The Old Pressley Sapphire Mine in Canton, NC, near Asheville is a good place to search, if they're still open. I found a blue-gray one big as my thumb embedded in off-white stone. I had an 8-carat cabochon cut from it, leaving most of the gem for cutting someday in the future. All the rubies and emeralds I've found in western NC were tiny, dark stones that looked a lot like pieces of old crayons.