OREANDA-NEWS. The world's largest star sapphire was found in Sri Lanka. The weight of the gem is 510 kilograms.

The cost of the stone was estimated at $ 200 million. The sapphire may have formed 400 million years ago, according to the National Gem and Jewelry Office.

They added that several foreign citizens have already applied for the purchase of sapphire.

Sapphires were found in the mineral-rich Ratnapura district of Sri Lanka, in the backyard of a gem dealer who asked to be introduced as Mr. Gamage. The man did not want to disclose his full name and the exact location of his home for security reasons. It is only reported that a worker was digging a hole for a well and came across a huge cluster of pale blue stones.

Gamage, a third-generation gem dealer, immediately informed the authorities of the find, but it took more than a year to clear the accumulation of dirt and other impurities before they could analyze and certify it. During the cleaning process, some stones fell out of the cluster, and after a jeweler's assessment, it turned out that they were high quality sapphires.

The found sapphire was named "Serendipity". In modern English, "serendipity" is translated as "intuition", or something that happened by a happy accident. However, this word comes from the ancient Arabic name of Sri Lanka "Serendip" or "Serendib".

"I've never seen such a large specimen before. It probably formed about 400 million years ago," gemologist Gamini Zoisa told the BBC.

It is worth noting that Sri Lanka is considered one of the leading suppliers of sapphires and other gems. Last year, the country earned half a billion dollars from the export of jewelry, including diamonds.