Corundum var. Sapphire

Item Description

People rarely think of USA localities for large sapphire or corundum crystals but actually, there was one in California long ago and this is a superb example of the strange, yet very dramatic, Sapphires collected in the mid-1990s by the Gochenour brothers at a remote California locality in the 1990s. This bluish-gray Corundum crystal is aesthetically placed in metamorphic matrix. This Sapphire, like the others that were mined, was meticulously repaired (at least 2 or 3 repairs, I'd guess, and well done) by the miners. The form is excellent, with the crystal being tapered and doubly-terminated. The Sapphire and the matrix have identical fluorescence. These are important, and unusually large, Sapphire crystals for a USA locality. At 13 cm in length, this is one of the more significant Corundums found in this remarkable, one time find. They are American classics, but seldom seen for sale outside the collections in California that swallowed them up when found. They come up for sale again only very seldom in collections. This is from the collection of Kay Robertson of Los Angeles.

This specimen is part of the 2023 Dallas Mineral Collecting Symposium benefit auction, with proceeds benefiting Mineralogical Record, Rocks & Minerals, Tucson Gem and Mineral Society, and mindat.org. Thanks to all of our participants!

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