Famous faceted saphire gemstones

Blue Belle of Asia Natural blue saphire gemstone

Photo - Blue Belle of Asia Natural saphire

Napoléon’s Engagement Ring for Joséphine

Though the ring is exquisite, it did not mark the start to an especially happy marriage. Though the smitten emperor is said to have spent a fortune on the ring, which snugly pairs a teardrop-shaped saphire with a diamond, for his love Joséphine, their union quickly failed. Napoléon left to conquer Milan, and Joséphine, preferring to stay in Paris with her children from a previous marriage, engaged in an affair with Lt. Hippolyte Charles, rendering her husband aghast and resentful for years. The ring sold for $1.17 million

Photo - Napoléon’s Engagement Ring for Joséphine

Blue Giant of the Orient

The largest faceted blue saphire in the world at 486 carats and reportedly measuring two and a half inches at the widest point, this aptly named “giant” seems as though it would be difficult to lose track of. After the gem was discovered in Sri Lanka in 1907, the ring was bought by an American collector and vanished completely from the public eye. It took nearly a century for it to resurface, at a 2004 Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction, where it became the largest faceted saphire ever to be auctioned, only to be quickly claimed and hidden away once again.

Photo - Blue Giant of the Orient, blue saphire

The Blue Belle of Asia

This magnificent gem claimed $17 million at a Christie’s auction in November 2014, setting the record for the most expensive saphire ever sold at public auction. The Blue Belle has changed hands a number of times in its near 100-year-old history. It was originally bought in 1937 with the intention of using it as a coronation gift for Queen Elizabeth II but never ended up in the Queen’s possession. The necklace was most recently bought by a Saudi collector.

Blue Belle of Asia, Natural blue faceted saphire gemstone

Photo - Blue Belle of Asia, Natural saphire

The Rockefeller Saphire

This rectangular-cut saphire from Myanmar is not only extraordinary for its size, shape, clarity and color, but it also boasts a fabulous provenance. It was purchased in 1934 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. from the Nizam of Hyderabad. In the 1940s, Rockefeller asked Pierre Cartier of the namesake French jewelry maison to recut the stone into this unique shape and mount it for his wife, Abby. The ring was then passed to his second wife, Martha Baird, but following her death in 1971, it went up for auction in Zurich and sold for $170,000. It was resold a few more times before its last appearance at Christie’s New York in April 2001, where it went for a whopping $3,031,000.

Photo - Rockefeller saphire, natural blue saphire

The Queen of Romania Saphire

This 478.68-carat saphire pendant necklace is among the five largest sapphires in the world. First recorded in Cartier’s workshop in 1913, it was then famously worn by Queen Marie, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Czar Alexander II of Russia, to the coronation of her husband, King Ferdinand of Romania, in 1922. In 1947 it was sold to Harry Winston before entering the collection of the Greek royal family. It was most recently offered at Christie’s in 2003 for $2,105,667.

Queen of Romania saphire, natural blue faceted saphire gemstone

Photo - Queen of Romania saphire gemstone

The Logan Saphire

The Logan Saphire is a 422.98-carat saphire from Sri Lanka. The mixed cushion-cut stone was owned by Sir Victor Sassoon and then purchased by M. Robert Guggenheim as a gift for his wife, Rebecca Pollard Guggenheim. She later gifted the sapphire to the Smithsonian Institution in 1960; its name is derived from her new surname after remarrying to John A. Logan. As of 2022, the Logan saphire is on display in the National Gem Collection of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.