A faceted topaz weighing 22,892.50 carats, making it the largest cut yellow topaz in the world,
as well as one of the largest faceted gems in the world, period.
Here are some unique and famous gems
The American Golden Topaz
On the left side in the above photo is the Lindsay Uncut Topaz, weighing
70 lbs,
and the one on the right is the Freeman Uncut Topaz, weighing 111 lbs.
All three stones are part of the Smithsonian Museum's collection.
The stone being held for this photo, to show scale.
The Bismark Sapphire Necklace
The Chalk Emerald Ring
The ring, in its display case.
It originally weighed 38.40 carats, but was re-cut and set in a ring, by Harry
Winston Inc.
It is surrounded by sixty pear-shaped diamonds (totaling 15 carats),
The ring was a gift to the Smithsonian Institute by Mr. and Mrs. O.
Roy Chalk in 1972.
The Delong Star Ruby
The Delong Star Ruby resides in the Natural History Museum in New York City.
It weighs 100.32 carats.
In 1964 the Delong Star Ruby, along with the Star of India,
was the object of an infamous burglary carried out by Jack Murphy,
known as Murph the Surf, and two other men.
They were ransomed from $25,000 and both
recovered.
The Delong Star was found at a designated drop off site - a phone
booth in Florida.
The Gordon Sapphire Necklace
The Gordon Sapphire set in this necklace, along with a star sapphire pendant-ring,
went up for auction in April
of 2002 at Sotheby's Auction House.
Both pieces belonged to Aron Gordon, the
founder of Gordon Jewelers.
Here is what Sotheby's had to say about the piece:
"The pendant set with an emerald-cut sapphire weighing approximately 50.00
carats,
within a clustered frame set with 10 marquise-shaped, 26 pear-shaped,
7
round and 25 baguette diamonds weighing approximately 14.50 carats,
the necklace
set with 51 round, 56 marquise-shaped and 4 pear-shaped diamonds
weighing a
total of approximately 22.50 carats, mounted in platinum, length 17 inches,
pendant detaches, may be worn separately as a brooch."
The Gordon Star Sapphire
The Gordon Star Sapphire set in a pendant-ring that came up for auction
at Sothebys Auction
House in April, 2002.
This is what they had to say about it:
"The oval-shaped star sapphire cabochon weighing approximately 52.00 carats,
framed by 24 pear-shaped diamonds weighing approximately 6.60 carats,
mounted in
platinum, ring shank detachable, retractable pendant loop.
Estimate: $7000 to
$9000"
Aron S. Gordon (1911-2001), was a native of Houston.
Aron Gordon attended the
University of Texas and later worked for the family business,
Gordon's Jewelers,
founded by his father in 1905.
During World War II, he joined the United States
Navy and was stationed in Pearl Harbor
where he served as an officer on the
staff of Admiral Chester Nimitz.
After the war, he returned home to resume his
position in the family business.
In 1989, when the company was sold, Aron Gordon
was Co-Chairman of the Board.
By that time, the Gordon Jewelry Corporation, with
over 600 stores,
had become the second largest retail jeweler in the country,
and
was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Aron Gordon and his wife Anaruth were avid collectors
and traveled
extensively from the late 1940s to 1989.
They both served on the Board of
Trustees of The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.
In addition, Aron Gordon served
on many boards as Director or Trustee,
including the Jewelers of America,
the
Jewelry Industry Council, the Houston Symphony,
and the National Jewish Hospital
in Denver.
In 1993, Aron Gordon was elected into the Texas Business Hall of
Fame.
Both Aron and Anaruth had been honored by St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation
and the Houston Youth Symphony & Ballet as Cultural Leader of the Year.
Anaruth
Gordon passed away in 1995.
The Hixon Ruby Crystal
The Hixon Ruby Crystal is a 196.10-carat gem.
It was donated to the Natural
History Museum of Los Angeles in 1978 by Frederick C. Hixon.
It is considered to
be one of the most perfect large ruby crystals in the world.
The Logan Sapphire Brooch
Historically the finest sapphire gems came from Sri Lanka and Burma,
and the
same is pretty much true today.
Sri Lanka, nicknamed the "Gem Island," has been
an important source of sapphires, rubies,
and other gemstones for more than two
thousand years.
The stones that have been eroded from Sri Lanka's central
mountains are still plucked
by hand from gravel deposits that cover most of the
southern half of the island.
Sapphires from Sri Lanka are typically light to
medium blue,
and gemstones have been cut that weigh up to several hundred
carats.
The National Gem Collection boasts one of the largest fine blue sapphire
gems,
including the 422.99-carat Logan Sapphire from Sri Lanka.
It is the heaviest mounted
gem in the National Gem Collection,
and is framed in a brooch setting surrounded
by twenty round brilliant-cut diamonds,
totaling 16 carats.
The piece was a
gift to the Smithsonian Institute from Mrs. John A. Logan in 1960.
The Mackay Emerald Necklace
The stunning 167.97-carat Mackay Emerald was mined in Muzo, Columbia.
The
largest cut emerald in the National Gem Collection,
it is set in an Art Deco
diamond and platinum necklace designed by Cartier Inc.
In 1931, Clarence H.
Mackay presented the necklace as a wedding gift to his wife, Anna Case,
a prima donna of the New York Metropolitan Opera from 1909 to 1920.
The piece was
donated to the Smithsonian Institute by Mrs. Anna Case Mackay in 1984.
The Maria Alexandrovna Sapphire Brooch
In the Great London Exhibition of 1862,
a sapphire weighing 260.37 carats was
purchased by Russian Emperor Alexander II
and presented to his wife Empress
Maria Alexandrovna.
This rare treasure was described as
"unique ... for its
combination of size, color, clarity and extraordinary cut."
Today, this
magnificent piece of history is in the Russian Diamond Fund,
where it is proudly
shown in Moscow, Russia.
