And in the modern era, many 'Kashmir' sapphires first saw the light of day on the Red Island off the coast of East Africa.

Thus 21st century 'Kashmir' sapphires with bulletproof heritages from a century ago could actually be from Sri Lanka, which has occasionally produced stones of similar appearance. What are now sold and certified as 'Kashmir' sapphires are based on 'provenance,' at a time when anything with the velvety blue 'Kashmir' look, de facto became Kashmir. While the stones of yore were evenly colored, nothing like that has been found at the mine since the original find. Beset with challenges of elevation, bad access and even worse politics, all subsequent attempts to work this storied deposit have been unsuccessful.Īs of 2020, we don't really know exactly what a Kashmir sapphire is because the data pool is so badly polluted. But by the late 1880s, the source had already gone dark. Ever since, the gem trade has salivated at the mere 'ding' of the Kashmir bell. Sometime about 1881, a landslip high in the Indian Himalayas revealed blue sapphires of extraordinary quality. Thus, we will begin our essay with a discussion of these three. Classic sources (low-iron metamorphic)ĭuring most of the 20th century, fine sapphire came from only three sources, Kashmir (India), Myanmar (Burma) and Sri Lanka (Ceylon). We provide this review to help jewelers, traders and appraisers to better understand this classic precious stone.

World Sapphire Market Update Īmong colored stones, blue sapphire has always been the most important in terms of sales. The authors review the famous sources of the past and look at the current situation in sapphire around the globe.

The world sapphire market has changed dramatically in the past 40 years.

Blue sapphire price