Throughout history, Sri Lanka has been known as a land of gems. King Solomon was said to have procured a great ruby for the Queen of Sheba from Ceylon. Marco Polo wrote of wonderful Ceylon gems.

The Blue Sapphire is king of Sri Lankan gems. The 400 carat Blue Sapphire called “Blue Belle”, which adorns the British Crown, is from Sri Lanka. The beautiful star sapphire misnamed the “Star of India” displayed at a New York’s Museum of Natural History.

Besides rubies and shapphire, the illama soil also bears cat’s eyes, alexandrites, aquamarines, tourmalines, spinels, topaz, garnets, amethyst, zircons and variety of other stones.

Sri Lanka, the island known as the pearl of the Indian Ocean lives up to its nickname as a hotbed for a variety of gems. Sri Lanka is home to 40 varieties of Gems out of 85 varieties available in the whole world. Gems of Sri Lanka have found there way to many a court all over the world since time immemorial.