Sapphire

Sapphire

09, Nov, 20 4min Lesedauer

Edelsteinkunde

The sapphire

The sapphire is birthstone of the month of September. In der Historie besagt der mysteriöse Edelstein Wahrheit, Ruhe, Ehrlichkeit und ausgiebige Treue. Wegen seiner Bedeutung und seiner royalen Farbe ist er vermutlich auch einer der Lieblingssteine von Queen Elisabeth, Queen Beatrix, Queen Maxima – und ihrerzeit natürlich auch von Prinzessin Diana. 

The history of sapphire

The name sapphire comes from the Greek word ,,Sappheiros'' and means blue. In der Historie wurde deshalb nahezu jedes blaue Gestein allein basierend auf der blauen Farbe als Saphir bezeichnet. 

The different shades of blue go back to the different places of origin. Cornflower-blue sapphire is mined in Indian Kashmir, while green-blue varieties are common in Thailand, light-blue stones in the U.S. state of Montana, and pink, colorless, purple, and also blue sapphires in Sri Lanka. In Madagascar, sapphires come in all colors and shades. The blue ones here have a typical ink color but also rare large royal blue specimens can occur and achieve record prices.

 

Properties of sapphire: sapphire as a store of value

The sapphire includes a variety of the mineral corundum and always refers here to the best known blue variety. For all other colored stones, the color is named, such as the yellow sapphire, pink sapphire, purple sapphire, etc. In the value of the blue sapphire, the intensity of the blue tone plays the most important role. Here, a rich blue is considered very valuable, sapphires that are too dark or too light in color are comparatively less valued. They are cut in a wide variety of shapes, with round and oval stones being the most common. In the case of the more desirable eye-clean sapphires, the naked eye does not detect any inclusions.

  • Occurrence: Madagascar, Sri Lanka, India, Nigeria, USA, Australia
  • Colors: Blue, Clear, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Purple, Black
  • Transparency: transparent to opaque
  • Hardness: 9.0
  • Density: 3.95 to 4.03
  • Carat price: on average €180 to €12,000, record carat price of approx. $236,000 for a 17 carat sapphire ring.

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