Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c43.s3.t12.23

v2.c43.s3.t12.23

Pliny had observed (32.11) with some surprise that red coral, which was not so much in demand in the Roman Empire, was as highly prized in India as the white pearl at Rome. V. Ball, the famous nineteenth century mineralogist, ascribed the Indians’ preferance for red coral to ‘the way its tints adapt themselves to set off a dark skin, and also look well with a white garment’. Black coral, in abundance in the Red Sea, was not so popular in India.