Gemstones of Sri Lanka

Since ancient times, Sri Lanka is called an island of precious stones, as here you can find from 40 to 85 their varieties.
At the time of the Arab merchants, the island was named Serendip or an island of precious stones. Many navigators came here for noble metals and precious stones that embellished the crowns and were hidden in the treasuries of kings and sultans. Under the name “Serendip”, Sri Lanka entered the stories about Sinbad the Sailor. It is known that King Solomon himself presented to the Queen of Sheba a ruby, brought from Sri Lanka. Famous traveler Marco Polo saw a ruby, as thick as a human hand that decorated the Ruvanveli mortar in Anuradhapura.

But the king of Sri Lanka gemstones, without any doubt is considered a sapphire. The famous blue sapphire “Blue Beauty”, embellishing the English Crown, as well as the sapphire “The Star of India”, exhibited in the museum of New York, that also came from Sri Lanka, namely from the city of Ratnapura, an important center for the extraction of precious stones.

The process of mining remains unchanged from ancient times. This is still manual labor. The mines are dгп with a pickaxe and a shovel, usually near the riverbank. The rock is lifted up in baskets or buckets with the help of ropes, and then washed under a stream of water or in the nearest river. This is done not from the lack of modern technology, but for the sake of conservation of the rock alive.

Which precious stones can you see in Sri Lanka? First of all, sapphires, of which there are a lot of varieties: blue (from dark blue to pale blue), orange, pink, yellow, white, and also star sapphire. Red sapphire, better known as ruby, is also one of the kings of Sri Lanka, along with its variety – a star ruby.

There are also garnets that are so diverse that it is difficult even to imagine: an orange-brown (orange-brown), almandine (fiery red), rhodolite (pale red), spesartite (brownish-red), yellowish red garnet. And also greenish-yellow alexandrite, cat’s eye, moonstone (light translucent with bluish reflections), amethyst, aquamarine, beryl, topaz (more often yellow-brown), zircon, tourmaline (golden yellow or greenish), spinel.

At the factory you can choose the stone you like and order to frame it. The term of manufacturing is up to 3 days.