Sapphire
Origins: Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar) Madagasca, Parkinstan, Thailand, Nigeria
Birthstone: September
Sapphire Wedding Anniversary: 45 years
Sapphires are one of the most well-known and recognised of all gemstones, along with rubies and emeralds. Sapphires are of the same scientific mineral species as rubies, ‘Corundum’. On the Mohs scale they score ‘9’ second only to the diamond in hardness. While the colour of a Ruby is always a hue of red, sapphires are found in a vast beautiful rainbow of colours. Blue is the main, most popular and acknowledged colour of sapphire, and can be found in all tones from a ‘Ceylon’ light, bright blue to a deeper intense velvety blue.
Sapphires come in such a wide range of colours from blue to black to colourless and all colours in between. There are no limits to the colour tone or saturation of colour in a sapphire. The different colour found in sapphires is due to trace mineral content within a sapphire crystal. A blue sapphire will reflect blue light because the crystal has titanium element within the stone. If a sapphire has other trace minerals such as chromium then the stone will be pink in colour. If a combination of elements is within the stone, you might have a lime green or a purplish blue sapphire, a’ parti’ sapphire will show two or more colours in one gemston. A chemically pure sapphire crystal would be colourless. Whatever ingredients nature puts in a sapphire relates directly to the special unique colour it will show.
For this reason, sapphires are extraordinarily unique gemstones. No two are the same; rare and unusual sapphires are almost irreplaceable,. The most valuable fancy sapphire, and one of the rarest gemstones, is the ‘padparadscha’ sapphire, orange-pink or pinkish-orange in colour and largely found only in Sri Lanka.
The majority of natural sapphires in the market place are acceptably heat treated to improve colour. This treatment is permanent and is a widely accepted enhancement. It’s simply man carrying on the work of Mother Nature, but at a controlled temperature and for a controlled period of time. Evidence of sapphire and other gemstones being subjected to heating goes back at least to Roman times. Natural sapphires that are free of inclusions are immensely rare and carry a premium price tag.
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