Sapphire

In earlier times, some people believed that the firmament was an enormous blue sapphire in which the Earth was embedded. It was the belief of the ancient Persians that the Earth actually rested on an enormous Sapphire and that the reflection from this Sapphire was what gave the sky its blue coloration. Sapphire has been the pre-eminent blue gemstone for centuries since.

Could there be a more apt image to describe the beauty of an immaculate sapphire? And yet this gem comes not in one but in all the blue shades of that firmament, from the deep blue of the evening sky to the shining mid-blue of a lovely summer's day which casts its spell over us. However, this magnificent gemstone also comes in many other colors: not only in the transparent grayish-blue of a distant horizon but also in the gloriously colorful play of light in a sunset – in yellow, pink, orange and purple. Sapphires really are gems of the sky, although they are found in the hard ground of our 'blue planet'.

Blue is the main color of the sapphire. Blue is also the favorite color of some 50 per cent of all people, men and women alike. We associate this color, strongly linked to the sapphire as it is, with feelings of sympathy and harmony, friendship and loyalty: feelings which belong to qualities that prove their worth in the long term – feelings in which it is not so much effervescent passion that is to the fore, but rather composure, mutual understanding and indestructible trust. Thus the blue of the sapphire has become a color which fits in with everything that is constant and reliable. That is one of the reasons why women in many countries wish for a sapphire ring on their engagement. The sapphire symbolizes loyalty, but at the same time it gives expression to people's love and longing. Perhaps the most famous example of this blue is to be found in music, in George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue". And the blue of the sapphire even appears where nothing at all counts except clear-sightedness and concentrated mental effort. The first computer which succeeded in defeating a world chess champion bore the remarkable name 'Deep Blue'.

What makes the sapphire so fancy?

Its beauty, its magnificent colors, its transparency, but also its constancy and durability are qualities associated with this gemstone by gemstone lovers and specialists alike. (This does not only apply to the blue sapphire, but more of that later on). The sapphire belongs to the corundum group, the members of which are characterized by their excellent hardness (9 on the Mohs scale). Indeed their hardness is exceeded only by that of the diamond – and the diamond is the hardest mineral on Earth! Thanks to that hardness, sapphires are easy to look after, requiring no more than the usual care on the part of the wearer.

The gemstones in the corundum group consist of pure aluminum oxide which crystallized into wonderful gemstones a long time ago as a result of pressure and heat at a great depth. The presence of small amounts of other elements, especially iron and chrome, are responsible for the coloring, turning a crystal that was basically white into a blue, red, yellow, pink or greenish sapphire. However, this does not mean that every corundum is also a sapphire. For centuries there were differences of opinion among the specialists as to which stones deserved to be called sapphires. Finally, it was agreed that the ruby-red ones, colored by chrome, should be called 'rubies' and all those which were not ruby-red 'sapphires'.


If there is talk of the sapphire, most gemstone afficionados think immediately of a velvety blue. It's a versatile color that becomes many wearers. A blue sapphire fits in best with a well balanced lifestyle in which reliability and temperament run together and there is always a readiness to encounter things new – as with the woman who wears it. The fact that this magnificent gemstone also comes in a large number of other colors was known for a long time almost only to insiders. In the trade, sapphires which are not blue are referred to as 'fancies'. In order to make it easier to differentiate between them, they are referred to not only by their gemstone name but also by a description of their color. In other words, fancy sapphires are described as yellow, purple, pink, green or white sapphires. Fancy sapphires are pure individualism and are just made for lovers of individualistic colored stone jewelry. They are currently available in a positively enchanting variety of designs - as ring stones, necklace pendants or ear jewelry, as solitaires, strung elegantly together or as sparkling pave.  

However, the sapphire has yet more surprises in store. For example there is an orange variety with a fine pink undertone which bears the poetic name 'padparadsha', which means 'lotus flower'.

The star sapphires are another rarity, half-dome-cut sapphires with a star like light effect which seems to glide across the surface of the stone when it is moved. There are said to have been gemstone lovers who fell in love with these sapphire rarities for all time. And indeed the permanence of relationships is one of the features that are said to belong to this gemstone.

Top-quality sapphires are rare

Sapphires, call them gemstones of the sky though we may, lie well hidden in just a few places, and first have to be brought to light through hard work. Sapphires are found in India, Burma, Ceylon, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Brazil and Africa. From the gemstone mines, the raw crystals are first taken to the cutting-centers where they are turned into sparkling gemstones by skilled hands. When cutting a sapphire, indeed, the cutter has to muster all his skill, for these gemstones are not only hard. Depending on the angle from which you look at them they also have different colors and intensities of color. So it is the job of the cutter to orientate the raw crystals in such a way that the color is brought out to its best advantage. Depending on where they were found, the color intensity and hue of the cut stones vary, which means, later on, that the wearer is rather spoilt for choice. Should she perhaps go for a mid-blue stone which will remind her even on rainy days of that shining summer sky? Or should she prefer a lighter blue because it will continue to sparkle vivaciously when evening falls? The bright light of day makes most sapphires shine more vividly than the more subdued artificial light of evening. So in fact it is not, as is often claimed, the darkest tone that is the most coveted color of the blue sapphire, but an intense, rich, full blue which still looks blue in poor artificial light.

Specialists and connoisseurs regard the Kashmir color with its velvety shine as the most beautiful and most valuable blue. These magnificent gemstones from Kashmir, found in 1880 after a landslide at an altitude of 16,000 feet and mined intensively over a period of eight years, were to have a lasting influence on people's idea of the color of a first-class sapphire. Typical of the Kashmir color is a pure, intense blue with a very subtle violet undertone, which is intensified yet more by a fine, silky shine. It is said that this hue does not change in artificial light. But the Burmese color is also regarded as particularly valuable. It ranges from a rich, full royal blue to a deep cornflower blue.

The oldest sapphire finds are in Ceylon, or Sri Lanka as it is known today. There, people were already digging for gemstones in ancient times. The specialist recognizes Ceylon sapphires by the luminosity of their light to mid-blue colors. Having said that, most blue sapphires come either from Australia or from Thailand. Their value depends on their size, color and transparency. With stones of very fine quality, these are, however, not the only main criteria, the origin of the gem also playing a major role. Neither is the color itself necessarily a function of the geographical origin of a sapphire, which explains the great differences in price between the various qualities. The most valuable are genuine Kashmir stones. Burmese sapphires are valued almost as highly, and then come the sapphires from Ceylon. The possibility of the gemstone's having undergone some treatment or other is also a factor in determining the price, since gemstones which can be guaranteed untreated are becoming more and more sought-after in this age of gemstone cosmetics. And if the stone selected then also happens to be a genuine, certificated Kashmir or Burmese, the price will probably reflect the enthusiasm of the true gemstone lover.  It is not often that daring pioneers discover gemstones on a scale such as was the case on Madagascar a few years ago, when a gemstone deposit covering an area of several miles was found in the south-east of the island. Since then, not only have there been enough blue sapphires in the trade, but also some splendid pink and yellow sapphires of great beauty and transparency. Meanwhile, experts in Tanzania have also found initial evidence of two large-scale gemstone deposits in the form of some good, if not very large sapphire crystals colored blue, green, yellow and orange. And the third country to register new finds recently was Brazil, where sapphires ranging from blue to purple and pink have been discovered. So lovers of the sapphire need not worry: there will, in future, be enough of these 'heavenly' gems with the fine color spectrum. Top-quality sapphires, however, remain extremely rare in all the gemstone mines of the world.

Sapphires: Beautiful Beyond Blue

Sapphire is often thought of as being synonymous with the color blue: you can easily picture sapphire seas. However, sapphire is beautiful beyond blue, in every color but red, red being the domain of the ruby.

The other colors of sapphire can be just as beautiful and rare - or even rarer - than the blue, but they are usually offered at more modest prices. Yellow, orange, lavender, and other pastel shades are especially affordable.

Not realizing that ruby and sapphire were actually the same mineral, our ancestors left us with a dilemma: how should pink shades be classified? Long ago, it was decided that all gemstones of the mineral corundum should be referred to as sapphire, except the red color, which was called ruby. But pink is really just light red. The International Colored Gemstone Association has passed a resolution that the light shades of red should be included in the category ruby, since it is too difficult to legislate where red ends and pink begins. In practice, pink shades are now known either as pink ruby or pink sapphire. Either way, these gems are among the most beautiful of the corundum family.

The most valuable other fancy sapphire is an orange-pink or pinkish-orange variety called 'padparadsha' after the lotus blossom. Padparadsha sapphires are very rare, and the exact definition has always been a matter of debate: different dealers and laboratories around the world disagree on the exact color denoted by this term. Some dealers even argue that the term should not be limited to the pastel shades of Sri Lankan sapphires, but also include the more fiery shades of reddish-orange from the Umbra Valley in Tanzania. Padparadsha sapphires sell at a premium, their prices nearing those obtained for fine blue sapphires. Although the exact description of these rare gemstones is debatable, their beauty, with its delicate blended shades the color of fresh salmon and sunsets, is not.

Other very popular shades of fancy sapphires are yellows, bright oranges, lavenders and purples, and a bluish green color.

Generally, the clearer and more vivid the color, the more valuable the fancy sapphire. If the color is in the pastel range, the clarity should be good. Because in lighter tones inclusions are more noticeable, the trade usually prefers the gemstones to be cleaner with fewer visible inclusions. In a lighter colored gemstone, the cut is also more important: it should reflect light back evenly across the face of the stone, making it lively and brilliant. With darker, more intense colors, the cut is not as critical because the color creates its own impact.

No matter what the color, sapphires combine durability and beauty for generations of pleasure