Sapphire

by Julie Lee of Julie's Jewelry Design, LLC

    Sapphire, a birthstone for those born in September and the traditional gemstone for honoring the fifth and forty-fifth wedding anniversaries.

    Sapphire is a corundum of any color except red (which is ruby). Blue is the most common color. White sapphire is occasionally used as a diamond substitute. A general term for colors other than blue is fancy sapphire.

    Sapphires can be bi- or parti- colored and can show color change. Another phenomenon that can be seen in sapphire is asterism.

    Like other gems that have been prized for a long time, sapphire has suffered form identity confusion. In Roman times, the word sapphires meant lapis lazuli, while green sapphires were "emeralds", blue sapphires were "hyacinths", and purple sapphires were "amethysts".

    Many connoisseurs say the most beautiful blue sapphires came from Kashmir, India. Sadly, this source has produced little since World War II. The most important current sapphire sources are Australia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Other producers include the Union of Myanmar (Burma), Colombia, Kampuchea, Kenya and Tanzania. In the United States deposits at Yogo Gulch, Montana, have been mined sporadically.

    You can see beautiful large sapphires in many museums. The Smithsonian Institution has the Logan sapphire, the dark blue 98.6-carat Bismarck sapphire, and a 92.6-carat yellow Burmese sapphire. The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto has a 179.4-carat yellow stone from Sri Lanka. The American Museum of Natural History in New York City has a 100-carat yellow, a 100-carat orange, and a 163-carat blue, all from Sri Lanka.

    Some of today's celebrities also own magnificent sapphires. Britain's Princesses Ann and Diana both received engagement rings set with sapphires, and Liz Taylor's collection includes a 20-carat sapphire engagement ring and a 77-carat Burmese sapphire pendant.

    We have many choices available for you in sapphire. Genuine faceted sapphires are available in a rainbow of colors with a broad selection of shapes and sizes in blue, white, pink, and yellow. We now carry five qualities of blue sapphire and also offer six qualities of Signity blue sapphire. Signity pink sapphires are also available to you through us.

    Genuine black star and synthetic blue star sapphires can be ordered from our gemstone inventory as well as traditional cabochon blue sapphires. We also are a source for Chatham lab created sapphires of fine quality in blue and padparadscha colors.

    Recently added to our gemstone line are small selections of Ceylon and Kanchanaburi sapphires. Our gemstone special order consultants keep an inventory of several larger size sapphires for you in stock for next day delivery.

    Our selection grows as we continue to add new choices for you based on supply. If ever you are searching for a particular size or color in sapphire, or any gemstone, that is not available from our regular stock, please ask to speak to one of our Gemstone Special Order Consultants.