Sapphire Gemstone Jewelry

Sapphire Gemstone Jewelry

Sapphire stones are another version of the corundum family like rubies. 

Keep in mind, when you see the word "created" it means synthetic which again indicates not natural. Physically sapphires are the same like rubies (corundum) but other colors which include blue and pink plus white yellow. 

In the pink spectrum, it is an excellent substitution for a diamond and who tells about the blue gem only just watch the header picture. 

Sapphire Gemstone & Corundum Jewelry

It is one of the gemstones with a timeless value. There is quite a wide color spectrum about the gems, there are pink, yellow white and some variants from, if the gem is clear has a so-called cornflower blue, good cut and a bigger size a premium price can be achieved. Under the definition corundum sapphire and rubies are known. Although rubies are only in the red spectrum and all other colors (there are many) are defined as sapphire. 

Here are all colors of sapphires

They are available under the label "corundum stones" which include rubies this is probably the most diverse gemstone family on the planet. 

Now, why people buy Myanmar (Burmese) Rubies & Sapphires which always have the highest prices? Because they are the best in terms of clarity and color and that is visible even by the naked eye. Most popular colors are blue, pink and yellow sapphire, often people use them as a diamond replacement because their physical parameters and visual appearance are amazingly similar.

Pink and yellow gems are slowly penetrating the jewelry market since they are highly fashion item. The picture link above has also star sapphires, pink colored are often used as a beautiful replacement for diamonds with the same color. 

Since they look very similar and only an expert can see the difference. To avoid confusion from the beginning it needs to separate ruby and sapphire plus corundum. The latter is the family definition where rubies are the red variants of it and sapphire stand for all other colors which includes blue and white including pink just watch the pictures below.

On top of it, many high-end jewelry shops are using lights with a particular wavelength to make them brighter also the gold. Unfortunately, there are countless jewelry stores especially in Thailand where they dilute gold to squeeze more profit. Actually, Thailand and India are the countries where almost everything is a fake since people have no ethic parameter it's only hit and run. 

This is the main reason to have a look for this pretty stone outside the shop in normal daylight. Other hues are green and purple but actually, the whole spectrum of the rainbow is available. Other uses are optical instruments, bulletproof glass, in the watch industry and more. 

Actually, the colors available are from transparent to blue and almost black, the red versions (corundum) are rubies. The main use of natural sapphires is fascinating jewelry creations sometimes paired with diamonds and set in white gold.

The best raw gems come from Myanmar (Burma)

Madagascar, Sri Lanka and other places main manufacturing is done in India and Thailand.

Probably the most common are synthetic (simulated) sapphires for jewelry and industrial purposes.

A Cornflower blue sapphire is considered to be the most valuable. Now when you made the decision to buy take a close look first and check for inclusions, a few are ok but not too many because it would be considered as opaque and low level. So rather a cabochon jewelry because for this clarity is not significant.

The better the clarity the more value the stone. That’s the same with every gemstone. Many pictured precious stones are sapphires/corundum.

The blue gem symbolizes clear thinking and is the birthstone for September. 

Today technology allows creating genuine sapphire in the lab, they can even get some small inclusions into it which makes a perfect copy. Because until recently it was possible to see a synthetic or simulated sapphire immediately by having no inclusion which is almost impossible with natural gems. This means that you the buyer probably don’t have the necessary education to distinguish the genuine gem-quality stone and the other.

Rings with gemstones are probably one of the absolute sought after and corundum/sapphires is ever present. Although they sparkle not as strong as diamonds there is a simple trick to enhance this, just mount some small diamonds around. They produce plenty of sapphires rings with blue, pink, orange, purple and other colors in India but the craftsmanship is often not as good. I don’t know why but the result when the jewelry is finished is often sloppy, I have seen this with my own eyes in many Why are some precious stones heat treated? 

To get rid of impurities, by melting them down and make them vanish. At certain gem mines such as Mong Hsu in east Myanmar (Burma) the heat treatment is already made at the mine with all gem and at Chanthaburi south of Pattaya they are sold means all corundum traded there already heat treated. 

The colored gems are highly selective because almost every sapphire has a different shade within their spectrum. Since because of all this and the gem is not a real sparkler jeweler very often placing some smaller diamonds around to brighten the shine. 

As usual, the value of the pink corundum is relative to size, color, and transparency that's the same with all and very particular with jade. The origin also plays in, but for most, it is not possible anyway to find that out and what some are telling to push the price is rather in the fairy tale region.

Sapphire Gems are also found in the famous mines of Pailin in western Cambodia produce ruby but not of good quality.

 Rubies from this district are identical internally to those found across the border in Thailand. It is the blue sapphires, however, for which Pailin is noted. Of a pure and intense blue color, they are considered to be among the world's finest somehow similar to the exquisite blue and pink sapphires from Myanmar Mogok's mine district.

When present by itself, iron can produce a pale green, yellow or brownish color.

But if titanium is also present other colors may result. These include greens and blue greens and are caused, in part, by the intervalence charge transfer discussed above. In yellow and orange sapphires the color can originate in one of the several ways.

 With Thai and Australian yellow sapphires, Fe3± appears to be the cause. although this is not necessarily substitutional iron. Yellow stones from these localities show very prominent iron absorption bands in the spectrum. In yellow sapphires from Sri Lanka, the cause of color is apparently due not only to Fe3± but also to color centers.

The blue sapphires from Pailin in Cambodia

They bear a strong resemblance to those from Chanthaburi in Thailand. The most distinctive features are included red crystals of the mineral uranium pyrochlore. When of large size, these octahedral crystals appear black, but smaller examples display a deep red or orange color. 

At times they are found concentrated in rows following the growth structure of the host but appear mostly as individuals, often in front of comet-like trails of minute liquid droplets. Others may be surrounded by fingerprints containing a reddish- or orange-stained liquid, which may possibly result from heat treatment. In addition to uranium pyrochlore, a number of other crystal guests are found. Colorless or white prismatic or tabular crystals of moderate relief are common. 

These sapphires display striations across their faces and are often surrounded by circular glass tension haloes, possibly feldspar. Also seen are euhedral hexagonal prisms looking very much like corundum itself, or possibly apatite. Colour zoning in Pailin sapphires is extremely sharp and follows the hexagonal contours of the crystal. At times, thin concentrations of minute exsolved particles or yellowish texture clouds are also distributed along these zones, similar to the ones found at Chanthaburi. 

Rarely encountered are phantom growths formed by the formation of a thin layer of some foreign substance upon earlier crystal faces, producing a perfect outline of the crystal at a previous stage in its development. Rutile silk has not been found in Pailin; thus star sapphires are absent from this locality. 

That’s the gem with an effect called asterism when a 6 or sometimes 12 pointed star appears reflecting a focused light source.

Most colors are available but only a few are really used. In the last few years, pink stones became a popular substitution for "pink diamonds" actually many looks even better than the more expensive. When buying be aware that most jewelry shops selling them are using special lights to enhance the intensity, so you better insists on seeing the "pretty thing" in daylight. If over about thousand dollars have it checked in an independent lap before handing over money. At many places, that's a hit and run business. 

Here the most common sapphire colors in form of cabochons are mounted in a brooch, isn't that a great piece of jewelry?

The amazing issue with this family of gems is the spectrum of hues. There is no another precious stone variety with so many colors and some are really exceptional such as blue and pink. Many people prefer the pink variant even to a diamond with the same hue the stone is simply more brilliant.

Some of the most valuable sapphires have a medium vivid blue color also known as “cornflower blue”. But as with almost all the value is mainly with the cleanliness in this case as little as possible inclusion or tiny flaws. Although the precious stones are found with almost every color, the red ones are the rubies and both together are the corundum. 

There are several mines in Africa 

Where the colors of the stones are quite good. Fancy gems have been found in the Umba River Valley in Tanzania for about 50 years and another very productive site since about 20 years is Songea. Other mines are in Madagascar with blue, white and pink actually the colors are always in this range it won’t matter where the beads come from. 

Other resources are in Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma) in Mogok and Mong Hsu close to the Thai border. They say they are mining them but it rather looks as if they just smuggle them from Myanmar. Actually, the problem is it is not possible to believe them anything the Thai are constantly lying.

What about pink sapphires? 

This is a pinkish-orange called version of the stone with the name "padparadscha" after the lotus blossom, there are differences depending because Sri Lankan dealer want to tell the whole world only they have the right one. The fact is in Tanzania they have a beautiful intense version of the stone with reddish-orange colors from the Umba Valley.

This is a pinkish-orange called version of the stone with the name "padparadscha" after the lotus blossom, there are differences depending because Sri Lankan dealer want to tell the whole world only they have the right one. The fact is in Tanzania they have a beautiful intense version of the stone with reddish-orange colors from the Umba Valley.

In general, the clearer and vivid the color, the more valuable a fancy sapphire is and they come with almost any hue.

Corundum Sapphire Stones

Actually, it's not easy to see the difference of a pink sapphire and diamonds with the naked eye. When buying be aware that many shops use special light which improves the brilliance of the stone. Always have a look outside in natural light they also call this "fancy color".

Most people associate automatically blue with this variant of corundum but there are much more. The truth is that one of the most striking colors of the sapphire is pink actually they are found with almost all hues of the rainbow. Orange sapphire, mainly from Sri Lanka are called Padparadscha and red corundum is classified as rubies where the color again is not exactly defined. Just look at the picture below this are all sapphire but some could also "go through" as ruby.

Blue sapphire, are the number one, but the famous pink version becomes every year more popular. Maybe because people start to realize that the sapphires with this hue are very closely matching pink diamonds actually the corundum gem simply looks better and is a great sparkler too (when excellent faceted).

Combining all this together comes to the conclusion that a fancy sapphire is the better deal. But, that’s not all, when buying this beauty no matter if jewelry or loose pink stone take the piece outside the shop and check, you might see a different sapphire. Why? The fact is, most jewelry shops which are in the high business have special lamps which enhance the pink colors of this pretty sapphire. 

It is somehow similar as if someone makes a brush up with a picture editor such as “photoshop”. It appears in general that corundum has the widest color spectrum of all gems, they come in purple, orange, green, colorless and other which are called fancy sapphires. 

Other names are “Padparadscha” a Sri Lankan name for an orange color and the red version is the ruby. 

About pink gemstones, why? 

After Paris Hilton was spotted with a pink stone ring with a huge sapphire on it plus Madonna and Jenifer Lopez had a Pink Diamond Ring with a stone from the Argyl Mine in Australia. Actually fashion is changing and currently, the “in” stuff is another one. It is also somehow a fashion image matter. The image of the pink beauty is a feminine youthful one and people think this radiate to the person who wears the sapphire. This stone is for a younger woman may be mounted in a birthday ring or graduating. 

Pink sapphire jewelry is definitely sought after these days, but it won’t come cheap. Similar to a good “cornflower” colors blue stone it is valuable and durable since they don't scratch or chip easily this gemstone is also ideal for everyday wearing. Magnificent colors often with high transparency make this good “stuff”. 

But before the pink gemstone will be on the way to the shop to make a real sparkler with brilliance a real expert must handle the sapphire if not the stone will be dull.