Corundum var. Sapphire

Item Description

This is a stunning maroon-red crystal of sapphire, with deep color, excellent gemminess, and a sharp form combined with one of the more rare and fancy colors for a gem sapphire from ANY location in the world. Most of these Sri Lankan sapphire crystals are found in gem gravels, which were eroded out of the original deposit and rolled, moved, transported over eons into new locations and buried in stream sediment, where they waited for tens of millions of years to be found by artisanal miners. The rare crystal like this, with sharp form and no damage due to millions of years being rolled about by nature, is from an actual mine and found through hard rock digging. It is exceptionally rare to find a perfectly balanced, equant crystal with no damage, and intact. This is a 3.4 x 1.1 x 1.1 cm double-terminated translucent maroon-red, elongated steep bipyramidal crystal, properly a small miniature when stood vertically. The bottom is not quite terminated, and the top has a small indentation, which we think is complete, right at the tip. This weighs 33.4 carats. It will fit in a regulation thumbnail cube if oriented slightly diagonal, but it could also be displayed as a small miniature, standing true vertical. With a little backlighting, it is a stunning object. Published in Mineralogical Record, Refined Elegance: The Small Treasures of Mineralogy, November 2022. It is much better in person. Valued $3000-plus simply based on weight.