Today I will be talking about September’s birthstone:
Sapphire. Sapphire is one of the four
precious gems with the others being Diamond, Ruby, and Emerald. Like the Ruby it is a form of corundum. As such, if it feels like you have heard some
of this before from a previous post you might have. Anyways, on with the post!
The actual word Sapphire comes from the Greek word sappheiros. Sappheiros means blue stone. That is not to say that all Sapphires are
blue. On the contrary. Sapphires come in a variety of colours some
of which are: yellow, purple, orange, greenish blue, white, black, pink, and varying
shades of blue. Corundum can also come
in a variety of red shades. However, if
it is red it is usually classified as a Ruby.
At times Pink Sapphires are called Pink Rubies. Just know that they are the same thing just a
different name. The colour of the stone
depends on what elements are found within the crystal structure as it is
forming. For example, Pink Sapphires and
Rubies are corundum that contain chromium.
Vandadium causes the stone to be purple.
White Sapphires contain titanium.
Yellow and Green Sapphires have Iron insides of them. The Blue Sapphires are created when both Iron
and Titanium are present in the crystal as it is forming.
So, where do Sapphires come from? Many of the same places that Rubies do! However, the most famous Sapphire mines in
the world are in Kashmir, India. India
has many of the Sapphire and Ruby mines, but they are also found
elsewhere. These include various places
in the Indo-China region, Malawi, Nigeria,
Australia, and the United States.
Montana has most of the United States’ Sapphire mines.
Well, now that you know about the colour of Sapphires and
where they come from it is time to move on to some more important things. Like all gems Sapphires have inclusions. If they do not have these you may be looking
at a synthetic Sapphire. Unlike Rubies though, most Sapphires do not have lead
glass filling, fracture filling, or any other form of inclusion filling
treatment. Why is this? Because by heating the Sapphire not only does
it increase the blue colour of the stone, it also loses what jewellers call the
silk of the stone. What is the
silk? The silk is what is causes the
inclusions to be visible. When heated it
vanishes and the stone becomes clear.
The practice of heating Sapphires is so common that if it is NOT heat
treated it will sometimes come with a certificate saying that it was not heat
treated rather than the other way around.
Sapphires have been heat treated has been going on since the time of the
Roman Empire. As such, it does not
reduce the price of the stone. If any
treatment that the Sapphire receives has an effect on the stone, be it a
negative or a positive, it must be disclosed in accordance to the USFTC.
Well, that is all for now.
I hope you all enjoyed this and found it interesting! Until next time!
Love you all!
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