While overall sales were sluggish, the retailer said its non-bridal fine jewelry was a popular choice for Valentine’s Day.
Gemstone collection notches 9 world records
The Ophir Collection, which contains 40 of the world’s largest minerals, holds Guinness World Records in nine categories, including the largest faceted sapphire, cut brown sapphire and cut serendibite.
Owned by Delaware-based Ophir Collection LLC, the collection includes a total of 40 rare gemstones, a number of which are the largest known specimens in the world.
All of them, with the exception of one, have been certified by the Gemological Institute of America.
There was one gemstone that the GIA and other authorities in gemstone identification were unable to identify, meaning that it could possibly be the only specimen of its kind in the world. It has since been named the “Ophir Mystique.”
The nine world records in the collection are as follows:
--Largest Faceted Sapphire
--Largest Cut Brown Sapphire
--Largest Cut Musgravite
--Largest Cut Serendibite
--Largest Cut Grandidierite
--Largest Cut Tanzanite
--Largest Cut Hibonite
--Largest Cut Neptunite
--Largest Cut Painite
There also are a number of other applications pending with the Guinness World Records that are still being researched by the body. More information on those applications was not available at press time.
The Ophir Collection encompasses the three largest cut Musgravite gemstones in the world as well as jadeite, coppertop tourmaline, fire opal, kunzite, ruby and black tourmaline, among many others, with some minerals valued at more than $2 million per carat, according to the Ophir Collection LLC.
The collection is available for sale to qualified buyers. A spokesperson for the company said that they prefer to sell it as a whole.
The Ophir Collection has received consultations from a variety of appraisers, gemologists and laboratories, but due to the uniqueness of the stones in the collection and the rarity of the collection as a whole, they haven't been able to establish a value, according to the company.
For this reason, the Ophir Collection is accepting offers from prospective buyers.
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