Mystery’s History 005: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

Watch Mystery’s History 005: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle and follow along with the transcript below.

Transcript:

Welcome to Mystery’s History, Interesting Facts Behind Intriguing Stories.

Today, we’re traveling back to 1892 to explore Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. It’s one of the 56 short stories Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote for the great detective Sherlock Holmes.

The Mystery of how a stolen gem (the blue carbuncle) comes to be found in a goose’s craw is not the only mystery surrounding this story. Another is, what’s a “Blue Carbuncle?”

Sources report that a carbuncle is an antiquated term for a red gemstone (usually a garnet but sometimes a ruby) that has been cabochon-cut, meaning round with no discernable facets. Now, if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was referring to a blue ruby (corundum) that would have been a sapphire. And the first blue garnet (almandine) wasn’t discovered until 1990, almost 100 years later, in Madagascar. So, it would appear that the blue carbuncle was a figment of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s imagination.

The story is 1 of 8 stories published in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes that do not feature murder. And, it is the only Sherlock Holmes short story Sir Arthur Conan Doyle set at Christmas time.

I hope you enjoy The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.

For Mystery’s History, until next time, I’m Donald Jay

Links:

Link to the full text and illustrations of The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle in The Strand: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Strand_Magazine/Volume_3/The_Adventure_of_the_Blue_Carbuncle

Credits:

https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Adventure_of_the_Blue_Carbuncle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_of_Sherlock_Holmes
https://www.birthstone.guide/blog/ruby-vs-carbuncle-garnet
https://www.theedkins.co.uk/jo/minerals/sherlock.htm
https://www.gemstoneslist.com/blue-garnet.html
Sherlock Homes for Dummies by Steven Doyle and David A. Crowder.
https://torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/trl/2020/12/a-sherlockian-christmas.html
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Strand_Magazine/Volume_3/The_Adventure_of_the_Blue_Carbuncle