CORUNDUM (SAPPHIRE): VALUE 285 



frequently also they are built of alternate blue and colourless layers. The same phenomenon 

 may be observed in many opaque specimens of common corundum, especially in the brown 

 adamantine-spar, which is sometimes cut so as to show the asterism. Enclosures of the kind 

 described above are more frequent in blue sapphire than in corundum of any other colour, 

 and, as a consequence, star-sapphires are commoner than other varieties of asteriated 

 corundum. 



In Europe star-sapphires only, as a rule, are cut en cabochon ; in India this form of 

 cutting is much more frequently employed, not only for star -stones but also for others. 

 Such stones, however, on their arrival in Europe are always re-cut with facets. Both the 

 form and methods of cutting employed for the sapphire are identical with those used for 

 the ruby, as is also the mounting of the stone. The colour of the sapphire is frequently 

 intensified by placing a piece of blue silver-foil beneath the stone in its setting. 



Value. — Sapphires of large size and fine quality are far more common than rubies of 

 the same description, hence the latter always command higher prices than the former. 

 Thus a flawless carat sapphire of perfect transparency, velvety lustre, and of a uniform deep 

 cornflower-blue colour, will seldom fetch more than £10, while £25 will be easily obtained 

 for a ruby of corresponding size and quality. Sapphires of this description, weighing 

 between 2 and 3 carats, are about equal in value to diamonds of good quality and of the 

 same weight. Faulty stones, the colour of which is pale or of irregular distribution, do not 

 fetch more than a few shillings per carat. Since large sapphires are far more common than 

 large rubies, there is a much smaller disproportion between the prices of large and of small 

 sapphires than between those of large and small rubies. In the case of sapphires, indeed, 

 the prices are almost proportional to the weight, a stone of double the weight being not 

 much more than double the value, and so on. The flaws seen most commonly in sapphire 

 are in general the same as in ruby, namely, clouds, milky and semi-transparent patches, 

 white glassy streaks, alternation of differently coloured layers, areas showing silky 

 lustre, &c. 



Some few sapphires of exceptional beauty and size have acquired wide renown. The 

 most magnificent of these is one of 951 carats seen in 1827 in the treasury of the King of 

 Ava, as described by the English Ambassador at the Court of that monarch. It is reported 

 to have been found in Burma, and to be not absolutely flawless. In the collection of the 

 Jardin des Plantes in Paris is a rough stone of 132^ carats; this is the " wooden-spoon- 

 seller's" stone, and is said to have been found in Bengal by a man who followed that 

 particular trade. It is known also as the " Rospoli " sapphire, after the family in whose 

 possession it formerly was, and is one of the most magnificent of blue sapphires, free from 

 all patches and faults. In the same collection is preserved another fine sapphire, 2 inches 

 long and 1^ inches deep. A beautiful sapphire, weighing over 100 carats, is the property 

 of the Duke of Devonshire ; the lower portion of this stone is step-cut while the upper is 

 cut as a brilliant. Among other noted sapphires may be mentioned a dark, inky, faultless 

 stone weighing 252 carats, which was exhibited in London in 1862, and a fine blue stone, 

 with a yellow patch on one side, which weighed 225 carats, and was exhibited in Paris in 

 1867. 



Occurrence. — The mode of occurrence of sapphire is practically the same as that of 

 ruby. It is found in sands and in solid rock, frequently together with ruby, in the manner 

 already described. There is probably no single locality where one stone is found without 

 the other ; they are invariably associated together, here one and there the other 

 predominating, and with them are usually found other varieties of precious and common 

 corundum. Ruby predominates at the localities specially described above for this gem. 



