That sapphires are found within the United States, let alone Montana, would surprise many. It is a story of the American West, where eager gold prospectors searching a gulch near Yogo peak in the Little Belt Mountains first discovered them during the late 1800’s as tiny “blue pebbles” alongside the precious golden grains.

It took a decade and a half to realize that these beautiful waterworn stones from “Yogo Gulch” were precious sapphire but they enjoyed a meteoric rise in fame soon after when Tiffany & Co. learned of them. Noted for their naturally occurring strong and even blue color combined with exquisite clarity, significant quantities were recovered though the vast majority of faceted stones are a fraction of a carat. Thriving from the late 1890’s until the 1920’s, the original Yogo deposit was quickly depleted. While other deposits in Montana are still mined today, these stones are routinely heat-treated and lack the quintessential high quality synonymous with “Yogo” sapphires.

The present ring, executed in the 1920’s and with its central sapphire weighing nearly 3.00 carats, is a wonderful representation of what has made Yogo sapphires so sought after by the cognoscenti for decades. The color and size place this stone at the highest echelons of rarity. Coupled with its all-American heritage, this is truly a collector’s treasure.