Sri Lanka Is Looking To Sell ‘Queen of Asia’, Its 310-Kg Blue Sapphire, If The Buyer Pays Over US$100 Mn

The 1,550,000 carats stone is world's largest natural corundum blue sapphire. A Dubai firm has offered US$100 million but Sri Lanka is looking at a higher price for it.

The natural corundum blue sapphire was found from a private land in Sri Lanka's Ratnapura locality in July 2021 | Photo: Getty

New Delhi: Sri Lanka is negotiating with a Dubai-based company that has offered US$100 million for its ‘Queen of Asia’, which is said to be the world's largest natural corundum blue sapphire, local media reported.

Sri Lanka unveiled the gem in December, three months after it was found in the gem-rich belt of Ratnapura.

According to a report in the Daily Mirror, the government said Thursday talks were going on with the company on the sale of the stone at a higher price.

Quoting State Minister of Gem and Jewellery Related Industries Lohan Ratwatte, the report said no final decision has been taken by the Sri Lankan government yet on the offer.

Ratwatte also said there are discussions under way on whether to auction the corundum sapphire at an even higher price.

Stone Found In Ratnapura, The 'City Of Gems'

The single crystal blue sapphire, which weighs around 310 kg (1,550,000 carats), was displayed at the residence of Chamila Suranga Pannilaarachchi, who is in possession of the stone, in Horana in December, the report said. 

Pannilaarachchi, who is the president of the Gemological Institute of Ratnapura, is reported to have said that a French gem scientist had valued the blue sapphire at more than US$200 million.

It was reported last month that the stone had attracted interest from potential buyers in the United States and China too.

The sapphire found from a private land in Ratnapura is currently in custody of the Sri Lanka National Gem and Jewelry Authority, which has stored it in its laboratory.

Located around 100 km from capital Colombo, Ratnapura, as the name suggests, is known as the "city of gems".

The world's largest star sapphire cluster was “accidentally” discovered in the backyard of 

A gem trader when workmen were digging a well, BBC reported in July. 

"I have never seen such a large specimen before. This was probably formed around 400 million years ago," the report quoted Dr Gamini Zoysa, a renowned gemologist, as saying.