Top 10 Famous Individual Gemstones that Were Donated To Public Organizations

It was donated to the Smithsonian Museum in 1958 by Harry Winston who mailed it...for $2.44 in postage and $143 in insurance!

The wealthy financier John Pierpont Morgan (J.P. Morgan) donated it to the American Museum of Natural History. It's a golf-ball-sized sapphire with 2 stars because it has stars on both sides of the stone which is absolutely unique and unusual. Its color is also unusual - milky greyish blue. And the gem is almost flawless.

Sapphires and rubies with stars are very rare (only 3 out of 100 have stars), especially those with both good stars and colors (only 1 out of 100 has both).
This star ruby was donated to the Smithsonian Museum in 1965 by Rosser Reeves.

The ring was donated by Mr. and Mrs. O. Roy Chalk to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in 1972 and it's part of the Smithsonian's National Gem and Mineral Collection.

Its star is so well-defined and perfect that's unbelievable.
Mrs. Edith Haggin DeLong donated it to the American Museum of Natural History in 1937.

It was donated to the Smithsonian by Peter Buck in memory of Carmen Lucia his loving wife.

In 1978 Colonel Frederick Hixon donated this large perfect crystal to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.

Gift of Mrs. John A. Logan

In 2012, billionaire Lily Safra sold it for charity and the proceeds benefited charitable societies. The Hope Ruby fetched a price of $6.7 million at the charity auction called "Jewels For Hope".
Mrs. Lily Safra also sold other jewels from her private collection (about 70 pieces), so she raised nearly $38 million for charity (proceeds benefited over 30 charitable organizations).
This way Mrs. Lily Safra indirectly donated the ruby to charitable societies.

Countess Mona von Bismark donated it to the Smithsonian Institute in 1967.

It was cut from an enormous aquamarine found in Brazil. It was donated to the Smithsonian Institution by Jane Mitchell and Jeffery Bland. It is housed in the National Museum of Natural History's Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology.

It was donated to the Smithsonian Museum by Marjorie Merriweather Post.

John Pierpont Morgan (the famous banker) donated it to the American Museum of Natural History.

The Star of Bombay is a violet-blue star sapphire. Mary Pickford, a silent film actress, bequeathed it to the Smithsonian Institution.

It's very old - it once belonged to the ruling family of the Ottoman Empire. In 1977 Janet Annenberg Hooker donated the brooch to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.