''Trapiche'' Sapphire (ex Bill Larson Collection)

Item Description

The word "Trapiche" comes from the name of a Spanish mill consisting of wooden spokes or rollers that were designed to extract the juice from fruit, including olives, dating back to the Middle Ages. The term has been used since 1879 when Emile Bertrand used it to describe Emeralds from Colombia. The dark six-sided star shaped patterns seen inside the crystals (when viewed looking down the "c" axis) are similar to the actual spokes of a trapiche machine. These rays appear much like asterism, the only difference being that they are fixed and do not move. A Trapiche is the result of the hexagonal shape of the crystal, where the darker impurities interrupt the growth of the crystal and are pushed to the center of the crystal and then radiates out in the six directions of the corners of the crystal. Here we have a lovely Trapiche Sapphire from Thabeikkyin featuring alternating dark blue and grey colored "spokes" or "legs" radiating from the center of the piece. The piece is sliced and polished to better show the internal pattern. The stone weighs 44.13 carats. From the collection of Bill Larson of Fallbrook, California. Bill is a well-known gem and mineral dealer as well as a miner and collector. Bill is synonymous with minerals of San Diego County, and owned and operated famous mines such as the Stewart Lithia, the Tourmaline Queen, the Pala Chief and the Himalaya, producing some of the most iconic mineral specimens to come out of the area during the 1970s-1980s. Bill is also known as "Burma Bill" and traveled the world for decades in search of fine gems and minerals, and was directly involved in the in-person acquisition and importation of superb specimens and stones from Myanmar (Burma). You can read his biography at https://mineralogicalrecord.com/biographies_labels/larsonwilliam-f/