Details
ColorsBlue, Grey
Origin
Ratnapura, Ratnapura Dist., Sabaragamuwa Prov., Sri Lanka
SizeMedium
Dimensions8.1 x 3.5 x 2.6 cm
Description
Truly sharp, large sapphire (the blue variety of corundum) crystals, are a rarity in the natural world. Up to 1 inch, you get many (mostly from Sri Lanka and Burma). Above that, with any gemminess, you can count the great specimens easily from books and museums...there are not many. This is a museum-grade, high level specimen of natural unheated sapphire. You can see that it is unheated because of banding and color zoning but does have a good blue in some zones, indicating that heat treatment might turn the crystal more blue overall. The treatment standardizes the color and produces more uniform blue color for the gem trade, thus surviving large crystals are rare. This was purchased back in the 1980s by collector Michael Scott (you may know him better as the first CEO of Apple computers), who paid the per-carat gem world price by weight, to save it from treatment and cutting. He collected only superb examples of both rough and cut crystals and gems, and went to great efforts to assemble a collection of important examples of crystals of the gem species. This is one of several examples in his huge collection, and was released to us recently for sale. It is unique among most large sapphires we have seen for sale not only for the size and color banding, but for the sharpness of the termination and overall crystal itself. This sharpness is important, as most are rounded, rolled, damaged when found. The distinction is because this came from a sapphire mine, and was found in a solid rock host, whereas most sapphire crystals come out of the "gem gravels" of previously eroded host matrix and had literally been eroded and rolled around in rivers and mountains for millions of years. Such a sharp crystal, without the natural rounding/rolling, is beyond rare in nature at this size! Taken together, the size and color pattern combined with the unique sharpness make this an important example of the species; with the provenance as a bonus. Mike is a well known collector of gems and gemstone art, known widely in the gem and jewelry world for his exhibits in Shanghai and the Bowers Museum (L.A.). He was a bit more quiet about minerals, but nevertheless assembled a stunning and important collection of gem species, from which this came. By coincidence, the type specimen of Lavinskyite identified in the Downs lab at University of Arizona, had another associated species with it: later named after Scott's honor as Scottyite. Both species were named after us for our mutual donations and support of UA, NASA, and the RRUFF project for the database of the laser analyzer currently zapping rocks on Mars. As a strange extra bonus, this is fluorescent orange under UV. It comes with a custom lucite base. 117 grams.
Known provenanceKnowing where your specimen comes from and who owned it adds to its story and value. Good provenance helps prove it's authentic and preserves important details about its discovery.
