Sapphire
Family: Corundum
Color: Violetish blue to blue to slightly greenish blue (But also: "Fancy Colored Sapphires" are ALL of the Colors. Well, all except for red.)
Mohs Hardness: 9 (That's really hard!)
My mom always told me it was a genetic opinion: Things are always better if they are blue. Well, except for houses. For some reason, my grandmother hated blue houses and that dislike has also been passed down. Inside your non-blue house, everything should be various shades of blue. This includes the plates, wall colors, boxes of tissues, clothing of the occupants and, of course, all of their jewelry. Good thing we have sapphire for that last one...
One of the most highly coveted gemstones throughout history, sapphires have graced the fingers of queens, princesses, and Hollywood royalty alike. A (now not so) recent resurgence in interest in sapphire came with Prince William giving Kate Middleton his mother's sapphire ring, causes a ripple of desire through the "peasant population" in the U.K. and around the globe. Let's be honest: It is hard to resist (or even look away) from Kate's beautiful bobble--of course we all want our own!
Gemologically speaking, sapphires are pretty cool and come with a healthy dose of fun facts. Over 98% of sapphires on the market are enhanced with heat treatment to evenly distribute color and improve clarity. Through heat treatment, crystal inclusions within the sapphire are dispersed, causing the chemicals present in the inclusions to distribute into the crystal lattice. This often improves the color and clarity of the gemstone and is a common, permanent, and industry accepted practice. Trained gemologists can easily identify heat treatment through a ring of bleeding color around a crystal within the stone that looks a bit like an alien saucer or through seeing a broken curtain of crystal needles in the gem--you will almost definitely need training and magnification to identify these signs!
Unenhanced sapphires that have rich saturation and high clarity are very special, super rare, and command a premium. They can be easily identified through a steep jump in price, a certificate from a laboratory demonstrating that it is, in fact, unenhanced, and a huge grin on my face as I marvel at the wonder of mother nature and her clear preference for things that are blue.
Fancy Colored Sapphires
The word ‘sapphire’ alone refers to sapphires of a saturated blue color, but it is important to note that Sapphires come in a rainbow of colors. Those that are not blue are referred to as “fancy color sapphires”.
Ok, so Sapphires do not come in EVERY color. A red sapphire is actually a Ruby!
But otherwise, if you are a September baby, and blue is not your thing, you have no excuse for not getting a birthstone something special! There are some very beautiful and unusual sapphire colors, like teal, peach, olive green, can make for a great alternative.
September Babies: You are the lucky ones to have this beautiful stone associated with nobility, truth, sincerity, and faithfulness as your birth stone. With the only natural gemstone harder than sapphire being diamond, sapphires are a perfect choice for everyday wear. Not only the perfect choice... The noble choice ;-)
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