SAPPHIRE TO STAR AT ROM
Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star
Toronto Star, Canada
May 17 2007
Photo
The Black Star of Queensland will be placed on public display for the
first time since 1969 when a new addition opens at the Royal Ontario
Museum on June 2, 2007.
Cutting a sapphireDoorknob-sized gem, once thought worthless, may
now be priceless
May 17, 2007 04:30 AM
Debra Black
Staff Reporter
When Harry Spencer, a sapphire miner, first saw the black rock his
young son Roy brought to their home in Queensland, Australia in the
1930s he is said to have remarked – "Oh yes, a large black crystal!"
The story goes that he then threw it by the back door and used it as
a doorstop.
But this was no ordinary large black crystal – this rock turned out
to be one of the largest black star sapphires ever found, coveted by
many and eventually worn by such celebrities as singer-actress Cher.
Valued in 2002 at more than $100 million, the Black Star Sapphire of
Queensland will be on display at the Royal Ontario Museum starting
June 2 as part of the opening and building dedication of the Michael
Lee-Chin Crystal addition.
This is the first time the gem, the size of a hen’s egg or a doorknob,
has been on display since 1969. The black star sapphire, which is 733
carats and has 35 diamonds surrounding it, has only had a few owners.
The so-called "large black crystal," originally weighing 1,156 carats,
was found on the Reward Claim in the Rubyvale area in Queensland –
part of the Anakie Sapphire Fields, the largest of several sapphire
mining areas in Australia.
The Spencer family held on to it uncut until 1947 when it was bought
by Armenian-born jeweller Harry Kazanjian, who took it to his home
in Los Angeles. Kazanjian studied the sapphire and two months later
he cut it, revealing the brilliant six-pointed star. In 1949, its
value was estimated at $1 million. Today, many believe it is priceless.
"It’s beautiful," said Kimberly Tait, a mineralogist and associate
curator with the Royal Ontario Museum. "It takes a skilled cutter
to know what to do. If you don’t do the right thing you get a failed
star."
The sapphire, said to have brought good luck to the Kazanjian family,
was on loan to the Smithsonian Institution in the 1960s as part of
a display with the Hope Diamond. That was the last time it was on
public display. The Kazanjian family held on to the gem for a long
time because it was so beautiful.
The breathtaking sapphire was eventually sold again but that buyer
wished to remain anonymous, said Tait. The owner had seen the gem
when he was a young man and had promised his mother that he would
one day buy it for her. His childhood promise came true.
In 2002 the sapphire was again sold to private owners who do not want
their identity disclosed and they have loaned the gem to the ROM for
the show, which runs until Dec. 2.
For centuries, sapphires have held an allure for both men and women.
They are seen as the jewels of royalty from the maharajahs of India
to the kings and queens of the British monarchy. They have also been
perceived as gems of good luck. Star sapphires have been called the
stone of destiny – with the three bands of the star representing faith,
hope and destiny, said Tait.
The Black Star Sapphire of Queensland has an optical property known as
"asterism" explained Tait. The six-pointed star in the gem "follows
you as you move around the stone."
Sapphires are found as loose crystals in gravel deposits, but some have
been mined to depths of 20 metres. "Iron oxide and iron titanium oxide
have formed with the gem and given it its colour and star effect,"
she said. Star sapphires are not very common, said Tait. And one this
size is really rare.