Awesome lot of the most electric Fuchsia Pink to Purplish Pinkish Red Ruby/Sapphire Faceting Rough lot! This was a small parcel we purchased on our last trip to Tanzania. The material was sold to us as Spinel but it sure doesn't look like Spinel to us! We are confident that all this material is corundum with one stone more rightly called Ruby. We did quick hardness tests to confirm this. The parcel has some of the most electric Pink colored sapphire we have seen Tanzania or any place produce! The origin of the material was not given but it looks like it is of mixed origin with two stones probably being from Umba and the other 2 stones probably being from Morogoro; however, this is speculative and based on our experience from past purchases from the region.

The stones are extremely clean; however, all stones have some minor inclusions that you will need to work around. Some of the inclusions will facet out while others will need to be placed appropriately for the cleanest gem possible. The three pinker stones should cut eye-clean to very slightly included with a little hard work while the alluvial stone will probably cut slightly included at best. We don't have any more of this and don't anticipate on seeing any more in the Pinks for a long long time! If you want this don't sleep on it!

1. During our recent trip to Tanzania we were informed that there was an outbreak of violence at the Umba Sapphire mines and that at least one person had been killed bringing most mining to a halt. I'm confident that mining has since been restarted; however, production is nowhere near what it once was and prices continue to escalate.