Properties and Nature / Physical Characteristics

(1) An English ambassador in Ava (a famous city of Burma) saw a fine, well-colored, and flawless sapphire weighing 951 carats. (2) In the royal treasury of Paris, there is a large, handsome, flawless almond-shaped sapphire weighing 122-1/16 carats. It was acquired by a Bengali spoon/palanquin vendor; for this reason, it was named Don Spun Celeri. Later, upon coming into the House of Ruspoli (this house is in the city of Rome), it became famous under the name Ruspoli. It was then sold to a German prince, who sold it to a French jeweler named Perret for 28,000 rupees. (3) Nowadays, there are two extremely famous sapphires in Europe that were displayed at the 1863 London exhibition. One is black, almond-shaped, flawless, and weighs approximately 252 carats. The other was slightly less in weight, which came from India in 1856 weighing 225 carats, cut locally there. It had a major flaw of yellowish tint. Upon being recut, it remained at 165 carats and was sold in Paris for 7,000 or 8,000 pounds. (4) A very large sapphire named Merveilleux was seen in the Queen's crown, whose color appeared bluish during the day and emerald-like at night. Because sapphire is very hard, engraving work is not performed on it. There are only a few sapphires on which engraving work has been observed: (1) Accordingly, there is a sapphire in Rome on which an image of Hercules is engraved. (2) With the ruler of Lichenstein, there is a sapphire weighing 53 carats on which a hunting scene is engraved along with the carved words Constantius Aug. This scene depicts a king spearing a wild boar that stands before a beautiful woman. (3) On a fine 3/4-inch square sapphire, an image of Pope Paul III is engraved. (4) A yellow, five-sided sapphire was seen on which an image of Henry IV was engraved along with the carved letters C.D.F. (5) A sapphire measuring 3/4-inch in length and 1-1/2 inches in width was seen on which the image of Caracalla's face was engraved. (6) On an antique sapphire, the crest and coat of arms of Cardinal Wolsey are engraved, and so on. Sapphire Mines Located in the State of Kashmir In the State of Jammu and Kashmir, sapphire mines were revealed during the reign of Sri Maharaja Ranbir Singh Bahadur. These are situated in remote, arduous mountains on the border of Jammu, at a distance of 160 miles from Jammu, at 76.53 degrees longitude and 33.30 degrees latitude. The path from Jammu to this place is extremely hazardous and difficult to traverse. These mines were revealed merely by a stroke of chance in such a way that approximately 13 years ago, a landslide fell from a mountain, so that the sapphire-bearing hillside fell into the valley. Only shepherds of the Bhoti tribe visit these rugged highlands in India during the months of July, August, and September for hunting or grazing sheep. Seeing these beautiful, glittering stones, they were amazed, though they did not recognize them as precious gems. However, they gathered several of the better, fine-shaped, and transparent stones so that in exchange, they could obtain salt and sugar candy, which are extremely scarce there and available at very exorbitant rates through traders from Pangi, Chamba, and Shimla. When these shepherds saw that the merchants gladly traded salt, sugar candy, iron, and other necessities in exchange for these stones, they began a considerable, regular trade with them; the merchants profited immensely from the ignorance of these simple shepherds, causing a great loss to the State of Kashmir. Meanwhile, while this unauthorized trade was vigorously underway, a few stones came into the hands of a Delhi jeweler, who was astonished to see such fine sapphires originating from the Himalayas via merchants from Pangi and Chamba. Upon investigating, he discovered the true source of these stones. In order to obtain a substantial reward, he informed Sri Maharaja Ranbir Singh Bahadur that an invaluable treasure existed in his state, which had been uncovered by shepherds and was being squandered by traders in exchange for petty articles. When the late Maharaja heard that a sapphire mine lay within his territory, he dispatched several trusted state officials to that area, had all available sapphires gathered—which were worth hundreds of thousands of rupees—and posted a guard there to prevent any future loss.