Thread by @wanysharma

The Paddar Sapphires ( credit to @PariharRavi1 for all the information)
Paddar is a remote scenic beauty in the kishtwar district .
.It covers whole northern portion of district kishtwar.
.Bordering zanskar in the north , pangi (HP) in the east and marwaha valley in the west.

Lies in the greater Himalayas at 4547m above MSL .
Approx. 350 km from the Jammu city,45 km is travelled through foot
The last village is Sumcham which is around 10 km below the mine .
Valley connects in this region to zanskar through two passes thagsula pass&potala pass

Gemstone because of their toughness, hardness, abrasiveness and chemical stability.
It is an aluminium oxide with a chemical composition of Al2O3 and a hexagonal crystal structure

The sapphire of paddar is best in the world because it hold up in all kinds of lights
Which experts describe as magical property, as compared to the other sapphire of the world.
The stone show play of colour and has magical velvety effect
P.c- mykistwar.com

History of mining
A Lahouli trader at a Jewellers shop in Shimla caught the Jewellers eye with brilliant Blue Sapphires.
the Lahouli traders were averse to stating the exact origin of the Stones.
Get stones from the Mountains on the border with Zanskar.

apparently they didn't know the exact location as they had got the Stones from a Shikari who had lost his flint, wanted to light his smoke. He looked around found a blue stone which served his purpose rather well. Even he wasn't too sure where he found the Stones.

Why called Kashmir sapphire
News of existence of these stones reached to Maharajah. He got his men working. Soon it was heard that it had their origin in Paddar, with Himachal on one side and Zanskar on the other side...(cont..)

Initially it was mistaken as Padam instead of Paddar so they turned up in Padam,in Zanskar looking the source of the priceless stones.
Finally Paddar was identified as source & soldiers were dispatched to secure the Mine for the "Maharaja of Kashmir"
Hence The Kashmir Sapphires

Around 72kg of sapphire in 1882-84 are produced which are the glorified days of maharaja.
With of help of British Govt Maharaja Ranjit singh got geologist Mr. Tom D la Touche.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh 👇

Paddar Sapphires are also known as King of Sapphires.
1ct of Paddar Sapphire is 10 times more costly than that of 1ct Sri Lankan Sapphire.
On May 19, 2004, a single J&K Sapphire was sold for 1.50$ million at Geneva.
In May 2013 19.88 ct Paddar sapphire was sold for whopping 24 cr

@vikramaditya_JK @Martand_JK

To clarify 1882-84 were not under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, but this was a time of glory in the dogra rule.
But it was ,Maharaja Ranjit Singh who got the geologist Mr. Tom D La Touche back in the date.