Sapphire - September

[Ella's Treasures]

Saphire:-

Modern Birthstone for September

Sapphire is a variety of the mineral species corundum (an aluminium oxide). Sapphires occur in all colours of the rainbow with the exception of red, which is ruby.
Sapphires are much more common than rubies and stones exceeding 10ct are not rare.

The name corundum comes from the ancient Sanskrit "kuruvindam", while the name "Sapphire" comes from the Persian word "safir", meaning "beloved of Saturn", (or Greek sapphiros).

Sapphires are mined in Australia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Other producers are Burma, Kampuchea, Kenya and Tanzania.

In Burmese and Sri Lankan sapphires the inclusions (internal flaws) are often distinctive and are referred to as “silk” due to their lustrous appearance. This silk is normally made up of white needle-like inclusions criss-crossing each other. In Sri Lankan stones the needles are quite long while in Burmese stones the needles tend to be shorter and run perpendicular to each other. These flaws confirm that the stone is natural.

Sapphires are sometimes heated to improve their colour and reduce cloudiness which is caused by rutile inclusions. The rutile inclusions are responsible for the "star" or "cat's eye" in star sapphires.

Gem cutters try to produce stones with the best colour and clarity without sacrificing weight. For this reason, most stones cut straight from the mine in the countries of origin and are asymmetrically shaped and do not have uniform facets. Native-cut stones are quite common, even in important European or American jewellery, because for the jewellers to re-cut them would mean a loss of weight. European or American-cut sapphires are usually “mixed cut”.

As well as being the birthstone for September it is the accepted gem designated for the 5th, 23rd and 45th wedding anniversaries.