Sapphire Gemstone Guide...Everything About the Royal Gemstone of September

Sapphires...the beautiful gemstone of the royals. It was the deep rich color that made sapphires one of the most desired gems of the royals centuries ago but in modern times their popularity had diminished until, the beloved Princess Diana wore a sapphire ring as her engagement ring. This caused the popularity of sapphires to skyrocket in the 1980s. The same phenomenon has happened in the 2000s when Princess Katherine was given the same ring as her engagement ring. Below see the stunning royal engagement ring and our vintage interpretation.

    

In general the term "Sapphire" refers the deep blue gemstones but sapphires are a corundum mineral that comes in every color of the rainbow. When referring to other colored corundum the term "Fancy Sapphire" is used or the color of the gemstone, like "Pink Sapphire". The one exception is red corundum which is actually a Ruby...yep sapphires and rubies are the exact same mineral just in different colors. Below are some of our favorite examples of Fancy Sapphires.

 All sapphires are extremely durable, second only to diamonds, and regardless of the corundum they are known for a thick rich color (ie not translucent). Because of the durability of these stones there are a lot of wonderful vintage pieces out there. Especially from the Art Deco era which produced gorgeous pieces that combined sapphires, diamonds, and gorgeous gold filigree. Below are some of our sapphire art deco jewelry, please click on the image for specific information or use these links Scotch Street Vintage Sapphire Collection or Scotch Street Vintage Art Deco Collection to see more.

One of the more spectacular types of sapphires are star sapphires, which are corundum that has an asterism. This occurrence gives the appearance of a star in the stone that becomes more and more visible under brighter light. The star also has a floating quality that looks like it is moving when cut in a propper cabochon. In the 1940s these stones became so popular that a synthetic was created called Lindy Stars, which are easy to spot because unlike star sapphires the synthetic versions star shows up in all lights even dim light and the star is stationary.

Sapphires (of all variety) are the birthstone for September and the anniversary stone for the 5th and 45th wedding anniversaries. There are synthetic versions of sapphires but they can easily be differentiated but you should be careful to ask if a sapphire is authenticated because spinels were mistaken for sapphires for years. We have all types of wonderful and you can see them all here Scotch Street Vintage Sapphire Collection. And as always if you have any questions we are always happy to help you can contact us here.