It’s not every day that you stumble upon something unique and valuable by accident. This is precisely what happened to Mr. Gamage in Sri Lanka when he discovered the biggest sapphire cluster ever recorded. It was a moment where he struck Serendipity, quite literally.
In the mid 2020, a workman while digging a well in the backyard of Gamage’s house hit something. It was a gigantic stone that forced him to stop digging further. When Gamage looked at the stone he realized that his lady luck was smiling on him.
Finders Keepers
Mr. Gamage, who is a third generation gem trader, didn’t take long to look through the layers of mud. He immediately understood that what’s in front of him is not an ordinary stone but a cluster of star sapphire. It weighed a whopping 510 kilograms or 1125 pounds. After a painstaking process of cleaning the rock he got hold of some loose gemstones, which confirmed his earlier assessment.
Later, in July 2021, he secretly reported his find to Sri Lanka’s National Gem and Jewellery Authority (NGJA). The secrecy was indeed important due to safety reasons. Officials confirmed that the stone belongs to Mr. Gamage since he discovered it on his private property.
Since its discovery was nothing but a stroke of serendipity, it received the name ‘Serendipity Stone’.
A World Record of the Biggest Sapphire
The stone has dimensions of 100 cm in length, 72cm in width & 50cms in height. Its voluminous size makes it the biggest ever find of its kind. If you’re wondering, it is approximately 2.5 million carats, having a value between $72 million and $100 million.
Blue Sapphire is the national gemstone of Sri Lanka. And the area where this biggest sapphire stone was found is called Ratnapura. In Sinhalese, the age old Sri Lankan language, Ratna means Gem and pura means town or city. The area, Ratnapura, has a reputation of holding many large sapphire deposits in Sri Lanka. This time, it truly lived up to its name.
The Xinhua news agency later reported that Switzerland’s Gubelin Gem Lab certified Serendipity as the biggest sapphire cluster ever found. This incredible achievement earned the stone a permanent place in the Guinness World Records.
No one knows the stone’s true value yet. Experts must first perform an intense analysis and carefully dismantle the pale blue cluster. Only then will we see how many clear gems it hides, though the BBC reports a value of over $100 million. Some news sources suggest a British auction house will sell the Serendipity Stone, finally revealing its true worth.
What would you do if you found such a thing in your own backyard?
Your Own Serendipity
If you want a piece of Serendipity, then there’s no telling how long you need to wait. However, you can explore a wide variety of natural & lab-created sapphires at GemsNY. There’s no wait and you can get your sapphire jewelry in a jiffy.
