At 23.1 carats, the gem is one of the largest Burmese rubies in the world. Chip Clark/National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution We don't need Wagner or Tolkien to tell us how ...

Jewellers have made it easy to buy a diamond while keeping your conscience clean. They’ve adopted a passport system showing the origin of every stone, so you can be sure that your hard-earned money ...

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. In the western Thai town of Kanchanaburi, Kimnigt Sirigpuksa opens a purse and rolls out red stones. With a ...

When British soldiers conquered Burma in 1885, they gave the last king hours to pack. Many of his treasures - heirlooms from a millennium of monarchy- were seized and sent to Britain. But the most ...