Famous Rubies -The DeLong Star Ruby - By: Carol Speake

Since last month was July, and the ruby is the gemstone for that month, I thought it would be intertesting to write about a particuarly famous ruby - The DeLong Star Ruby.

This fabulous Ruby, which is over 100 carats, was discovered in the Moguk mines of Burma, in the early part of the 20th century. It is one of the largest and finest star rubies in the world, second only to the Rosser Reeves Star Ruby.

LIke Star sapphires, star rubies are magnificent gemstones which display a six prong star that seems to glide across the surface of the gem as one moves it, due to an optical phenomena known as "asterism." This star effect is seen in its best when the star ruby is inspected in a single light source such as sunlight and spotlight.

The DeLong Ruby has an interesting history. It was originally purchased by Martin Leo Ehrmann in the 1930s. Not long after, in 1937, he sold the rare ruby to a Mrs. Edith Hagging de Long for a price tag of $21,400. Mrs DeLong then donated it to the American Museum of Natural History in the same year.

The museum paired this rare ruby with another famous gemstone - The famous "Star of India" which is a light blue star sapphire. The two stones were exhibited in the J.P. Morgan Hall of Gems and quickly became two of the most popular exhibits in the collection.

The showing of this ruby ended abruply In 1964, when several valuable gemstones, including the DeLong Star Ruby, were stolen by Jack Rowland Murphy, along with two accomplices. It's amazing that the museum hadn't been robbed before this. The shoddy security at the museum made this a robbery a plan just waiting to happen. According to reports, Murphy had cased the museum earlier and got ingaged in conversation with a 17-year-old visitor, at which time he discovered that security was lax to non-existent at the museum. He learned that not only was the burglar alarm system was non-operational, but also that a second story window in the jewel room was usually left open for ventilation reasons. Jack and his accomplices climbed in through that open window and then discovered that the display case alarms were also non-functional For all intents and purposes, they may as well have been handed this ruby on a silver platter!

The stolen jewels were valued at more than $400,000. The news media dubbed this robbery the "Jewel Heist of the Century." The ruby was ransomed and then later recovered. There are conflicting reports as to the designation. Most report it as a phone booth in Florida, but other reports state that it was discovered in a foot locker at a Miami bus station. Murphy and both his accomplices, Alan Kuhn and Roger Clark, were arrested two days later and received three-year sentences. Most of the other jewels were recovered as well.

The robbery later became the subject of a popular Hollywood movie in 1975 called "Murph the Surf." The movie was directed by Marvin Chomsky, and movie featured Robert Conrad, Burt Young, and Don Stroud who starred as Murphy.

The DeLong Ruby has an interesting history. It was originally purchased by Martin Leo Ehrmann in the 1930s. Not long after, in 1937, he sold the rare ruby to a Mrs. Edith Hagging de Long for a price tag of $21,400. Mrs DeLong then donated it to the American Museum of Natural History in the same year.

Carol Speake

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