Starter Kit. Idea 245 of 500. Cluster 12
Museum-grade replicas of the Star of India and the Logan Sapphire, sold with their true story
The mechanism, from the book
The sapphire is mined here and cut here, and its value is certified in Basel and turned into money in Geneva. Every step of that chain can be built at home, and the first one is the piece of paper.
The first step
Research the true history of the Star of India and the Logan Sapphire from sources you can cite, and write it in 300 words each. Have a lapidary make one replica of each in a synthetic stone and show them, with the story, to 3 museum shops and gift shops. The proof is a stockist and the price they set.
- Who pays first
- A museum shop or gift shop that sells replicas of famous jewels and wants a pair with a story that ties them to the island.
- What leaves today
- Two of the world's most famous sapphires are displayed abroad with the island barely mentioned, and their story earns nothing for the place they came from.
Ask first
- National Gem and Jewellery Authority. Ask whether replicas of famous stones must be labelled as replicas, and how.
- National Crafts Council. Ask whether replica pieces can be shown at their craft fairs.
Check before you spend
Whether the replicas are clearly marked as not genuine, and whether the museums holding the originals object to their names being used.
Find out these three numbers
- What do museum shops pay for a good replica gem?
- What does a lapidary charge to cut one replica?
- Which shops abroad would stock replicas with the true story?
A comparison from the book
New York and Washington. Chapter Three
"Two of the most famous stones in the world's two most famous natural history collections"
The famous stones already sit in great museums; their true story is what you sell.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.