Naomi Sarna’s Largest Carved Tanzanite Awarded Guinness World Record
Ana Rahlves –
Guinness Book of World Records –
L’Heure Bleu surpassed the previous record of 618 carats (123.6 grams) verified on 9 March 2020.
Hand carved by award-winning gem artist Naomi Sarna, the record-breaking gem seen here weighs an extraordinary 703.4 carats (140.68 g). The gem named L’Heure Bleu (the Blue Hour), was first acquired by Sarna in Tanzania near the mines, located in the Merelani foothills beneath Mt. Kilimanjaro. As you are probably aware, tanzanite is found only in this small mining area, just about 7 km (4.3 mi) long and 2 km (1.2 mi) wide. The mines are part of the ancestral land of the Maasai, and it is the only place in the world where this blue-violet gemstone is found.
Prior to the mid 1960s, this gem was virtually unknown outside its region of origin. Tiffany & Co. popularized the “tanzanite” name in 1974, with the assistance of Scottish geologist Campbell Bridges, as an easier and much more pleasant name to remember for their marketing campaigns than the scientific “blue-violet zoisite”.
Rewarding
Achieving the Guinness World Records title is more than a personal triumph for Naomi, who wants to donate the profits from the sale of the L’Heure Bleu carving to the Maasai people to provide eye care for the community.
“The Guinness World Records title of world’s largest cut tanzanite brings my L’Huere Bleu carving international recognition and attention. This gives strength to my promise to bring eyecare to the Maasai people. It also paved the way to building an association with the Casey Eye Institute, which will allow us to work together in miraculous ways!” – Naomi Sarna
Profits from the sale of L’Heure Bleu will go to the Casey Eye Institute to dispense eye care for the Maasai.
Sarna is widely known in the gemstone community for her artistic and intricate carvings of precious gemstones. Classically trained as a sculptor, she was commissioned in the 2010s to travel to Tanzania to teach the Maasai women how to create jewellery from the local gemstone. Upon arriving in Tanzania, she realized that many of the Maasai suffered from easily treatable eye conditions (basic vision correction, cataracts, etc), and made it her mission to figure out a way to raise funds for the community to receive treatment.
More About Naomi Sarna
Naomi Sarna travels the world in search of colored gemstones. Her work has been displayed in several museums, including the permanent American Gems Collection of the Smithsonian National Gem Collection in Washington, DC. She is the recipient of prestigious awards, including 23 AGTA Spectrum Awards and two Zie Gang Bei Jade Carving Association Awards – the most respected and prestigious design competitions in the industry.
The official Guinness World Records attempt took place at the Rice Museum in Hillsboro, Oregon, USA, and was verified by Adjudicator Michael Empric. In addition, two independent gemmologists were present at the attempt to verify the carved stone was indeed Tanzanite, and to complete the final weighing.
More on Guinness World Records for Gem Materials
Over three dozen gemstones, gem materials, or gem related items have set Guinness World Records for various reasons, including their size, rarity, and value. Here are a few notable examples:
- The largest cut colour changing Turkish diaspore (also known as Zultanite and Csarite) weighs 420.23 carats (84.04 g) verified on 9 March 2020.
2. The world’s largest uncut emerald, unearthed in Zambia, weighs in at an extraordinary 7,525 carats (1.505 kg / 3 lbs and 5.09 oz). The emerald was first discovered by geologists Manas Banerjee and Richard Kapeta and their team in July 2021 at the Kagem mine located in Zambia’s Copperbelt Province. The gigantic gem was named Chipembele, meaning “rhino” in the local indigenous dialect of the Bemba people of Zambia.
3. The largest abalone pearl… a 718.50 carat baroque abalone pearl measuring 14 x 8 x 4 cm (5.51 x 3.14 x 1.57 in) was found by Dat Vi Truong (USA) in Mendocino, California, USA, on 31 May 2010. Mr Truong found the pearl when he was on holiday with his wife in Mendocino, California. He knew he had found something special when he pried open one of the three abalone shells he collected from the ocean floor.
4. The largest trapiche sapphire weighs 641 carats.
5. The largest human image of a gemstone ring consists of 266 people and was achieved by InterContinental Kunming, Crowne Plaza Kunming City Centre, in Kunming, Yunnan, China on 2 November 2019. The attempt was part of the ‘wedding open day’ event held by 5 IHG hotels in the Kunming area. The human image was created by people wearing wedding attire in black and white.
6. The most faceted quartz is 978 facets, achieved by Victor Tuzlukov (Russia), in Bangkok, Thailand, as of 19 May 2021. Victor is a gemstone artist and tries to push the limits of what is possible. He has previously achieved records for the most faceted scapolite and largest cut spodumene. (The faceting process of pre-polishing and polishing the scapolite took nearly one month to complete.)
