World’s largest Blue Sapphire found and named ‘Queen of Asia’

The world’s largest single natural specimen of corundum as a single crystal (Blue Sapphire) has been found in Sri Lanka, officials said yesterday.

According to the National Gem and Jewellery Authority, the specimen, which weighs 310 kg, 66.04 cm, 60.96 cm, 48.26 cm in dimension has been named as the ‘Queen of Asia’.

This specimen was brought to the National Gem and Jewellery Authority Gemmology Laboratory – Ratnapura, where the gemmologists took five samples representing the whole rock specimen and carried out several gemmological tests.

Accordingly, the tests showed that all five samples were natural. This specimen is rare and not recorded in the gemmological literature, officials added.