Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1880 — A Sapphire That Weighs a Pound. [ARTICLE]

A Sapphire That Weighs a Pound.

The London Telegraph says that Berlin has just learned to its astonishment and gratification, from a report of the Polytechnic Society’s latest meeting, that within its walls reposes a treasure of almost fabulous value, tlx' very existence of which had been hitherto unsuspected. A member of the above-maim d society is the enviable owner of the largest sapphire in the world -a stone weighing nearly fifteen ounces. Pitre sapphires of good color hold so high a rank in the gem market that, were this gigantic jewel of the first water, it would be worth no less a sum than £3,200,(XX). It is, however, not absolutely free from' impurities, a fact which materially diminishes its practical value, but enor mous bids for it, made at different times by German Princes ami wealthy mineralogists, have been invariably r. j oted by its proprietor, who has constituted if an heirloom, and confided it, in deposit, to the custody of the state judicial authorities. A sapphire weighing marly a pound may fairly claim to rank as among the wonders of flic world, 11 would lx interesting to learn how so extraordinary a gem came into the possession of the Prussian savant who exhibited it to the wonder-stricken gaze of his fellow Polvte.ehnieians tin' other evening.