September's Birthstone: Sapphire

Velvety Blue. Liquid Blue. Evening Sky Blue. Cornflower Blue. Because sapphire embodies an infinite palette of blue hues, ancients believed that the earth rested on a giant sapphire and its reflection colored the sky.But like the endless colors that appear in the sky, sapphire is also found in many, many other shades besides blue, from the gold of the sunrise, to the fiery reddish-orange of the sunset, to the delicate violet of twilight. Sapphire may even resemble the pale white gloaming of an overcast sky.

Our jewelry incorporates genuine fancy
colored Sapphires that have been collected
from around the world. The origins of our sapphires are Myanmar (commonly known as Burma), Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon), Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Tanzania, Madagascar, Australia and Montana USA.

In ancient times, a gift of sapphire was a pledge of trust and loyalty. It is from this tradition that sapphire has long been a popular choice for engagement rings. Both Princess Diana and Princess Ann had sapphire engagement rings--examples of sapphire long being a favorite of royalty.

Yet the perfect sapphire is as rare as the finest work of art. Thus, over the centuries, man has developed methods to enhance the purest hues of sapphire. This is now commonly achieved by controlled heating of these gemstones, a technique that not only improves the color but also improves the clarity. However, heating only improves the color if the gem already contains the chemistry required. Sapphires are comprised mainly of aluminum oxide, but titanium and iron are the trace elements that give natural colored sapphires their color. For years almost all sapphire rough has been heat treated. The addition of heat burns out impurities and allows the trace elements to expand improving the color. Then the rough material is cut into faceted or cabochon gems.

A new method of artificially changing the natural color of a sapphire is diffusion. With diffused sapphire the material is cut first and then is placed in an alumina cooking element filled mostly of aluminum oxide with small amounts of titanium and iron oxides. The sapphires are then heated up to about 1700 C and held there for a period of time. In the process only a little over 50% of the stones survive. The balance may explode, crack, dissolve or show no color improvement. The stones that do survive the process then need to be re-polished to removing any pitting or damage left by the actual melting of the surface of the stone. Because they are re-polished, a small layer of the colored surface is cut away leaving concentrated color zones at the facet junctions. The zoning can be detected by immersing the stones in methylene iodide. Diffused sapphires do have some people in the jewelry trade a little nervous because they can be mistaken for very expensive natural colored sapphires. Fortunately identification of diffused sapphire is fairly easy.

Sapphire is perhaps the toughest and most durable gemstone available on the market. With a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale, sapphire is harder than any other gem (except diamond) and it has no cleavage plane so it cannot be cut with a single blow like a diamond. In fact, synthetic sapphire has been used for scratch-resistant watch crystals, optical scanners, and other instruments because its durability can be trusted. That durability ensures that sapphire jewelry will be treasured for generations.

"If You Don't Know Your Jewels, Know Your Jeweler!"

Call (814-793-4479) us or email today for any requests and experience The Prospector Difference.

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