Bali Keris Stone Question

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

There would be no differentiation between any red coloured stone, star rubies are still red, so are garnets, agates, spinels, glass & plastic, the choice would be made upon availability of stones, personal preference & budget.

There would be absolutely no reason not to use a star ruby, if one was available, if the person concerned wanted it, & the money was available.

Colour is the dominant criterion.

There is a black stone that in Bali is called "Black Star" & "Black Star Sapphire", it is aluminium oxide, and quite cheap, this stone is sometimes used in keris dress & other places where a black stone is required.

I have not seen a red star sapphire used specifically in keris dress, but there are many things that do exist that I have not seen.

Yes, i certainly understand that a star ruby would be perfectly legitimate in terms of the colour preferences within the Balinese culture. But José's question was not whether a star ruby would be acceptable, but rather if "the Balinese ever used star rubies" in their keris dress. Since blue is not considered to be traditionally acceptable i am focussing this question towards the star ruby. This is why i am encouraging anyone who has an old example to post it so that we can say one way or the other.