Ancient Persians believed the sky was actually a massive sapphire, and the world was embedded into it. The beauty and magnificence of sapphires created a very romantic notion of the world in the past, and who could blame them? Velvety sapphire blue, the colour of a loved one’s eyes, the sky after sunset, and the mysterious seas. But sapphires come in other hues too, all the colours of the rainbow, except for red.
The alluring September stone
The name Sapphire comes from the greek word sappheiros meaning blue stone. It’s the official birthstone of September and as the symbol of truth, faithfulness and honesty a very popular choice for engagement rings.
The fancy stones
Sapphires are the gemstone variation of the mineral corundum. While purple sapphires are quite rare they are often found in shades of blue, yellow, orange, pink, green, black and transparent (or white sapphires). All non-blue sapphires are called fancy but other sapphires that fit this description are star sapphires and colour change stones. Pink/orange sapphires are known as Padparadscha (meaning lotus flower) and are expensive. Most quality stones come from Sri Lanka and Madagascar, people have been digging for Sapphires in Sri Lanka since ancient times. Red and dark pink corundums are known as Rubies. The only difference between the two is the addition of chromium, which makes the corundum dark pink to red.
Watches of a hundred jewels
Because of their great hardness these gems (and synthetic versions) are used as components in scientific instruments. Sapphires are in fact less brittle than diamonds although they are slightly less hard at 9.0 on the Mohs scale of hardness. Sapphires are scratch resistant unless you scratch one with a diamond. In the 1700’s the Swiss mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier made holes in sapphires and rubies to act as movement bearings in watches. The highest quality watches had twenty-one jeweled bearings, some boasted hundreds but that amount of gems was for ornamentation.
Rare beauties
Size, colour and transparency determine the value of these stones. You need to be very careful when you buy a sapphire, more than many other gems sapphires are likely to heat treated and misrepresented. There are very few high quality sapphires available, so if you plan on investing in one it’s best to get professional assistance.