RAJAH RUBY
Classification: Terrestrial mineral
Creator: Nature
User/Possessors: Ape-Man (Gordon Keefer), Black Cat (Felicia Hardy), Adam Townes
First Appearance: (Mentioned; inside case) Daredevil I#10 (October, 1965); (fully seen) Spider-Woman I#23 (February, 1980)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: None. It was just valuable.
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History: BTS - It was presumably returned to its rightful owner (following Daredevil I#11). |
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(Spider-Woman I#23) - The Gamesman (Tim Braverman) helped a crew from Detroit steal the Rajah Ruby in Los Angeles from the Civic Auditorium housing the International Gem Exhibition. They escaped Spider-Woman, but not the police. BTS - It was presumably returned after the criminals got caught. |
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(Amazing Spider-Man I#204) - Valued at 4.1 million dollars, the Rajah Ruby was up at an auction on Park Avenue and 63rd street. Black Cat jokingly bid 2 cents, then just stole the Rajah Ruby and fled the scene by jumping through the glass window. At her hideout the Black Cat placed the Rajah Ruby next to the Golden Lovers statue she had already stolen. She only needed two more items to achieve her final goal. (Amazing Spider-Man I#205) - Black Cat took the Rajah Ruby, Golden Lovers and a wax recording of Caruso singing a love aria to the estate of art collector Lazlo Bellflower and pretended to offer the items to him in exchange for the Helen Epistle, the only known love letter written to Paris by Helen of Troy. It was all a ruse and she instead robbed Bellflower and even escaped the Helen Epistle and the other artifacts from Spider-Man. He eventually caught up to her and found her standing over the artifacts in her hideout. She revealed to Spider-Man that she had stolen all these artifacts for him because she loved him. Spider-Man saw the Spider-Man pictures on her wall and realized how emotionally unstable she was and promised to get her psychiatric help. BTS - The stolen artifacts, including the Rajah Ruby, were presumably returned to the rightful owners. |
Comments: Created/adapted by Wally Wood.
Could this ruby possibly have some
connection to the Star of Capistan?
--John Kaminski
In Amazing Spider-Man I#205 it was called the Eye of Eros Diamond by Spider-Man. I have no clue why, but maybe removing the possessive 's was not enough to differentiate it from the Rajah's Ruby and somebody's lawyer gave a call to Marvel.
The Rajah Ruby was likely based on the Rajah's Ruby. It was the subject of an opera, mystery stories and even an episode on the British TV show Whodunnit? in 1977. AFAIK these stories go back to the late 19th century, but it was just used over and over again in stories.
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Rajah Ruby has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Amazing Spider-Man I#204, p16, pan8 (main)
Daredevil I#10, p6, pan2 (stolen by Ape Man)
Spider-Woman I#23, p12, pan3 (at International Gem Exhibition)
Amazing Spider-Man I#204, p17, pan3 (stolen by Black Cat)
Appearances:
Daredevil I#10 (October, 1965) - Wally Wood (writer/artist), Bob Powell (layouts), Stan Lee (editor)
Spider-Woman I#23 (February, 1980) - Michael Fleischer (writer), Trevor von Eedon (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#204 (May, 1980) - Marv Wolfman (writer/editor), Keith Pollard (pencils), Pablo Marcos (inks)
Amazing Spider-Man I#205 (June, 1980) - David Michelinie (writer), Keith Pollard (pencils), Pablo Marcos (inks), Denny O'Neil (editor)
First Posted: 10/16/2024
Last updated: 10/16/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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