Faceted Sapphire - 1.99 CTW

Sapphire (a corundum variety) is an aluminum oxide occurring in every color of the rainbow. It is a stone of great hardness and durability. It can also have phenomenal characteristics like asterism (star sapphire) and color changing (like alexandrite). The color changing varieties are mesmerizing, having the ability to change color depending on whether they are viewed in daylight or incandescent light.

Name	Sapphire
Is a Variety of	Corundum
Refractive Index	1.757-1.779
Colors	All non-red corundum is considered sapphire. Colorless, white, gray, blue, blue-green, green, violet, purple, orange, yellow, yellow-green, brown, golden amber, peachy pink, pink, black. May show color zoning.
Hardness	9
Wearability	Excellent
Enhancements	Heat treatment: common; diffusion treatment (placing a thin blue coating on colorless sapphire): occasional; irradiation (turns colorless gems yellow, orange, or light blue): rare.
Typical Treatments	Heat Treatment, Infusion/Impregnation, Lattice Diffusion
Etymology	From the Latin sapphirus for blue.
Inclusions	Silk inclusions.

Enhancements

There are numerous treatment methods for sapphires including heat treatment which is accepted as a common practice and has little effect on corundum values. In contrast, other treatments have considerable impact. Some can reduce the worth of rubies and sapphires drastically, by 50% to even 95%.

Sources

Sapphires occur abundantly all over the world, but gem-quality sapphires occur much more rarely and in fewer locations. The following are some of the most notable gem sources:

• Sri Lanka;
• Australia;
• Myanmar;
• Thailand;
• Montana (USA).

Care

Sapphire’s hardness is second only to diamond among natural gems. It also has no cleavage planes. This makes it a superb jewelry stone. Of course, a heavily included or fractured stone will be less stable.

For reasonably clean stones, no special wear or care precautions are necessary. However, avoid cleaning any oil-treated sapphires with ultrasonic systems. Otherwise, you can clean sapphires with mechanical systems. Nevertheless, cleaning your sapphires at home with warm water, detergent, and a soft brush or taking them to a professional jeweler are your safest choices