January 24 Through February 4—TUCSON, ARIZONA: Annual show
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 Post subject: Made an interesting impulse purchase...
PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 12:53 am 
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So, as some of you may know, Apple was in talks to get clear sapphire screens for the iPhone 6. They contracted with a company which promised they could make enormous sapphire boules using their unique process, and they ended up signing a big contract. As it happens, they could make big boules, but a large percentage had serious defects, making it uneconomical to cut screens from them. These boules were apparently left in some sort of 'boule graveyard' behind the factory, and made it out into the stock of salvage companies.
My brother found one of these boules for sale on eBay, listed for 5k. We ended up making a seriously lowball offer on it, not thinking much of it, but they just accepted it. No doubt shipping is going to be expensive, because did I mention it weighs about 490 pounds?
Image
Image
So........
yeah.
This is the biggest boule I've ever seen. Now that we've committed to buy it, I'm not 100% sure what we'll do with it. Our thought was to try and get a deal with someone who makes spheres. But if anyone else has any good ideas, I'm all ears. Anyone know anyone who facets big stones?

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 Post subject: Re: Made an interesting impulse purchase...
PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 5:30 pm 
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Do you have a sledge hammer?You can borrow mine for some shards!


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 Post subject: Re: Made an interesting impulse purchase...
PostPosted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 9:04 pm 
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I only use 6" laps, so... :lol:

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 Post subject: Re: Made an interesting impulse purchase...
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 12:19 pm 
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There used to be a grup called the "Dare Devil Faceters", who cut stones routinely in the 1kg finished weight range. Not sure if they're still around.


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 Post subject: Re: Made an interesting impulse purchase...
PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 1:15 pm 
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They aren't, unfortunately. I've tried to get in touch with a few people, but the only one doing giant cutting at the moment had no interest in working on a synthetic. It's a shame, since the guiness record is currently held by a mere 6kg stone, and worse, it's dyed. On the plus side, one of my friends is already interested in getting some rough for smaller stones, so I think we'll do just fine with a more boring approach.

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 Post subject: Re: Made an interesting impulse purchase...
PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2015 3:24 pm 
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Question. What are the dimensions on this?


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 Post subject: Re: Made an interesting impulse purchase...
PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2015 4:33 pm 
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It is approximately 19 inches in diameter and 12 inches in height. Delivery is scheduled for next thursday, which should be interesting.

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 Post subject: Re: Made an interesting impulse purchase...
PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2015 10:16 pm 
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Wow. Now that is dense! Kinda puts it into pperspective when you realize that it's not physically huge but extremely heavy.

-Allan

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 Post subject: Re: Made an interesting impulse purchase...
PostPosted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 1:44 pm 
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Just got it in my garage. It's a big'un alright:
Image
Penny for scale.
About the bottom third (top third in the initial photos, we had to flip it to get in on the palette) looks included. It's hard to tell how far in it goes, so it might just be a rind. It's also more of a blueish color than the clean areas on top, which are a really lovely pink. When I get a chance I will look at it under different lights to see if it color changes and also if it will fluoresce.

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 Post subject: Re: Made an interesting impulse purchase...
PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2015 3:11 pm 
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Quick update:
No color change, and oddly no fluorescence I can see.
We've started deconstruction, it is hard work to get it to come apart. We got a few pieces of the milky bottom of the boule, and interestingly they have a bright, striking 4-ray star. Not what I was expecting but a heck of a lot nicer than boring included material. So far the smaller pieces of the clear section have looked pretty colorless, so it's not clear whether the color is too light to see in smaller pieces or if it's concentrated in the center. More updates as we continue.

But before then, I present:
The biggest sapphire ring in the world:
Image
The biggest sapphire necklace in the world:
Image
And the biggest sapphire bracelet in the world:
Image

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 Post subject: Re: Made an interesting impulse purchase...
PostPosted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 1:39 pm 
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Nice find! Super cool! :D


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