I am a bit partial to sapphires as sapphire is the birthstone for September which is my birth month! Happy Birthday to me. I will be celebrating all month long!
Historically sapphire is considered the gem of gems. Its heavenly blue hue signified hope and faith. It was steeped in the history of many religions being forever associated with sacred things. It is a stone of wisdom and royalty, of prophecy and divine favor. It was believed to bring protection, good fortune and spiritual insight. It was a symbol of power and strength, kindness and wise judgment.
Today sapphire is still consider a stone of wisdom and a stone of learning. It is thought to bring on psychic activation and considered to help seek spiritual truth. Blue sapphire is regarded as a stone of mental focus, order and inner vision. Sapphire is said to help to receive wisdom and insight, as well as communicate that vision to others.
Wearing a blue sapphire is thought to help to protect one against danger, travel problems, terror, thieves, accidents and problems from storms, fire or natural disasters. I will have to remember this when I travel to Dubai in November of 2020. Maybe too, I will wear a sapphire to help ward off any threat that hurricane Dorian might bring on!
Sapphires are said to cause financial fortunes to change for the better, help a person’s career and make the wearer rich. Well, you have to have some money to begin with to afford sapphires!
Kashmir is where the most sought after sapphires come from, followed by Burma and Sri Lanka. Kashmir has long been mined out and sapphires from Kashmir can now mostly be found on the secondary market. Sapphires can also be located in Madagascar, the USA and Australia.
Sapphires come in every color of the rainbow except for red. These are actually rubies! They exist in blue, pink, green, yellow, orange, purple, black and colorless. Of the blue sapphires the most valuable is medium to dark toned royal blue also known as cornflower blue. Padparadschas are a beautiful mix of pink and orange. They are very rare and highly sought after. The least valuable and popular of the sapphires are green. Not sure if that is because of the color or the value. Sort of like which came first, the chicken or the egg!
Star sapphires are due to an optical phenomenon call asterism. Asterism is caused by small inclusions of the mineral rutile which when cut will give the appearance of a star. In the star sapphire that I have You can sort of see the star. It was quite difficult of get a good photo of it!
Today many sapphires are lab grown. They are often difficult to identify except for the most highly skilled professional gemologists. Can you guess which of these two rings has the synthetic sapphire? It you guessed the one of my middle finger you guessed correctly!
Kyanite, lapis and tanzanite are often mistaken for sapphires. To learn more about kyanite, read last week’s blog, “Speak the Truth With Kyanite,” dated 8-26-19.
I currently do not have any handcrafted CKS sapphire jewelry in my inventory. The rings you see here are from my “personal collection” and are available to purchase. Please contact me to inquire about the details.
Have a wonderful Labor Day!
Until next time,
ENJOY!!
cheryl