London – Show-stopping sapphires and spinels bring sparkle to Bonhams London Jewels sale on Thursday 2 December at New Bond Street. A sapphire and diamond ring, dating from circa 1920, leads the sale with an estimate of £150,000 - 200,000, followed closely by a sapphire, diamond and natural pearl pendant, from the late 19th century, which has an estimate of £65,000 - 85,000. Two pieces featuring exceptional spinels from the same mine as the Hope Spinel – which Bonhams sold for a record price in 2015 – are also amongst the highlights of the sale: they are a spinel and diamond pendant (estimate: £40,000 - 60,0000) and a spinel and diamond ring (estimate: £35,000 - 45,000).
Head of Jewellery UK, Emily Barber, commented: "Sapphires hailing from Kashmir, as in this sublime sapphire and diamond ring, display a vivid velvety blue hue that is unique to the region, and are among the most highly prized gems due to their rarity and their scarcity. The spinel pendant and ring are equally remarkable, both hailing from the same geographical location as the very best historic specimens, including the Hope Spinel, and at this size and quality are considered rare and exceptional."
Until 1783, red and pink spinels were mistaken for rubies. Even after fine pink gems were known to be spinels, they were still referred to as "balas" or "balais" rubies – a term that derives from an ancient word for Badakhshan, a province north of Afghanistan, where they were mined. These Kuh-i-Lal ('red mountain') mines were the world's main source of large spinels from the 1st century AD. Marco Polo (c.1254–1324) described how "fine and valuable balas rubies" were dug only for the King, who owned the entire supply, which he sent to other kings as tributes or as "friendly presents".
Spectacular Mughal spinels which entered Persian, Russian and European royal treasuries include the "Black Prince's Ruby": a large uncut red spinel, given to the Black Prince by Pedro the Cruel in 1367, worn by Henry V in his helmet at the Battle of Agincourt and is now set in the Imperial State Crown in the British crown jewels.
Kashmir sapphires were first discovered in the late 1870s high in the snow-clad Great Himalayas of north-western India, where a landslide revealed hitherto unknown deposits in a rock valley 4500m above sea level. By 1882, the Maharaja of Kashmir had taken control of the mine, that could only be worked from July-September each year due to the high altitude and near perpetual heavy snowfall. By 1887 the 'Old Mine' was nearly exhausted and a 'New Mine', on the valley floor 250m below, gave up some fine sapphires but generally of lesser quality, size and quantity. The area was worked sporadically until the early 1930s, but the glory years of the 1880s were never repeated. Legend tells that the finest stones from this 40-year period were all acquired by the Maharaja, and jealously guarded in the chambers of the Kashmir State Treasury. British geologist, Charles Stewart Middlemiss, Superintendent of the Mineral Survey of Jammu and Kashmir State from 1917 until 1930, recorded seeing some of this fabled hoard, describing the sacks of rough and cut gems as a "king's ransom", with some sapphires the size of polo balls.
Today, Kashmir sapphires set the standard against which all other sapphires are measured and are avidly sought by collectors who are prepared to pay princely sums for top-quality specimens from this extraordinary period in the history of gemmology.
16 November 2021