Super Cornflower Blue to Royal Blue Sapphire Faceting Rough from Antan, Nigeria! We went through this pretty quickly and took out anything we thought did not have any faceting potential. We didn't clean the lot up with a fine toothed comb and therefore there are some stones in here with inclusions that you will need to either cob or saw out though there are only 4-5 stones as such. The price we have on this is reflective of the amount of time that was invested in cleaning the lot up and we don't think there is anywhere you can get this caliber material at a better price!

The material is running roughly 85% or so high to top facet grade with the remainder having some minor inclusions that you will need to cob, saw or facet out. This is one of the best values we currently have up and we are confident that our prices will not be matched on this material as most Nigerians in Nigeria are charging $20+ per gram for trashy Sapphire! As a whole the material is generally a Royal to Dark Kashmir Blue with many stones having the Greenish overtone down one axis and some stones having color banding common for Corundum. There are also some neat Bicolors in here with Yellow and Blue combinations.

Please note that Sapphire production is at a virtual standstill for this material in Nigeria and prices at the mines are generally above what we are selling the material for at the moment. As a result of these events we do not anticipate getting additional material in stock at the same price once this is gone. This lot is all the new material that we have had come in from Nigeria in our latest shipment so don't miss your chance to pick some up. Production is relatively low for this grade material and it takes us roughly 2+ months worth of mining to acquire 1 kilo of clean rough during the mining season much less the rainy season. We auctioned off a few of these pieces on Ebay and they were averaging about $10-25.00 or so per carat and our bidders have raved about the material! This is ideal material for resale and/or cutting! Please don't miss out on this as it will be quite some time before we get our next batch in if at all.

1. Nigeria is currently producing sapphire at three different sites. This material is from Antan and we are hopeful of getting additional material from different locations as the demand for the rough becomes evident. We are currently working with mine holders in Tanzania to acquire some nice East African Sapphire Rough in the the future!