Black Sapphires
Black star of Queensland sapphire
I admit my knowledge of gemstones is very limited. I would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a garnet, a ruby, or a red diamond. Gemology will never fascinate me. When I was searching for treasures to place on the game board of Treasure Trove I was even surprised to learn there are black gemstones including black diamonds as well as black sapphires.
In the process of learning historically where the largest diamonds and gemstones have come from I learned that since the late 19th century Australia has been one of the largest producers of sapphires, notably yellow sapphires. Where there have been discoveries of great diamonds have also been tales to tell, which seem to grow larger and more vivid with time. One such tale involves a famous black sapphire called the “Black Star of Queensland,” discovered in 1935. When a 12 year boy brought home a shiny black rock to show his father the discovery, the dad thought it was just black crystal. It served as a doorstop for the next dozen or so years until one day the family learned that there are such a thing as black sapphires, although very rare. When they chipped open the rock it was indeed not only a black sapphire, but the largest the world had ever seen. It weighed over 1100 carats and was promptly sold for $18,000, a lot of money at the time. It has since been cut down to the present 733 carat Black Star of Queensland and originally sold for 1,000,000 dollars. It occasionally comes up at auction and is presently valued at many tens of millions of dollars.
A star diamond is one that exhibits asterism which means it has a six pointed star pattern visible as you look at the gemstone. The 182 carat Star of Bombay sapphire originally from Sri Lnka has the distict star pattern. It is housed in the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.
Star of Bombay sapphire
If you visit Queensland you can still go fossicking, Australian term for prospecting.
sapphire mining fields of Queensland Australia