A unique collection of natural semi-precious stones -16 stones: topaz, beryl.
Gemstone Reports: Gubelin Gem Lab, Lucerne, Switzerland.
Рlace of storage: Freight Building West, Office №1-334, P.O.Box 287, CH-8058 Zurich Airport, Switzerland.
Appraisal Value: EUR 28.947,000.00
Starting price: EUR 18,500,000. 00
Note: The site contains 14 stones out of 16 included in the collection. A complete catalog of stones and Gemstone Reports: Gubelin Gem Lab, Lucerne, Switzerland, we send on request.
A unique collection of natural semi-precious stones -16 stones: topaz, beryl.
ABOUT THE FIELD
All stones featured in this collection originate from the
Volodarsk-Volhynian field, Ukraine.
The Volhynian field was first mentioned in the 1867
article by geologist G.l. Osovsky who noted the occurrence of silicon and quartz in Zhitomir Uyezd.
He wrote: «Quartz’s strong glitter at the fracture of rock, evenness and density of its tarry black color have advantage over the best Siberian quartzes. Smoky quartz stands comparison with the best Bohemian, the so-called «Rauchtopaz».
After the article was published, minerals from Volhynian pegmatites began appearing in private collections of Warsaw, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Paris.
Official development and production of pegmatites at the Volhynian field began only in 1931. In 1939, Academician Fersman visited the field and was impressed by the diversity and high quality of jewelry beryls, topazes and minerals of the quartz group. He said: «What has been the pride and sole prerogative of the Ural in the past, now occurs in large quantities in the Volhynia as well».The Soviets, in their quest for conquest of the outerspace, has classified the development and production ofthe Volhynian field, because the quality of quartz meantthat it could be used in the space industry. And only in the1980s the field began supplying gemstones for the jewelry.Volhynian topazes were distinguishable for their veryhigh quality, often reaching extremely high sizes: thus, in 1965 the field yielded a winy-yellow topaz crystal weighting 117 kg. The Volhynian field is unmatched in terms of theabundance, beauty and quality of crystals produced there;outstanding beryl and heliodor crystals, transparent rockcrystals, goldish citrine, smoky quartz and black marion allcome from there. White, blue and polychromous topazes,unique aquamarine, violet and green fluorite crystals.Unique aquamarine and amethyst adoring exhibitions ofmany museums across the world. Today, the Volhynian fieldis closed and no production takes place there.