Origin of name Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s comments on the misnomer “Star of India” The “Star of Bombay” is a remarkable and splendid star sapphire owned by the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution, which as the eminent Space Scientist and futurologist Sir Arthur C. Clarke said, had by some distressing impertinence […]
Category Archives: Famous Gemstones
Origin of name
The name “Star of Asia Sapphire” seem to reflect both the type of gemstone, which is a star sapphire and the geographical region from where the gemstone originated, the Asian continent. In fact the stone is believed to have originated from…
Origin of name The Ruspoli Sapphire is also variously known as the Wooden-Spoon Seller’s Sapphire and the Great Sapphire of Louis XIV, and all three names seem to have been derived from persons who at one time had owned the sapphire during the course of its long history. The sapphire is reported to have been […]
Origin of name
The Bismarck Sapphire gets its name from Countess Mona von Bismarck who owned the 98.6-carat deep blue Sri Lankan sapphire, since the time she purchased it, perhaps during her visit to Sri Lanka in 1926, which was one…
Origin of name
The 22.66-carat Kashmir blue sapphire is an unnamed blue sapphire that once belonged to the family of the railroad magnate James J. Hill, and was incorporated as the centerpiece of a pendant to an elaborate diamond and sapphire encrusted necklace…
Origin of name
The Rockefeller Sapphire gets its name from the one time owner of this extraordinarily beautiful blue sapphire, John D. Rockefeller Jr. the only son of John D. Rockefeller Sr. the renowned American industrialist and philanthropist, who purchased the stone in 1934…
Origin of name The St. Edward’s Sapphire gets its name from Edward the Confessor, the king of England from 1042 – 1066, in whose coronet or ring the fine blue, rose-cut gem was once mounted, and is presently set on the finial cross of the Imperial State Crown of Great Britain. Edward was well renowned […]
Origin of name
The Stuart Sapphire gets its name from the House of Stuarts, the Royal House of Scotland from 1371, and of England from 1603 to 1714 except for a short period of interruption between 1649 and 1660, during the republican commonwealth. The…
Origin of name
The name “Blue Giant of the Orient Sapphire” seems to reflect the type of gemstone, its enormous size and the general region of origin of the stone in the world. The stone is an exceptional quality blue sapphire, and the use of…
Origin of name
The Logan Blue Sapphire gets its name from Mrs. John A. Logan in whose honor the stone has been named after she donated it in 1960 to the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington D.C.