A gemstone broker fished a dusty rock from a Tupperware dish at an Arizona mineral show and paid $10 for what his trained eye knew to be the world`s largest star sapphire, valued at $2.28 million.
Roy Whetstine of Longview said his two young sons, Johnathan, 11, and Stephen, 4, each put up $5 for him to buy the sapphire at a rock and gemstone show last February in Tucson, Ariz.
He came home with what he named the Life and Pride of America, a star sapphire weighing 1,905 carats in the rough that has been appraised at $2.28 million. The lavender gray stone with hints of cornflower blue is about the size of a small potato.
”This is a real rags to riches story,” said Longview jeweler Jim Griffin, Whetstine`s agent for the stone`s sale. ”He came in and just flat out said, `Have you seen anything like this?`
”I pulled myself off the ground and pulled myself together. I recognized it immediately.”
In April, the L.A. Ward Gem Laboratory of Fallbrook, Calif., valued the stone at $1,200 per carat, or $2.28 million, raising that estimate to $2,000 per carat when it is cut and finished.
Whetstine, who has been a gemstone broker for 15 years, publicly revealed his bargain buy in a Sunday newspaper story. Griffin said Whetstine put off going public with his find until now for security reasons.
In a written appraisal, L.A. Ward suggested the stone be divided into a pair of star sapphires, the larger being about 900 carats and the other about 350 carats, for a finished weight of 1,250 carats with a total value of $2.5 million.
Even cut, the larger of the two stones would outweigh the previous largest sapphire ever found, the Star of Queensland, discovered in 1948 in Australia. The Star of Queensland had a rough weight of 1,156 carats and finished out at 733 carats.
But Griffin said the stone will be sold uncut.
”It will be put on the market in its original state,” he said. ”There is a certain amount of risk in cutting a stone, that there might be hidden flaws. It`s been X-rayed but with a crystal structure, you can never be entirely sure.”
Whetstine said his asking price of $1.5 million for the sapphire will be put in trust for his two sons, adding that he is bidding for mineral rights to the land where the sapphire originated, the Emerald Creek area of Idaho.
Whetstine, who said he has had 10 heart bypass operations, said he almost decided to skip the 10-day gem and mineral show but on the exhibit`s last day, flew to Tucson to see his father, who had been ill.
He avoided the section devoted to polished stones and instead burrowed through the shoeboxes and dishes of the amateurs who offered their wares for sale.
He said he spotted the potato-sized stone among others in a Tupperware dish and knew immediately what it was.
”I said, `You want $15 for this rock?` and the guy says, `Tell you what, I`ll let you have it for $10. It`s not as pretty as the others,”` Whetstine said.
He said the dealer wrote out a receipt, the stone changed hands and he took it home.
Whetstine said he has no qualms about paying just $10 for the sapphire.
”When a man places a price on something he sells, that`s what it`s worth to him,” he said. ”When it does get sold, it will break my heart. But it`s worth so much, we just can`t afford to keep it. It`s true, it`s only a rock, but that`s all a diamond is before it`s cut, too.”
He said such finds should be more common since the mineral ”corundum,”
the source of sapphires and rubies, is widespread in the United States.
”The only reason more gems aren`t found in this country is that no one is looking for them,” he said. ”A lot of people don`t realize that every day they step over a meal. About every rock that`s pretty has some value.”