parson of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. Firestone & Parson sold the gem for Paul Fisher of New York. Robert Fisher, Paul's father, had bought the

ruby A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sa ...

at an auction in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1953. At the time the ruby then weighed just over {{convert, 140, carat, g, but was very heavily scratched, and a few carats were removed in the re-polishing. The re-polishing also helped to center the stone's star. Articles in the ''

New York World-Telegram The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966. History Founded by James Gordon Bennett Sr. as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began ...

'' and ''The Sun'' in 1953 mentioned this fabulous gemstone. The Rosser Reeves Ruby is on display at the Smithsonian.

General resources

*Brendan Reeves (Great Grandson of Rosser)

General resources

See also