The Fire Of Sapphire |
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A sapphire ring, bracelet, or necklace is often the first choice when people are looking for beautiful piece of jewelry. It is a corundum which is usually clear and transparent but color comes when there are impurities. The crystal is called a ruby if red, but a sapphire if any other color.The "impurities" can be iron, chromium or titanium. Sapphires are often called "gemstones of the sky".
Sapphire colors are pink, blue, purple, green, orange or yellow, with the blue being the most well-known. Natural sapphires can also be brown, gray, and black. Various shades of blue are also seen in sapphires, and some are heat treated to improve the color. Purple sapphires are less desirable than blue, and a deeper pink more desirable than a light pink. Those without color are sometimes used to resemble diamonds in jewelry. A Padparadscha sapphire are of a pink or orange hue, and more desirable than the most beautiful blue sapphire. Padparadscha means "lotus flower" in Sinhalese and such sapphires go for as much as $50,000 per carat.
The word sapphire (from the Hebrew word 'sapir') is in the Bible, but scholars feel it referred rather to a lapis lazuli. In ancient times it was believed that the Earth was part of an enormous sapphire. The first stones were recognized during the Roman Empire, and were thought of as a form of jacinth. On the Mohls scale it has a hardness of 9.0, and as a talisman it is thought to embody loyalty, friendship, sympathy and harmony. Because of these qualities it is often chosen as an engagement ring. It is the birthstone of September.
Those cutting sapphires have to be very skilled and patient, not only because of their hardness, but different facets of the gemstone reflect different colors. In order to bring out the best color, the cutter has to take extreme care. Watch faces of high quality are crafted from slices of the crystals as the crystal's hardness resists scratching. Such slices are also used in the semi-conductor industry.
The gorgeous star sapphire has inclusions which are in the shape of a star with six rays. This is most visible under an overhead light. Its value depends upon its weight, the strength of the star, and the color. The Star of Bombay, which is in the Natural History Museum in Washington, D,C., is a wonderful example of this with its 182 carats.
Sapphires come from Australia, India, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Vietnam, Brazil, Thailand, and Africa. The Kashmir sapphires found in Pakistan after a landslide in 1880 are considered extremely valuable because of their color and transparency, and those from Burma are also prized..There was a large find in the southeast corner of Madagascar which covered a very large area. The oldest discoveries were in Ceylon and Sri Lanka. Sapphires of top quality are considered to be rare. Mines in the states of Montana and North Carolina have also produced beautiful sapphires.
Whatever the origin, the sapphire continues to remain one of the most loved gemstones.
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