Pendongkok Keris Makassar/Gowa(?)

[A. G. Maisey]

The red stones in these keris rings might be ruby, true, but they might also be tourmaline, or garnet or spinel, or even something else.

What David has shown us is most certainly one of the forms that ruby rough comes in, but if you are panning river gravel, or the old bed of a river that is no longer there, for ruby or other gemstones, the stones are usually like little water worn pebbles, the image I've posted shows more or less what you can expect them to look like, but they'll often be much smoother than in the pic.

In S.E. Asia, and also in India I believe, these little pebbles were individually polished to follow the shape of the stone. They were stuck onto the end of a stick with hard wax to permit the polishing.