Logan Sapphire

Logan Sapphire is a world-famous faceted blue sapphire discovered from Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan sapphires are typically light to medium blue in color.  The Logan Sapphire is blue in color with very slight violet overtones (Feather, 2016). A Gemological Institute of America (GIA) report dated June 1997 revealed that the color of this stone is natural and it had not been treated with heat (Feather, 2016). 

Presently, the stone is housed in the Smithsonian Institute's Museum of Natural History alongside the Bismarck Sapphire Necklace and the Hall Sapphire and Diamond Necklace. It is the heaviest mounted gem in their collection (Feather, 2016). The stone which weighing 422.98 carats (84.6 g) is set in a silver and gold brooch surrounded by round brilliant-cut 20 diamonds totaling 16 carats (Clark, 1998; Feather, 2016).

 

The stone belonged to Sir Ellice Victor Sassoon (1881-1961), the third Baronet of Bombay (Feather, 2016). He is supposed to have acquired it from a Maharaja in India (Feather, 2016). It was later purchased by Col. Meyer Robert Guggenheim (1885-1959) who gave it to his wife Rebecca Pollard Guggenheim as a Christmas/anniversary gift in late 1952 or early 1953 (Feather, 2016). Rebecca gifted it to the Smithsonian in December 1960 but retained possession of the piece until April 1971 (Feather, 2016). By that time Rebecca was married to Joan A. Logan, hence the stone got the name Logan (Feather, 2016).

References

1) Clark, C., 1998. Tropical Gemstones. Tuttle Publishing. p.14.

2) Feather, R.C., 2016. The Royal-Blue Logan Sapphire at the Smithsonian Institution. Rocks & Minerals, 91(1), pp.59-60.

Location Map

This page was last updated on 24 January 2021
For a complete tourist map follow this link: Lankapradeepa Tourist Map