In all my years as a GIA graduate jeweler, I have never seen a huge sapphire in such a magnificent setting. The craftsmanship and detail used in making the Oval Sapphire Pendant is superb.-James T. Fent, GIA Graduate Gemologist

The spellbinding deep blue of the evening sky is revealed in our immense 22 carat natural sapphire.

Hunting for rare gemological finds can be daring and adventurous. But sometimes luck is on our side. After searching literally high and low in mountaintop villages and in steamy river deltas for large-sized sapphires, through seven countries in six time zones, we met a Burmese professor of geology. Dr. John Ho was kind enough to meet us in the very civilized Peninsula Hotel overlooking Hong Kong Harbor. The Burmese have some of the finest gemstones in the world, but what he showed us after reaching into his pocket truly took our breath away. Not small one, two, or three carat stones, but a handful of magnificent 22 carat plus, faceted sapphires in deep midnight blue. Were these a king's ransom? No, the professor had been collecting them for years to use in his classes. Now we are always in favor of higher education, but we agreed that these beauties were going to be leaving his classroom for good. A quick flight to Bali for a meeting with our silversmiths and the sterling silver pendant settings were hammered out

Stauer is thrilled to present the Midnight Blue 22 carat Sapphire necklace.

And don't worry; we didn't let the luxury mavens dictate the price. Most jewelers would charge exorbitantly high prices for 22 carat stones, but Stauer can keep the price at under $150. A gemological rarity with deep ethereal blue tones, the sapphire is the second hardest stone known to mankind, second only to diamonds. The history of sapphire collecting goes back over 2,400 years and sapphires have adorned the finest jewelry from British Royal crowns to Princess Di's engagement ring. But we are willing to guarantee that no one in your circle has a stone anything quite like this. Since every stone is unique, that guarantee is easy to keep. It goes without saying that this is a limited edition, since we are never sure if we can find any more stones of this size and cut. Chain sold separately.