32 PRECIOUS STONES
dred
and two and one-fourth carats, and was recut to seventy-two and
one-half carats. Both were exhibited in the exposition of 1862.
Among
the exhibits of 1862, and later at the Paris Exposition of 1867, were
two fine large sapphires. One, oval, dark, and of slightly inky color,
but free from flaws, weighed two hundred and fifty-two carats. It was
cut from the rough by Mr. Loop in 1840. The other, smaller but of
richer color, was brought as an India-cut stone from India in 1856. It
weighed two hundred and twenty-five carats, but the shape was bad, and
it had a large yellow flaw in the back, which gave a greenish cast to
the color. Mr. J. N. Forster, successor to Mr. Loop, recut it to a
fine gem of one hundred and sixty-five carats. It was sold in Paris,
and was estimated to be worth from £7000 to £8000.
There
is a sapphire of fine color and flawless in the Jar-din des Plantes,
Paris, which was found by a poor man in Bengal. It came into possession
of the house of Raspoli, of Rome, and left by them to a German prince,
who later sold it to the French dealer in jewels, Perret, for £6800. It
weighed rough one hundred and thirty-two and one-sixteenth carats.
The Duke of Devonshire, in England, has a fine sapphire of over one hundred carats, brilliant-cut above and step-cut below.
One
of the largest sapphires known was reported by an English embassy as
among the treasures of the King of Ava in 1827. It came from Burma,
weighed nine hundred and fifty-one carats, but was not perfect.
There was a large sapphire of fine color in the Hope collection which appeared to equal advantage by artificial light.
A number of fine sapphires, beautifully engraved, exist in European collections.
One of the largest and finest emeralds of which there is any record is owned by the Duke of Devonshire, in England.
