Misplaced Pages

#505494

119-579: In addition to the gemstone mining and production assets the Group also owns and operates the Fabergé luxury brand. Gemfields holds additional stakes in companies based in Zambia, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Madagascar . It also holds an indirect minority stake of 6.5% in platinum-group metals producer Sedibelo Platinum Mines Limited. In May 2017, Gemfields Group Limited (then called Pallinghurst Resources Limited) announced

238-563: A $ 1 million contract to promote the perfume Babe by Fabergé in an advertising campaign. Babe received two awards from the Fragrance Foundation for its launch: Most Successful Introduction of a Women's Fragrance in Popular Distribution, and Best Advertising Campaign for Women's Fragrance. By 1984, the company had expanded its personal care products. The company also bought other firms and products, including D-LANZ and BreastCare,

357-530: A 100% subsidiary of Gemfields Group Limited. In February 2020, Gemfields Group Limited relisted on London's AIM stock exchange. The company is currently dual listed on the JSE and AIM. In July 2009, Gemfields Ltd held its first emerald auction. To date, the company has held 38 auctions of rough emerald and beryl produced from Kagem which have generated revenues totalling USD 712 million. In June 2014, Gemfields plc held its first auction of rubies and corundum from

476-399: A breast cancer screening device. In 1984, Israeli financier Meshulam Riklis ' privately owned Riklis Family Corporation acquired Fabergé for $ 670 million. Many Fabergé products, including the original breast device D-LANZ, were discontinued. The company launched McGregor by Fabergé cologne the same year. New product lines were introduced, including men's, women's and children's apparel under

595-464: A certificate from an independent gemological laboratory attesting to "no evidence of heat treatment". Yogo sapphires do not need heat treating because their cornflower blue color is attractive out of the ground; they are generally free of inclusions , and have high uniform clarity. When Intergem Limited began marketing the Yogo in the 1980s as the world's only guaranteed untreated sapphire, heat treatment

714-420: A controversial package worth up to $ 38 million when he resigned from BHP-Billiton in 2003 after just six months as CEO) and Vekselberg had discussed starting an investment business together after Gilbertson was appointed CEO of SUAL. They set up an initial investment joint venture , a complex Cayman Islands structure to be funded by Renova Group and managed by Gilbertson. However, the plan went awry in 2006, as

833-557: A dispute with Fabergé Inc. over trademark rights in the use of the name 'Fabergé' for jewellery. Fabergé & Cie continued to operate in Paris until 2001. The reputation of Fabergé as a producer of the highest standard was maintained by publications and major exhibitions, such as those at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1994 and the Royal Collection in 2003–4. Following the end of

952-399: A dominant red body color. This is generally caused by traces of chromium (Cr ) substituting for the (Al ) ion in the corundum structure. The color can be modified by both iron and trapped hole color centers. Unlike localized ("intra-atomic") absorption of light, which causes color for chromium and vanadium impurities, blue color in sapphires comes from intervalence charge transfer, which is

1071-516: A friend bribed guards, Agathon did not succeed in making his escape from the USSR until November 1927 when he, his wife Maria and son Oleg, together with four helpers, escaped by sleigh under cover of darkness across the frozen Gulf of Finland. Agathon and his family spent the rest of their lives in Finland. In 1924, Alexander and Eugène opened Fabergé & Cie in Paris, where they had a modest success making

1190-551: A full range of jewellery and other ornamental objects. There were enamelled gold and silver gilt, as well as wooden photograph frames; gold and silver boxes; desk sets, walking sticks, doorbells and timepieces. Quality was assured by every article made being approved by Carl Fabergé, or in his absence by his eldest son Eugène, before it was placed into stock. The minutest of faults would result in rejection. The House of Fabergé won international awards and became Russia's largest jewellery firm employing some 500 craftsmen and designers. In

1309-401: A goldsmith under Andreas Ferdinand Spiegel , who specialised in making gold boxes. Later, he continued his training with the celebrated firm of Keibel, goldsmiths and jewellers to the emperors. In 1841, his apprenticeship over, Gustav Faberge earned the title of Master Goldsmith. In 1842, Gustav Faberge opened a shop named Fabergé as a jewellery store in a basement. Adding a diacritic to

SECTION 10

#1732873106506

1428-410: A lot of strain due to the high thermal gradient between the flame and surrounding air. To release this strain, the now finger-shaped crystal will be tapped with a chisel to split it into two halves. Due to the vertical layered growth of the crystal and the curved upper growth surface (which starts from a drop), the crystals will display curved growth lines following the top surface of the boule. This

1547-602: A mining co-operative of local villagers owning 15% and Mazengia Demma owning the remaining 10%. The company holds a 200-square-kilometre emerald exploration license in southern Ethiopia. Exploration activity began in June 2015 in an area to the north of the licence, called the Dogogo Block. The area was selected based on favourable geological settings and evidence of past artisanal activity.  Web Gemstone Mining halted all operations when, on 31 July 2018, an armed mob attacked and breached

1666-690: A pit-wall collapse at the Montepuez Ruby Mine killed eleven illegal miners. Gemfields plc (now called Gemfields Ltd) acquired Fabergé Limited on 28 January 2013. At the time of the announcement of the deal, this valued the brand at approximately USD 142 million. Gemfields owns Oriental Mining SARL , a company incorporated in Madagascar . Oriental has 9 exploration licences covering emeralds, rubies, sapphires , tourmalines and garnets in Madagascar. Gemfields owns 75% of Web Gemstone Mining, PLC, with

1785-400: A rate of 1 to 100 mm per hour. The alumina crystallizes on the end, creating long carrot-shaped boules of large size up to 200 kg in mass. Synthetic sapphire is also produced industrially from agglomerated aluminum oxide, sintered and fused (such as by hot isostatic pressing ) in an inert atmosphere, yielding a transparent but slightly porous polycrystalline product. In 2003,

1904-523: A related trust on the one hand, Renova Group , Vekselberg and Vladimir Kutnetsov met in court in the Cayman Islands over the original acquisition of the Fabergé brand name from Unilever. The claim of Vekselberg to get damages from Gilbertson (he made no claim over rights to the trademark) was dismissed in court. The judge called the lawsuit a personal fight between Gilbertson and Vekselberg. Vekselberg appealed

2023-503: A respected laboratory such as GIA , Lotus Gemology , or SSEF , is often required by buyers before they will make a purchase. Sapphires in colors other than blue are called "fancy" sapphires. "Parti sapphire" is used for multicolor stones with zoning of different colors (hues), but not different shades. Fancy sapphires are found in yellow, orange, green, brown, purple, violet, and practically any other hue. Gemstone color can be described in terms of hue , saturation , and tone . Hue

2142-467: A special designation for gemstone auction participants who build a track record of winning lots at its auctions. These companies are termed "Gemfields Authorised Auction Partners" and enter into bilateral agreements with Gemfields in relation to that status. Such companies can then use the associated branding & identity in promotional and sales materials. Gemfields owns the Kagem emerald mine in Zambia which

2261-417: A variety of shades. Corundum that contains extremely low levels of chromophores is near colorless. Completely colorless corundum generally does not exist in nature. If trace amounts of iron are present, a very pale yellow to green color may be seen. However, if both titanium and iron impurities are present together, and in the correct valence states, the result is a blue color. Intervalence charge transfer

2380-442: Is a process that produces a strong colored appearance at a low percentage of impurity. While at least 1% chromium must be present in corundum before the deep red ruby color is seen, sapphire blue is apparent with the presence of only 0.01% of titanium and iron. Colorless sapphires, which are uncommon in nature, were once used as diamond substitutes in jewelry, and are presently used as accent stones. The most complete description of

2499-459: Is a specific change in energy for the electron, and electromagnetic energy is absorbed. The wavelength of the energy absorbed corresponds to yellow light. When this light is subtracted from incident white light, the complementary color blue results. Sometimes when atomic spacing is different in different directions, there is resulting blue-green dichroism . Purple sapphires contain trace amounts of chromium and iron plus titanium and come in

SECTION 20

#1732873106506

2618-486: Is a type of sapphire that exhibits a star-like phenomenon known as asterism ; red stones are known as "star rubies". Star sapphires contain intersecting needle-like inclusions following the underlying crystal structure that causes the appearance of a six-rayed "star"-shaped pattern when viewed with a single overhead light source. The inclusion is often the mineral rutile , a mineral composed primarily of titanium dioxide . The stones are cut en cabochon , typically with

2737-439: Is added to the flame, causing it to burn slightly hotter. This expands the growing crystal laterally. At the same time, the pedestal is lowered at the same rate that the crystal grows vertically. The alumina in the flame is slowly deposited, creating a teardrop shaped " boule " of sapphire material. This step is continued until the desired size is reached, the flame is shut off and the crystal cools. The now elongated crystal contains

2856-489: Is called padparadscha . Significant sapphire deposits are found in Australia , Afghanistan , Cambodia , Cameroon , China ( Shandong ), Colombia , Ethiopia , India Jammu and Kashmir ( Padder , Kishtwar ), Kenya , Laos , Madagascar , Malawi , Mozambique , Myanmar ( Burma ), Nigeria , Rwanda , Sri Lanka , Tanzania , Thailand , United States ( Montana ) and Vietnam . Sapphire and rubies are often found in

2975-451: Is common practice to heat natural sapphires to improve or enhance their appearance. This is done by heating the sapphires in furnaces to temperatures between 800 and 1,800 °C (1,470 and 3,270 °F) for several hours, or even weeks at a time. Different atmospheres may be used. Upon heating, the stone becomes bluer in color, but loses some of the rutile inclusions (silk). When high temperatures (1400 °C+) are used, exsolved rutile silk

3094-428: Is commonly understood as the " color " of the gemstone. Saturation refers to the vividness or brightness of the hue, and tone is the lightness to darkness of the hue. Blue sapphire exists in various mixtures of its primary (blue) and secondary hues, various tonal levels (shades) and at various levels of saturation (vividness). Blue sapphires are evaluated based upon the purity of their blue hue. Violet and green are

3213-548: Is derived from the Latin word sapphirus , itself from the Greek word sappheiros ( σάπφειρος ), which referred to lapis lazuli . It is typically blue, but natural "fancy" sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green colors; "parti sapphires" show two or more colors. Red corundum stones also occur, but are called rubies rather than sapphires. Pink-colored corundum may be classified either as ruby or sapphire depending on

3332-409: Is dissolved and it becomes clear under magnification. The titanium from the rutile enters solid solution and thus creates with iron the blue color. The inclusions in natural stones are easily seen with a jeweler's loupe . Evidence of sapphire and other gemstones being subjected to heating goes back at least to Roman times. Un-heated natural stones are somewhat rare and will often be sold accompanied by

3451-564: Is enamelled on gold to represent a normal hen's egg. This pulls apart to reveal a gold yolk, which in turn opens to produce a gold chicken that also opens to reveal a replica of the Imperial Crown from which a miniature ruby egg was suspended. Although the Crown and the miniature egg have been lost, the rest of the Hen Egg as it is known is now in the collection of Victor Vekselberg . The tradition of

3570-554: Is heavily tilted to the red end of the spectrum, thus tipping the balance to red. Color-change sapphires colored by the Cr + Fe/Ti chromophores generally change from blue or violet-blue to violet or purple. Those colored by the V chromophore can show a more pronounced change, moving from blue-green to purple. Certain synthetic color-change sapphires have a similar color change to the natural gemstone alexandrite and they are sometimes marketed as "alexandrium" or "synthetic alexandrite". However,

3689-432: Is in contrast to natural corundum crystals, which feature angular growth lines expanding from a single point and following the planar crystal faces. Chemical dopants can be added to create artificial versions of the ruby, and all the other natural colors of sapphire, and in addition, other colors never seen in geological samples. Artificial sapphire material is identical to natural sapphire, except it can be made without

Gemfields - Misplaced Pages Continue

3808-574: Is located in London) noticed Mariana Voinova in the photographic project for L'Officiel Ukraine. Mariana was invited as ambassador to the Jewellery House in the spring of the same year and discharges her duties up to now. Mariana Voinova acts as the collection face, the ideological inspirational figure of the shooting, and the producer. On 3 October 2017, the Jewellery House Fabergé unveiled both

3927-870: Is located in the northeast of Mozambique in the Cabo Delgado Province . Covering approximately 35,000 hectares (86,000 acres). Large rubies of note found in the Montepuez deposit are the Rhino Ruby (40.23 carats), and the Eyes of the Dragon (45 carats). Montepuez residents have accused private security contractors employed by the Montepuez Ruby Mine of perpetrating acts of violence against local community members. The allegations include robberies, shootings of illegal miners, arson of local homes to clear area for mining, and in one case, burying an illegal miner alive. In February 2020,

4046-416: Is required of any mode of enhancement that has a significant effect on the gem's value. There are several ways of treating sapphire. Heat-treatment in a reducing or oxidizing atmosphere (but without the use of any other added impurities) is commonly used to improve the color of sapphires, and this process is sometimes known as "heating only" in the gem trade. In contrast, however, heat treatment combined with

4165-581: Is responsible for approximately 25% of the world's emerald supply. The pit is around 140 m (460 ft) deep, exposing one concordant and four discordant pegmatites over a strike length of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft). Gemfields own 75% of the mine while the remaining 25% stake is held by the Zambian government in Lusaka via the Industrial Development Corporation of Zambia. The Kagem mine

4284-672: Is the first emerald mine in the world to be assessed against Eco-Age ’s Green Carpet Challenge (GCC) Principles of Sustainable Excellence . Notable emeralds found in the Kagem deposit include the ‘Inkalamu’, the Lion Emerald, a 5,655 carat Zambian emerald crystal with remarkable clarity and a perfectly balanced golden green hue. Gemfields Ltd acquired a 75% stake in the Montepuez ruby deposit in Mozambique in February 2012. The Montepuez ruby deposit

4403-488: Is the original finished piece, also purchased by the Tsar as an easter gift for his wife Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse) . In the 1983, James Bond film Octopussy , a Fabergé egg is the central object of the plot. Malcolm Forbes stirred the imagination of his contemporaries in the 1980s with his riches by widely publicising his Fabergé collection, making the term Fabergé egg synonymous with extreme wealth and luxury. In

4522-677: Is thought to be the third-largest star sapphire, and is currently on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City . The 182-carat Star of Bombay , mined in Sri Lanka and located in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. , is another example of a large blue star sapphire. The value of a star sapphire depends not only on the weight of the stone, but also

4641-763: The Hermitage Museum , the firm was invited to exhibit at the Pan-Russian Exhibition in Moscow . One of the Fabergé pieces displayed at the exhibition was a replica of a 4th-century BC gold bangle from the Scythian Treasure in the Hermitage Museum. Tsar Alexander III declared that he could not distinguish Fabergé's work from the original. He ordered that specimens of work by the House of Fabergé should be displayed in

4760-617: The Star of India , The Star of Adam and the Star of Bombay originate from Sri Lankan mines. Madagascar is the world leader in sapphire production (as of 2007) specifically its deposits in and around the town of Ilakaka . Prior to the opening of the Ilakaka mines, Australia was the largest producer of sapphires (such as in 1987). In 1991 a new source of sapphires was discovered in Andranondambo, southern Madagascar. The exploitation started in 1993, but

4879-557: The chromium chromophore that creates the red color of ruby, combined with the iron + titanium chromophore that produces the blue color in sapphire. A rarer type, which comes from the Mogok area of Myanmar, features a vanadium chromophore, the same as is present in Verneuil synthetic color-change sapphire. Virtually all gemstones that show the "alexandrite effect" (color change or ' metamerism ') show similar absorption/transmission features in

Gemfields - Misplaced Pages Continue

4998-545: The insulating substrates of special-purpose solid-state electronics such as integrated circuits and GaN -based blue LEDs . Sapphire is the birthstone for September and the gem of the 45th anniversary . A sapphire jubilee occurs after 65 years. Sapphire is one of the two gem-varieties of corundum , the other being ruby (defined as corundum in a shade of red). Although blue is the best-known sapphire color, it occurs in other colors, including gray and black, and also can be colorless. A pinkish orange variety of sapphire

5117-609: The 12.00 carat Cartier sapphire ring at US$ 193,975 per carat, then with a 17.16 carat sapphire at US$ 236,404, and again in June 2015 when the per-carat auction record was set at US$ 240,205. At present, the world record price-per-carat for sapphire at auction is held by a sapphire from Kashmir in a ring, which sold in October 2015 for approximately US$ 242,000 per carat ( HK$ 52,280,000 in total, including buyer's premium, or more than US$ 6.74 million). Sapphires can be treated by several methods to enhance and improve their clarity and color. It

5236-453: The 2004 film Ocean's 12 , Danny Ocean ( George Clooney ) and crew compete with another thief to steal a Fabergé egg from a European museum. Sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone , a variety of the mineral corundum , consisting of aluminium oxide ( α- Al 2 O 3 ) with trace amounts of elements such as iron , titanium , cobalt , lead , chromium , vanadium , magnesium , boron , and silicon . The name sapphire

5355-507: The British Royal family and other notables. The flower sculptures were complete figural tableaus, which included small vases in which carved flowers were permanently set, the vase and "water" were done in clear rock crystal (quartz) and the flowers in various hardstones and enamel . The figures were typically only 25–75 mm long or wide, with some larger and more rare figurines reaching 140–200 mm tall, and were collected throughout

5474-578: The Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and his wife the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna . Of these, 43 are known to have survived. Amongst Fabergé's more popular creations were the miniature hardstone carvings of people, animals and flowers carved from semi-precious or hardstones and embellished with precious metals and stones. The most common animal carvings were elephants and pigs but included custom made miniatures of pets of

5593-502: The Fabergé brand name for the marketing of perfume were bought by Samuel Rubin . In 1964, Rubin sold his Fabergé Inc. company to cosmetics firm Rayette Inc., which changed its name to Rayette-Fabergé Inc. As the brand was resold more times, companies using the Fabergé name launched clothing lines, the cologne Brut (which became the best-selling cologne at the time), the perfume Babe, hair products, and also undertook film production. The brand changed hands additional times, and jewellery

5712-573: The Fabergé family while his son continued his education. The young Carl undertook a business course at the Dresden Handelsschule (trade school). Carl was sent to England to learn English and he continued with his Grand Tour of Europe . He received tuition from respected goldsmiths in Frankfurt , France and England, attended a course at Schloss's Commercial College in Paris and viewed the objects in

5831-520: The French chemist Auguste Verneuil announced a process for producing synthetic ruby crystals. In the flame-fusion ( Verneuil process ), fine alumina powder is added to an oxyhydrogen flame , and this is directed downward against a ceramic pedestal. Following the successful synthesis of ruby, Verneuil focused his efforts on sapphire. Synthesis of blue sapphire came in 1909, after chemical analyses of sapphire suggested to Verneuil that iron and titanium were

5950-525: The Hermitage Museum as examples of superb contemporary Russian craftsmanship. In 1885, the House of Fabergé was bestowed with the coveted title "Goldsmith by special appointment to the Imperial Crown" , beginning an association with the Russian tsars. In 1885, Tsar Alexander III commissioned the House of Fabergé to make an Easter egg as a gift for his wife, the Empress Maria Feodorovna . Its "shell"

6069-538: The Lever Fabergé name appeared on a range of household products, from bleach to toiletries. In a complicated series of events of personal and professional vendettas between the Russian oligarch and Fabergé egg collector Viktor Vekselberg and his business partner Brian Gilbertson (the former CEO of Vekselberg's Siberian Urals Aluminium Company, or SUAL), the Fabergé brand changed hands several times. Gilbertson (who received

SECTION 50

#1732873106506

6188-534: The Montepuez Ruby Mine in Singapore . To date, the company has held 14 auctions of ruby and corundum produced by Montepuez Ruby Mining Limitada (MRM) and which have generated revenues totalling USD 643 million. In 2019, Gemfields paid £5.8 million to settle a lawsuit in relation to allegations of human rights abuses against Mozambican and foreign nationals on or around the Montepuez Ruby Mine. The allegations included beatings, shootings, and sexual assault. Gemfields has

6307-624: The Rayette Inc. cosmetics company. Rayette changed its name in 1964 to Rayette-Fabergé Inc., then in 1971, the company name was changed again to Fabergé Inc. In 1978, Michael J. Stiker filed for the patent rights for Fabergé jewellery in New York on behalf of Fabergé & Cie in Paris, but this attempt to license the jewellery brand failed. From 1964 to 1984, under the direction of Barrie, many well-known and successful product lines (as well as feature movies) were launched by Fabergé Inc. Barrie supervised

6426-571: The Soviet Union and the rise of the oligarchs, Russian collectors sought to repatriate many of Fabergé's works, and auction prices reached record highs. On 27 November 2007, the Rothschild Fabergé Egg was auctioned at Christie's in London for £8.98 million. The Rothschild Fabergé egg became the record price for a piece of Fabergé, as well as the highest price ever paid for a Russian object and

6545-603: The Spanish Trading Corporation (which imported soap and olive oil ), closed his company because of the Spanish Civil War and established a new enterprise to manufacture perfumes and toiletries. Rubin registered his new firm in 1937 as Fabergé Inc. , at Hammer's suggestion. In 1943, Rubin registered the Fabergé trademark for perfume in the United States. In 1945, the Fabergé family discovered that their name

6664-635: The Tsar giving his Empress a surprise Easter egg by Carl Fabergé continued. From 1887, it appears that Carl Fabergé was given complete freedom as to the design of the Imperial Easter eggs as they became more elaborate. According to the Fabergé Family tradition, not even the Tsar knew what egg form they would take: the only stipulation was that each one should contain a surprise. The House of Fabergé completed 50 Imperial eggs for Alexander III to present to his Empress and for Nicholas II to present to his mother,

6783-683: The area of Franklin, North Carolina . The sapphire deposits of Kashmir are well known in the gem industry, although their peak production took place in a relatively short period at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These deposits are located in the Paddar Valley of the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir in India. They have a superior vivid blue hue, coupled with a mysterious and almost sleepy quality, described by some gem enthusiasts as ‘blue velvet”. Kashmir-origin contributes meaningfully to

6902-588: The biggest problem the Yogo mine faced was not competition from heated sapphires, but the fact that the Yogo stones could never produce quantities of sapphire above one carat after faceting. As a result, it has remained a niche product, with a market that largely exists in the US. Lattice ('bulk') diffusion treatments are used to add impurities to the sapphire to enhance color. This process was originally developed and patented by Linde Air division of Union Carbide and involved diffusing titanium into synthetic sapphire to even out

7021-415: The blue color. It was later applied to natural sapphire. Today, titanium diffusion often uses a synthetic colorless sapphire base. The color layer created by titanium diffusion is extremely thin (less than 0.5 mm). Thus repolishing can and does produce slight to significant loss of color. Chromium diffusion has been attempted, but was abandoned due to the slow diffusion rates of chromium in corundum. In

7140-466: The body color, visibility, and intensity of the asterism. The color of the stone has more impact on the value than the visibility of the star. Since more transparent stones tend to have better colors, the most expensive star stones are semi-transparent "glass body" stones with vivid colors. On 28 July 2021, the world's largest cluster of star sapphires, weighing 510 kg (1,120 lb), was unearthed from Ratnapura, Sri Lanka. This star sapphire cluster

7259-532: The business until the October Revolution in 1917. The firm was famous for designing elaborate jewel-encrusted Fabergé eggs for Russian emperors, and for a range of other work of high quality and intricate detail. In 1924, Peter Carl's sons Alexander and Eugène Fabergé opened a firm called Fabergé & Cie in Paris , France, making similar jewellery items and adding the name of the city to their firm's stamp, styling it FABERGÉ, PARIS . In 1951, rights to

SECTION 60

#1732873106506

7378-433: The cause of the blue color. Verneuil patented the process of producing synthetic blue sapphire in 1911. The key to the process is that the alumina powder does not melt as it falls through the flame. Instead it forms a sinter cone on the pedestal. When the tip of that cone reaches the hottest part of the flame, the tip melts. Thus the crystal growth is started from a tiny point, ensuring minimal strain. Next, more oxygen

7497-1272: The causes of color in corundum extant can be found in Chapter ;4 of Ruby & Sapphire: A Gemologist's Guide (chapter authored by John Emmett, Emily Dubinsky and Richard Hughes). Sapphires are mined from alluvial deposits or from primary underground workings. Commercial mining locations for sapphire and ruby include (but are not limited to) the following countries: Afghanistan , Australia , Myanmar / Burma , Cambodia , China , Colombia , India , Kenya , Laos , Madagascar , Malawi , Nepal , Nigeria , Pakistan , Sri Lanka , Tajikistan , Tanzania , Thailand , United States, and Vietnam . Sapphires from different geographic locations may have different appearances or chemical-impurity concentrations, and tend to contain different types of microscopic inclusions. Because of this, sapphires can be divided into three broad categories: classic metamorphic, non-classic metamorphic or magmatic, and classic magmatic. Sapphires from certain locations, or of certain categories, may be more commercially appealing than others, particularly classic metamorphic sapphires from Kashmir, Burma, or Sri Lanka that have not been subjected to heat-treatment. The Logan sapphire ,

7616-459: The center of the star near the top of the dome. Occasionally, twelve-rayed stars are found, typically because two different sets of inclusions are found within the same stone, such as a combination of fine needles of rutile with small platelets of hematite ; the first results in a whitish star and the second results in a golden-colored star. During crystallization, the two types of inclusions become preferentially oriented in different directions within

7735-600: The collection. The value of the collection is 2 million US dollars. In 2009, a Fabergé museum was opened by Alexander Ivanov in Baden-Baden , formerly a spa destination for 19th-century Russian aristocrats. It houses a very large collection of some 1,500 items including the Karelian Birch egg, made exclusively in 1917 for Tsar Nicholas II of Russia . The museum also owns one of the Constellation eggs , which Ivanov claims

7854-409: The color penetration is far greater than with titanium diffusion. In some cases, it may penetrate the entire stone. Beryllium-diffused orange sapphires may be difficult to detect, requiring advanced chemical analysis by gemological labs ( e.g. , Gübelin, SSEF , GIA , American Gemological Laboratories (AGL), Lotus Gemology . According to United States Federal Trade Commission guidelines, disclosure

7973-550: The company Gemfields in exchange for facilities for obtaining operating licenses and authorizations in Madagascar. Faberg%C3%A9 The House of Fabergé ( French pronunciation: [fabɛʁʒe] ; Russian : Дом Фаберже , romanized :  Dom Faberzhe ) was a jewellery firm founded in 1842 in Saint Petersburg , Russia, by Gustav Fabergé , using the accented name Fabergé . Gustav's sons – Peter Carl and Agathon – and grandsons followed him in running

8092-471: The company intended to restore Fabergé to its position as the leading purveyor of enduring and endearing personal possessions. Furthermore, it announced the reunification of the Fabergé brand and the Fabergé family, with Tatiana Fabergé and Sarah Fabergé (both great-granddaughters of Peter Carl Fabergé) becoming founding members of the Fabergé Heritage Council, a division of Fabergé Limited which

8211-471: The couple had a son, Peter Carl Fabergé, popularly known as Carl Fabergé. Carl Fabergé was educated at the Gymnasium of St Anne's. This was a fashionable establishment for the sons of the affluent middle classes and the lower echelons of the nobility, providing an indication of the success of his father's business. Gustav Fabergé retired to Dresden in 1860, leaving the firm in the hands of managers outside of

8330-533: The court's decision, and the verdict is awaited. In January 2013, Fabergé Limited was sold to the gem mining company Gemfields for 142 million new shares in Gemfields plc, with a value of $ 90 million at completion of the transaction. After the transaction, Gilbertson, Pallinghurst and its co-investors held some 74% of Gemfields. Accounts filed with Companies House in the UK on 25 October 2015 show that Fabergé (UK) Limited,

8449-650: The cover of darkness through the snow-covered woods by sleigh and on foot. Towards the end of December 1918, they had crossed the border into the safety of Finland . Meanwhile in Germany, Carl Fabergé became seriously ill. Eugène reached Wiesbaden in June 1920 and accompanied his father to Switzerland , where other members of the family had taken refuge. Carl Fabergé died in Lausanne on 24 September 1920. His wife died in January 1925. Although Alexander managed to escape from prison when

8568-470: The crystal, thereby forming two six-rayed stars that are superimposed upon each other to form a twelve-rayed star. Misshapen stars or 12-rayed stars may also form as a result of twinning . The inclusions can alternatively produce a cat's eye effect if the girdle plane of the cabochon is oriented parallel to the crystal's c-axis rather than perpendicular to it. To get a cat's eye, the planes of exsolved inclusions must be extremely uniform and tightly packed. If

8687-685: The deliberate addition of certain specific impurities (e.g. beryllium, titanium, iron, chromium or nickel, which are absorbed into the crystal structure of the sapphire) is also commonly performed, and this process can be known as "diffusion" in the gem trade. However, despite what the terms "heating only" and "diffusion" might suggest, both of these categories of treatment actually involve diffusion processes. The most complete description of corundum treatments extant can be found in Chapter 6 of Ruby & Sapphire: A Gemologist's Guide (chapter authored by John Emmett, Richard Hughes and Troy R. Douthit). In 1902,

8806-448: The dome is oriented in between these two directions, an off-center star will be visible, offset away from the high point of the dome. At 1404.49 carats, The Star of Adam is the largest known blue star sapphire. The gem was mined in the city of Ratnapura, southern Sri Lanka. The Black Star of Queensland , the second largest star sapphire in the world, weighs 733 carats . The Star of India mined in Sri Lanka and weighing 563.4 carats

8925-671: The early 20th century, the headquarters of the House of Fabergé moved to a purpose-built, four-storey building in Bolshaia Morskaia. Branches were also opened in Moscow , Odessa , Kiev and London . From England, the company made annual visits to the Far East. The House of Fabergé was nationalised by the Bolsheviks in 1918. In early October, Carl Fabergé left Petrograd on the last diplomatic train for Riga . The revolution in Latvia started in

9044-470: The first to have been made by a Fabergé reunited with the family since 1917. In November 2011, Fabergé items were being sold in the Fine Jewellery Room at Harrods in London's Knightsbridge, and later in the month, Fabergé opened its own boutique on Grafton Street in the heart of London's Mayfair area. In May 2012, Fabergé opened its own boutique on New York's Madison Avenue. In 2012, Gilbertson and

9163-537: The flaws that are found in natural stones. The disadvantage of the Verneuil process is that the grown crystals have high internal strains. Many methods of manufacturing sapphire today are variations of the Czochralski process , which was invented in 1916 by Polish chemist Jan Czochralski . In this process, a tiny sapphire seed crystal is dipped into a crucible made of the precious metal iridium or molybdenum , containing molten alumina, and then slowly withdrawn upward at

9282-487: The galleries of Europe's leading museums. He was also apprenticed by the jeweler Josef Friedman of Frankfurt-am-Main . Carl returned to Saint Petersburg in 1864 and entered his father's firm. Although Carl was just 18 years old, he continued with his education and was tutored by Hiskias Pendin, the manager of the firm. He took over his father's firm in 1872. In 1881, the firm moved to larger street-level premises at Bolshaya Morskaya. Following Pendin's death in 1882, Carl

9401-436: The highest premium, although Burma, Sri Lanka, and Madagascar also produce large quantities of fine quality gems. The cost of natural sapphires varies depending on their color, clarity, size, cut , and overall quality. Sapphires that are completely untreated are worth far more than those that have been treated. Geographical origin also has a major impact on price. For most gems of one carat or more, an independent report from

9520-573: The introduction of the Brut toiletry line for Fabergé, which was promoted by football player Joe Namath . In 1977, he signed Farrah Fawcett to a promotional contract with Fabergé for the Farrah Fawcett hair product and fragrance lines. A famous Fabergé TV ad featured Joe Namath being shaved by Farrah Fawcett. Brut became the best-selling cologne in the world at that time, and it remains available today worldwide. In 1967, actor and businessman Cary Grant

9639-471: The joint venture fund. In 2004, Vekselberg had purchased the largest Fabergé collection in existence from the Forbes family (for 50 million pounds) shortly before it was to be sold at auction, leaving him with the largest Fabergé jewellery collection but not with the Fabergé brand name. On 3 January 2007, Pallinghurst Resources (now Gemfields ), an investment advisory firm based in London and of which Gilbertson

9758-418: The joint venture negotiated to buy the Fabergé brand name from Unilever. Vekselberg (a collector of Fabergé Imperial eggs who owns nine of the jewel-encrusted creations, having acquired the Forbes family collection in 2004 for a reported US$ 100 million) insisted that one of his personal companies (as opposed to the joint venture) get title to the brand, although the benefits of reviving the brand would stay within

9877-666: The largest faceted gem-quality blue sapphires in existence. Particolored sapphires (or bi-color sapphires) are those stones that exhibit two or more colors within a single stone. The desirability of particolored or bi-color sapphires is usually judged based on the zoning or location of their colors, the colors' saturation, and the contrast of their colors. Australia is the largest source of particolored sapphires; they are not commonly used in mainstream jewelry and remain relatively unknown. Particolored sapphires cannot be created synthetically and only occur naturally. Pink sapphires occur in shades from light to dark pink, and deepen in color as

9996-411: The latter term is a misnomer: synthetic color-change sapphires are, technically, not synthetic alexandrites but rather alexandrite simulants . This is because genuine alexandrite is a variety of chrysoberyl : not sapphire, but an entirely different mineral from corundum. Large rubies and sapphires of poor transparency are frequently used with suspect appraisals that vastly overstate their value. This

10115-675: The 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, such as infrared optical components, high-durability windows , wristwatch crystals and movement bearings, and very thin electronic wafers , which are used as

10234-399: The male and female lines in its advertising campaign. Filip Wolfe was the face of the men's collection of the brand, and Mariana Voinova represented the women's collection. The shooting took place in London. In 2020, Fabergé created The Emerald Isle Collection with The Craft Irish Whiskey Co, a collection of jewellery and other items. Marcus Mohr of Victor Mayer created a 'Fabergé Egg' for

10353-655: The middle of the following month, and Carl was again fleeing for his life to Germany, first to Bad Homburg and then to Wiesbaden . The Bolsheviks imprisoned his sons Agathon and Alexander . Initially, Agathon was released to value the treasures seized from the imperial family, the aristocrats, wealthy merchants and Fabergé, amongst other jewellers. He was again imprisoned when the Bolsheviks found it difficult to sell this treasure at Agathon's valuations. With Europe awash with Russian jewels, prices had fallen. Madame Fabergé and her eldest son, Eugène, avoided capture by escaping under

10472-406: The most common secondary hues found in blue sapphires. The highest prices are paid for gems that are pure blue and of vivid saturation. Gems that are of lower saturation, or are too dark or too light in tone are of less value. However, color preferences are a personal taste. The 423-carat (84.6 g) Logan sapphire in the National Museum of Natural History , in Washington, D.C. , is one of

10591-432: The most expensive price for a timepiece. Many celebrities and billionaires collect Fabergé pieces; Joan Rivers ' estate sold $ 2.2 million worth of Fabergé items at an auction. During the course of business ventures in communist Russia during the 1920s, American oil tycoon Armand Hammer acquired many objects made by the original House of Fabergé, including Fabergé eggs. In 1937, Hammer's friend Samuel Rubin , owner of

10710-624: The name Fabergé became synonymous with the ultimate in luxury when the Forbes family's Fabergé collection became widely publicised in the mid 1980s. In 1989, the German jewelry manufacture company Victor Mayer was given the exclusive licensing rights to produce heirloom quality Fabergé Eggs, jewellery and watches in 18 carat gold and platinum with gem stones, vitreous enamel and diamonds. In collaboration with Fabergé expert Géza von Habsburg new designs for eggs and jewellery were marketed worldwide. The first contemporary Fabergé jewellery and egg collection

10829-457: The name's final e may have been an attempt to give the name a more explicitly French character to appeal to the Russian nobility's Francophilia . French was the official language of Russia's royal court , it was widely used by the country's aristocracy , and Russia's upper classes associated France with luxury goods . Later that year, Gustav married Charlotte Jungstedt, the daughter of Carl Jungstedt, an artist of Danish origin. In 1846,

10948-498: The principal trading entity, lost £0.525 million for the year ending 30 June 2015. The accounts reveal that a significant spend in research and development was made during the year in respect of the new timepiece collections. These were launched during the year. In November 2015, Fabergé won a coveted Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève award – the 'Ladies Hi Mechanical' prize. In 2017, the Head Office of Fabergé jewellery brand (which

11067-575: The quantity of chromium increases. The deeper the pink color, the higher their monetary value . In the United States, a minimum color saturation must be met to be called a ruby , otherwise the stone is referred to as a pink sapphire . Padparadscha is a delicate, light to medium toned, pink-orange to orange-pink hued corundum , originally found in Sri Lanka , but also found in deposits in Vietnam and parts of East Africa . Padparadscha sapphires are rare;

11186-517: The rarest of all is the totally natural variety, with no sign of artificial treatment. The name is derived from the Sanskrit padma ranga (padma = lotus; ranga = color), a color akin to the lotus flower ( Nelumbo nucifera ). Among the fancy (non-blue) sapphires, natural padparadscha fetch the highest prices. Since 2001, more sapphires of this color have appeared on the market as a result of artificial lattice diffusion of beryllium. A star sapphire

11305-458: The same geographical settings, but they generally have different geological formations. For example, both ruby and sapphire are found in Myanmar's Mogok Stone Tract, but the rubies form in marble, while the sapphire forms in granitic pegmatites or corundum syenites. Every sapphire mine produces a wide range of quality, and origin is not a guarantee of quality. For sapphire, Jammu and Kashmir receives

11424-524: The second half of the 18th century, a Jean Favri (subsequently Favry) is known to have been employed as a tobacco planter. By 1800, an artisan called Pierre Favry (later Peter Fabrier) had settled in Pärnu, in the Baltic province of Livonia (now Estonia ). A Gustav Fabrier was born there in 1814. By 1825, the family's name had evolved to "Faberge". In the 1830s, Gustav Faberge moved to Saint Petersburg to train as

11543-469: The sort house and strong room, and looted all emerald stock, equipment and materials. During the mining process, the mines are prepared for backfilling , to reduce the environmental impact and allow for faster ecological restoration . Source: On February 20, 2024, a jury at Southwark Court, London, convicted a former chief of staff to the President of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina, of demanding bribes from

11662-673: The terms of an offer to acquire the entire issued, and to be issued, share capital of Gemfields Ltd (then known as Gemfields plc and listed on AIM ), other than the Gemfields Ltd shares already held by Gemfields Group Limited at that time, which was approximately 47%. Under the terms of the offer, each Gemfields Ltd shareholder was entitled to receive 1.91 Gemfields Group Ltd shares for each Gemfields Ltd share. The acquisition completed in late 2017 and Pallinghurst Resources Limited changed its name to Gemfields Group Limited following its annual general meeting in June 2018. Gemfields Ltd thereby became

11781-515: The time have ten identical trademarks or stamps, a Russian eagle with the words below: "Fabergé Paris - London - New York". Lever Fabergé was formed in the UK early in 2001, through the merger of two long-established Unilever companies, Lever Brothers and Elida Fabergé. The new company Lever Fabergé owned hundreds of cosmetics, household and other brands, including Dove , Impulse , Sure , Lynx , Organics, Timotei , Signal , Persil , Comfort , Domestos , Surf , Sun, and Cif . This meant that

11900-533: The trademarks Billy the Kid, Scoreboard and Wonderknit. In 1986, Mark Goldston was named President of Fabergé. He was principally responsible for targeting and acquiring the Elizabeth Arden company from Eli Lilly and Company for $ 725 million in 1986, turning Fabergé into a $ 1.2 billion firm. In 1989, an American subsidiary of Unilever bought Fabergé Inc. (along with Elizabeth Arden) for US$ 1.55 billion. The company

12019-412: The transfer of an electron from one transition-metal ion to another via the conduction or valence band . The iron can take the form Fe or Fe , while titanium generally takes the form Ti . If Fe and Ti ions are substituted for Al , localized areas of charge imbalance are created. An electron transfer from Fe and Ti can cause a change in the valence state of both. Because of the valence change, there

12138-583: The types of items that their father retailed years before. To distinguish their pieces from those made in Russia before the Revolution, they used the trademark FABERGÉ, PARIS, whereas the Russian company's trademark was just FABERGÉ. They also sold jewellery and had a sideline repairing and restoring the items that had been made by the original House of Fabergé. Fabergé & Cie lost a legal case in Hong Kong in 1984, in

12257-506: The value of a sapphire, and most corundum of Kashmir origin can be readily identified by its characteristic silky appearance and exceptional hue. The unique blue appears lustrous under any kind of light, unlike non-Kashmir sapphires which may appear purplish or grayish in comparison. Sotheby's has been in the forefront overseeing record-breaking sales of Kashmir sapphires worldwide. In October 2014, Sotheby's Hong Kong achieved consecutive per-carat price records for Kashmir sapphires – first with

12376-698: The village of La Bouteille in the Picardy region of northern France. However, they fled the country during or shortly after 1685 because of religious persecution following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes . An estimated 250,000 fellow Huguenots , as the movement of French Protestants was known, became refugees. During the family's progress eastward through Europe, its name changed progressively from Favri through Favry, Fabri, Fabrier, Faberges and then to Faberge without an accent. At Schwedt-on-Oder northeast of Berlin , in

12495-445: The visible spectrum. This is an absorption band in the yellow (~590 nm), along with valleys of transmission in the blue-green and red. Thus the color one sees depends on the spectral composition of the light source. Daylight is relatively balanced in its spectral power distribution (SPD) and since the human eye is most sensitive to green light, the balance is tipped to the green side. However incandescent light (including candle light)

12614-498: The world; the British Royal family has over 250 items in the Royal Collection , including pieces made by Michael Perkhin and Henrik Wigström . Other important Fabergé miniature collectors were Marjorie Merriweather Post , her niece Barbara Hutton and even Fabergé's competitor Cartier , who in 1910 purchased a pink jade pig and a carnelian (agate) fox with cabochon ruby eyes set in gold. The House of Fabergé also stocked

12733-416: The year 2000, beryllium diffused "padparadscha" colored sapphires entered the market. Typically beryllium is diffused into a sapphire under very high heat, just below the melting point of the sapphire. Initially ( c.  2000 ) orange sapphires were created, although now the process has been advanced and many colors of sapphire are often treated with beryllium. Due to the small size of the beryllium ion,

12852-412: Was a partner, announced that a Pallinghurst portfolio company had acquired Unilever's entire global portfolio of trademarks, licenses and associated rights relating to the Fabergé brand name for a mere $ 38 million. The trademarks, licences and associated rights were acquired by a newly constituted company, Fabergé Limited, which was registered in the Cayman Islands. In October 2007, it was announced that

12971-659: Was appointed Creative Consultant and, in 1968, a member of the Board of Directors of the company. Actor Roger Moore became a board member in 1970. Barrie established Fabergé's film-making division, Brut Productions, in 1970 and put together the Academy Award -winning film titled A Touch of Class in 1973, and other films. Barrie launched the Babe fragrance in 1976, which in its first year became Fabergé's largest-selling women's fragrance worldwide. Actress and model Margaux Hemingway received

13090-561: Was being used to sell perfumes without their consent. A lengthy exchange between lawyers on both sides of the Atlantic ensued. In 1946, Rubin registered the Fabergé trademark for jewellery in the United States. An agreement was reached out of court in 1951 with the Fabergé family, whereby Rubin agreed to pay Fabergé & Cie the amount of US$ 25,000 (equal to $ 293,462 today) to use the Fabergé name solely in relation to perfume. In 1964, Rubin sold Fabergé Inc. for $ 26 million to George Barrie and

13209-428: Was eventually added back to the product lines. Next to branded Fabergé items, the world market has been continuously supplied with imitation " Fauxbergé " objects and "Fabergé-style" products. Today, the brand is owned by a company called Fabergé Limited and is used solely for jewellery items and gem stones. The Fabergé family's origins can be traced back to 17th-century France, under the name Favri. The Favris lived at

13328-490: Was named " Serendipity Sapphire ". A rare variety of natural sapphire, known as color-change sapphire, exhibits different colors in different light. Color change sapphires are blue in outdoor light and purple under incandescent indoor light, or green to gray-green in daylight and pink to reddish-violet in incandescent light. Color-change sapphires come from a variety of locations, including Madagascar , Myanmar , Sri Lanka and Tanzania . Two types exist. The first features

13447-540: Was not commonly disclosed; by the late 1980s, heat treatment became a major issue. At that time, much of all the world's sapphires were being heated to enhance their natural color. Intergem's marketing of guaranteed untreated Yogos set them against many in the gem industry. This issue appeared as a front-page story in The Wall Street Journal on 29 August 1984 in an article by Bill Richards, Carats and Schticks: Sapphire Marketer Upsets The Gem Industry . However,

13566-601: Was practically abandoned just a few years later because of the difficulties in recovering sapphires in their bedrock. In North America , sapphires have been mined mostly from deposits in Montana : facies along the Missouri River near Helena, Montana , Dry Cottonwood Creek near Deer Lodge, Montana , and Rock Creek near Philipsburg, Montana . Fine blue Yogo sapphires are found at Yogo Gulch west of Lewistown, Montana . A few gem-grade sapphires and rubies have also been found in

13685-549: Was presented to the alleged heir to the Russian crown, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia , in Munich, Germany in 1991. The license with the Victor Mayer company ended in 2009 for jewellery and in 2012 for watches. From 1989 to 2001, Unilever granted further licenses for Fabergé products to Limoges and The Franklin Mint for perfumes, dolls and other items. All licensed products of

13804-488: Was renamed "Elida Fabergé". The deal now placed Unilever at equal first place with L'Oreal in the world cosmetics league, up from fourth place. Unilever registered the Fabergé name as a trademark across a wide range of merchandise internationally. It granted licences to third parties to make and sell a range of products ranging from custom jewellery to spectacles under the Fabergé name. However, it also continued to sell perfume and toiletries branded Fabergé. In pop culture,

13923-449: Was the acknowledged head of the firm. Three other significant events happened that year. He was awarded the title of Master Goldsmith. Agathon Fabergé , his younger brother by 16 years, joined the business. While Agathon's education was restricted to Dresden , he was noted as a talented designer who provided the business with fresh impetus, until his death 13 years later. Following Carl's involvement with repairing and restoring objects in

14042-668: Was the case of the "Life and Pride of America Star Sapphire". Circa 1985, Roy Whetstine claimed to have bought the 1905-ct stone for $ 10 at the Tucson gem show, but a reporter discovered that L.A. Ward of Fallbrook, California, who appraised it at the price of $ 1200/ct, had appraised another stone of the exact same weight several years before Whetstine claimed to have found it. Bangkok-based Lotus Gemology maintains an updated listing of world auction records of ruby, sapphire, and spinel . As of November 2019, no sapphire has ever sold at auction for more than $ 17,295,796. Rubies are corundum with

14161-461: Was to offer counsel to the new company. In September 2009, Fabergé Limited launched its first collection of jewellery, as well as its website. In December of that year, it opened a boutique in Geneva. By March 2010, only one of the licences originally granted by Unilever remained in existence. On 6 July 2011, the company launched two collections of egg pendants, including a dozen egg pendants. These were

#505494