The Wrekin Construction Ruby is probably worthless

A 10,700-carat, two-kilo ruby known as the "Gem of Tanzania" which was valued at £11 million in the accounts of collapsed firm Wrekin Construction is now believed to be worthless. After the firm collapsed at the expense of over 500 jobs it later emerged that an earlier owner had it valued at just £300,000.

Now experts who have examined the gemstone said it is probably worth more as a geological curio than as a gemstone.
Administrators at accountants Ernst & Young in Birmingham have put the gem up for sale in an attempt to claw back some of the millions owed to creditors of the collapsed firm.

GVA Grimley will be selling the ruby through an auction, along with tables, chairs and computers from the failed company. They are asking for bids, December 16th.

Gemmological expert Stephen Kennedy said: “People are mentioning very high values for what is essentially rough gemstones. It’s a mineral specimen and would be of most interest to people who want to buy that sort of thing.”

When Wrekin Construction collapsed, its accounts attributed the £11m valuation of the gem to the Instituto Gemmologico Italiano (sic). But the valuation document later proved to be a forgery, and the Milan-based institute said it did not value gems, and was not even open on the date the paperwork mentioned.