Every ruby extracted from the mines near Jegdalek, in Afghanistan’s Sorubi district, has the potential to change people’s lives. Miners pour their sweat, their tears, and sometimes their lives into the pursuit of that one perfect stone – pigeon-blood red and flawless – that will give them enough of a payout to escape the poverty of life in the remote mountains. It rarely does. For the traders, every stone is a product in need of a buyer. Fortunes have been made by finding the right combination of the two. And finally, for the buyer, a precious gem, precisely cut and set in just the right piece of jewelry, is status. Reputations are made, alliances sealed, and fortunes laundered, with a few small, glittering pieces of crystal.
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