Sapphires
Sri Lankan Sapphires/Ceylon Sapphires
In this volume 1 edition, we at Precious Gemstones Investment Incorporation aspire to introduce Sri Lankan Sapphires as an investment option to individuals and companies who desire to diversify their investment portfolio to a very versatile investment option and expand their already existing investment portfolio and to new players looking to investing their wealth in a very safe and secure investment vehicle and earn lucrative returns over a time period in holding their precious gemstones as an investment.
As Phatek Philippe to watches Rolls Royce to cars the Ceylon Sapphires has held its Royal image among the sapphires of the world. Sapphires occur in very few regions on earth the most important regions are Kashmir, Burma, Africa and Sri Lanka.
Sri lanka is currently the well-known sapphire producer of the world with ethical mining practices and a good source for the blue sapphires and all other sapphire varieties sits on top, with many influencing factors
– Beautiful shades of blues pleasing to the eye of the beholder
– Environment friendly mining practices followed by miners for centuries
– Sri Lankan sapphires are the most sought after among all sapphire producers of the world by gem traders, royal houses, collectors, jewelers across the globe which makes it easily tradable
Famous Ceylon Sapphires
Princess Diana sapphire
The incredible sapphire ring was designed by Crown jeweller, Garrard, at a cost of £28,500; which would amount to about £110,000 today. The ring featured a 12 carat oval Ceylon sapphire, surrounded by 14 round brilliant diamonds, set in an 18 carat white gold band. The iconic engagement ring was specifically designed for Princess Diana.
Belle of Asia
392.52-carat Blue Belle of Asia –$17,305,996
What is so special with this oval Burmese sapphire? Apart from selling for an amazing price of $7,223,285 at Sotheby’s Geneva auction in November 2013, this exceptional royal blue sapphire holds the world’s auction record for the sale of a Burmese sapphire. Accompanied by SSEF and Gubelin reports, this sapphire with Burmese origin shows no indication of heat and is noted to have been perfectly cut from the rough crystal to show the finest royal blue colour.
Impressive and Rare Sapphire and Diamond Necklace
One of the most beautiful sapphires from Sri Lanka took the centre stage during the last April 2014 Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction in a form of this gorgeous necklace. The 102.61 carats Ceylon sapphire is surrounded by brilliant-cut diamonds and fixed by a double-strand necklace set with brilliant-cut diamonds ends into a jaw-dropping price of $4,206,378.00, bringing Sotheby’s another gemstone to remember. Accompanied by AGL and SSEF reports, the exceptional sapphire is natural with no indications of heating. AGL report also states that the sapphire has “unusual combination of size, provenance and absence of treatment.”
Rockefeller Sapphire
The Rockefeller family are no strangers to the finer things in life and over the years, have amassed one of the world’s most impressive jewellery collections. Amongst these jewels was a 66-carat internally flawless sapphire with an exceptional cornflower blue colour. The gem entered into the Rockefeller dynasty in 1934 after John D. Rockefeller, Jr. bought the stone from an Indian Maharajah. In the early 1940’s, skilled jewellers, Pierre Cartier and Raphael Esmerian, worked together to re-cut the stone into a magnificent brooch, flanked by calibré-cut sapphires and diamonds. With their combined craftsmanship, Cartier and Esmerian created a rectangle-cut so architecturally impressive that Christie’s has called it a “masterpiece”. When the brooch was sold along with the rest of Rockefeller’s Zurich estate in 1971, it was Esmerian who purchased it for $170,000 before selling the following year to an Italian client. This wasn’t the last time that the jewel would belong to the Esmerian family as, in 1980, four years after Raphael’s death, the brooch was bought by his son Ralph who wished to continue his father’s gem legacy. Ralph repolished the stone to its current weight of 62-carats and mounted it onto a platinum ring before selling. Just eight years later, Ralph re-purchased the ring for $2,850,000 which, at that time, was a world record amount. The Esmerian family have since parted ways with the ring and it last entered into a public auction in 2001 at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale in New York. The ring of course was a highly anticipated favourite and reached a huge $3,031,000.
*This read will show u how over half a century a sapphire has appreciated in value.
Source – https://londonde.com/blogs/news/the-most-luxurious-sapphire-jewels-in-theworld
Kashmir Sapphires
Kashmir sapphires have been almost extinct, as the mines have been depleted a few decades ago. The Kashmir sapphires demand the highest prices in the sapphire world with a velvety blue hue these sapphires a very rare to obtain in the market with very limited supply of the high quality range. Kashmir sapphires are very rare to be seen in the trading platforms the Kashmir sapphires are now almost only seen in the auction houses demanding the highest prices per carat paid for sapphires.
An exceptional 35.09-carat Kashmir blue sapphire ring just sold for $7,357,999 at Christie’s Geneva sale of Magnificent Jewels on May 13 2020. This sale, almost 8 million in total, established a new record price at auction for a Kashmir sapphire, at more than $200,000 per carat! Here’s a look at these coveted treasures.
A 109.08-carat Kashmir royal blue sapphire and diamond necklace, ‘The Peacock Necklace’, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels for US$14.9m, a world auction record for a Kashmir sapphire necklace.
Burmese/Myanmar Sapphires
Burmese sapphires mined in the region of Mogok do produce beautiful royal blue colour tones with darker colour tones. Mogok mines for sapphires are a very important sapphire source of the world and it has been active for 1000s of years and has been a very desired sapphire in the world precious gemstone markets and fetch high prices in the markets as a very beloved sapphire among the precious gemstones traders and collectors and high-end jewelers.
114.74-carat Unmounted Burmese Sapphire – $7,223,285
What is so special with this oval Burmese sapphire? Apart from selling for an amazing price of $7,223,285 at Sotheby’s Geneva auction in November 2013, this exceptional royal blue sapphire holds the world’s auction record for the sale of a Burmese sapphire. Accompanied by SSEF and Gubelin reports, this sapphire with Burmese origin shows no indication of heat and is noted to have been perfectly cut from the rough crystal to show the finest royal blue colour.
47.15-carat Burmese Sapphire and Diamond Brooch
A sapphire brooch, no matter the size and shape, has always something to give and in May 2012 Christie’s Geneva auction proved that sapphire brooches are irreplaceable. Previously owning the record price per carat for a Burmese sapphire at $77,390, this 47.15 carat sapphire and diamond brooch by Mellerio is set in an oldmine cut diamond frame with single and brilliant-cut diamonds in ribbon detail. It was graded by SSEF Swiss Gemmological Institute as rare with no indications of heating, making it well-deserved of the selling price of $3,648,894.
Africa
In the African continent Madagascar produces mesmerizing precious gemstones of all varieties and is a good source for the blue sapphires. Madagascar royal blue sapphire is a little darker in tone to the other sapphire sources and lesser in demand compared to the Kashmir Burma and Ceylon sapphires.