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Star Of Artaban
The Star of Artaban is a 287– carat cabochon-cut star sapphire currently located at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Its origin is somewhat obscure but it is believed to come from Sri Lanka. Unlike some other sapphires, it is not transparent and is of a milky blue colour. It was donated by an anonymous member of the Georgia Mineral Society in the 1941–1943 time period. The name of the gem is based on the 1895 tale of ''The Other Wise Man'' by Henry van Dyke. The story's hero, Artaban, was a wise man from Persia who set out to join the Biblical Magi in their journey to see the newborn Jesus. He purchased three great gems, one of which was a sapphire, to present as a gift to the newborn king. He never achieved his goal, and gave his gems to the needy instead. See also *Star of Asia *Star of Bombay *Star of India (gem) *The Star of Adam *List of individual gemstones *List of sapphires by size This is a list of sapphires by size. Sapphire Sapphires ...
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Star Of Asia
The Star of Asia is a large, cabochon A cabochon (; ) is a gemstone that has been shaped and polished, as opposed to faceted. The resulting form is usually a convex (rounded) obverse with a flat reverse. Cabochon was the default method of preparing gemstones before gemstone cutt ...-cut star sapphire currently located at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. It is noted for its significant size and is considered to be one of the largest of its type. Adding to its aesthetic value are its rich blue colour and Asterism (gemology), clear star, formed from three intersecting rutile striations. The stone was mined in Sri Lanka and was co-owned by the Kohinoor Trading Company and King’s Jewelers of Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was brought to the U.S. in 1950 for display at the first United States International Trade Fair in Chicago. By 1958, it was for sale through consignment in London, and was eventually purchased by a Swiss-American named Jack Mason. In 1961, i ...
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Individual Sapphires
An individual is that which exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of being an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) of being a person unique from other people and possessing one's own needs or goals, rights and responsibilities. The concept of an individual features in diverse fields, including biology, law, and philosophy. Etymology From the 15th century and earlier (and also today within the fields of statistics and metaphysics) ''individual'' meant " indivisible", typically describing any numerically singular thing, but sometimes meaning "a person". From the 17th century on, ''individual'' has indicated separateness, as in individualism. Law Although individuality and individualism are commonly considered to mature with age/time and experience/wealth, a sane adult human being is usually considered by the state as an "individual person" in law, even if the person denies individual culpability ("I followed instruct ...
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List Of Sapphires By Size
This is a list of sapphires by size. Sapphire Sapphires are a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminum oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, copper, or magnesium. It is typically blue, but natural "fancy" sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green colors; "parti sapphires" show two or more colors. The only color corundum stone that the term sapphire is not used for is red, which is called a ruby. Pink colored corundum may be either classified as ruby or sapphire depending on locale. Commonly, natural sapphires are cut and polished into gemstones and worn in jewelry. They also may be created synthetically in laboratories for industrial or decorative purposes in large crystal boules. Because of the remarkable hardness of sapphires – 9 on the Mohs scale (the third hardest mineral, after diamond at 10 and moissanite at 9.5) – sapphires are also used in some non-ornamental applications, ...
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List Of Individual Gemstones
A number of gemstones have gained fame, either because of their size and beauty or because of the people who owned or wore them. A list of famous gemstones follows. Alexandrites * Smithsonian museums' Alexandrite, the largest cut alexandrite weighing 65.08 carats. Aquamarines A birthstone. * The Dom Pedro – The world's largest cut and polished aquamarine. Housed in the permanent collection of the Houston Museum of Natural Science Diamonds :''See List of diamonds'' Emeralds * Bahia Emerald * Carolina Emperor, 310 carats uncut, 64.8 carats cut; discovered in the United States in 2009, resides in the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh * Chalk Emerald * Duke of Devonshire Emerald * Emerald of Saint Louis, 51.60 carats cut; discovered in Austria, probably Habachtal, resides in the National Museum of Natural History, Paris * Gachalá Emerald * Mogul Mughal Emerald * Patricia Emerald, 632 carats uncut, dihexagonal (12 sided); discovered in Colombia in 1920, ...
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The Star Of Adam
The Star of Adam is an oval-shaped blue star sapphire, currently the largest star sapphire in the world. It weighs . Prior to its discovery, the Black Star of Queensland, weighing , was the largest star sapphire gem in the world. Description The blue-colored gemstone has a six-pointed star-shaped reflection or distinctive mark in the center. This very large star sapphire was discovered in Ratnapura (known by the nickname "City of Gems"), in southern Sri Lanka, in August 2015. It was named "The Star of Adam" by the current owner, as a reference to Muslim beliefs that Adam arrived in Sri Lanka and lived on Adam's Peak after leaving the Garden of Eden. The owner of the gem, preferring anonymity, told the BBC World Service's Newsday radio programme that "The moment I saw it, I decided to buy", and added "this was not a piece of jewellery but an exhibition piece". The blue star sapphire's weight of was certified by the Gemmological Institute of Colombo; the institute said that ...
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Star Of India (gem)
The Star of India is a 563.35- carat (112.67 g) star sapphire, one of the largest such gems in the world. It is almost flawless and is unusual in that it has stars on both sides of the stone. The greyish-blue gem was mined in Sri Lanka and is housed in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The milky quality of the stone is caused by the traces of the mineral rutile, which is also responsible for the star effect, known as asterism. The tiny fibers of the mineral, aligned in a three-fold pattern within the gem, reflect incoming light into the star pattern. History Mineralogist and Tiffany gem expert George Kunz (1856–1932) was commissioned by wealthy financier J.P. Morgan (1837–1913) to acquire an impressive gem collection for an exhibit at the Paris Exposition of 1900; the Star of India was among the stones Kunz procured. The Star of India is a huge blue star sapphire weighing 563.35 carats. It is cut en cabochon. A British Army officer brought it to ...
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Star Of Bombay
The Star of Bombay is a 182- carat (36.4-g) cabochon-cut star sapphire originating in Sri Lanka. The violet-blue gem was given to silent film actress Mary Pickford by her husband, Douglas Fairbanks. She bequeathed it to the Smithsonian Institution. It is the namesake of the popular alcoholic beverage Bombay Sapphire, a British-manufactured gin. Description The ''Star of Bombay'' is a 182 carat (36.4-g) cabochon-cut star sapphire. According to Southern Jewelry News, "The Star of Bombay sapphire belongs to the mineral species corundum. Pure corundum is colorless, but trace amounts of transition elements like vanadium or chromium result in different colors in the crystal. The Star of Bombay’s violet-blue color is caused by the presence of titanium and iron giving the blue tint, and vanadium contributing to its violet back color." History The ''Star of Bombay'' originates from Sri Lanka and is one of the largest star sapphires which have names unrelated to their origin, the ...
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Biblical Magi
The biblical Magi from Middle Persian ''moɣ''(''mard'') from Old Persian ''magu-'' 'Zoroastrian clergyman' ( or ; singular: ), also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men or (Three) Kings, also the Three Magi were distinguished foreigners in the Gospel of Matthew and Christian tradition. They are said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They are regular figures in traditional accounts of the nativity celebrations of Christmas and are an important part of Christian tradition. The Gospel of Matthew is the only one of the four canonical gospels to mention the Magi. has it that they came "from the east" to worship the "king of the Jews". The gospel never mentions the number of Magi. Still, most western Christian denominations have traditionally assumed them to have been three in number, based on the statement that they brought three gifts. In Eastern Christianity, especially the Syriac churches, the Magi often number twelve. Their i ...
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Carat (unit)
The carat (ct) is a unit of mass equal to or 0.00643 troy oz, and is used for measuring gemstones and pearls. The current definition, sometimes known as the metric carat, was adopted in 1907 at the Fourth General Conference on Weights and Measures, and soon afterwards in many countries around the world. The carat is divisible into 100 ''points'' of 2 mg. Other subdivisions, and slightly different mass values, have been used in the past in different locations. In terms of diamonds, a paragon is a flawless stone of at least 100 carats (20 g). The ANSI X.12 EDI standard abbreviation for the carat is CD. Etymology First attested in English in the mid-15th century, the word ''carat'' comes from Italian ''carato'', which comes from Arabic '' qīrāṭ '' قيراط , in turn borrowed from Greek ''kerátion'' κεράτιον 'carob seed', a diminutive of ''keras'' 'horn'. It was a unit of weight, equal to 1/1728 (1/12) of a pound (see Mina (unit)). History Carob seeds ...
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Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan to the north, by Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, and by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south. It covers an area of , making it the 17th-largest country. Iran has a population of 86 million, making it the 17th-most populous country in the world, and the second-largest in the Middle East. Its largest cities, in descending order, are the capital Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz, and Tabriz. The country is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, beginning with the formation of the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BC. It was first unified by the Medes, an ancient Iranian people, in the seventh century BC, and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC, when Cyrus the Great fou ...
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Henry Van Dyke
Henry Jackson van Dyke Jr. (November 10, 1852 – April 10, 1933) was an American author, educator, diplomat, and Presbyterian clergyman. Early life Van Dyke was born on November 10, 1852, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Henry Jackson van Dyke Sr. (1822–1891), a prominent Brooklyn Presbyterian clergyman known in the antebellum years for his anti-abolitionist views."Henry Jackson Van Dyke," ''National Cyclopedia of American Biography: Volume 7,'' New York: James T. White and Co., 1897; p. 291. The family traced its roots to Jan Thomasse van Dijk, who emigrated from Holland to North America in 1652. The younger Henry van Dyke graduated from Poly Prep Country Day School in 1869, Princeton University, in 1873 and from Princeton Theological Seminary, 1877. Career He served as a professor of English literature at Princeton between 1899 and 1923. Among the many students whom he influenced was, notably, future celebrity travel writer Richard Halliburton (1900–1939 ...
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