Sapphire Gemstone
Blue sapphire is considered a primary colour gemstone, the purer the primary hue, the more valuable the gemstone. Blue sapphire gemstones are coloured by trace amounts of titanium and iron. (By increasing the level of titanium and iron the colour saturation is also increased.) The most common secondary hues found in blue sapphires are purple, violet, and green. Violet and purple can contribute to the overall beauty of the colour, while green is the bane of a blue sapphire. The problem is that all blue sapphires will have a greenish component when viewed at the right angle. It is the cutter that creates sure that the green isn’t a part of the confront position during a sapphire. When grey is included in the overall colour of the gemstone, often referred to as a grey mask, the sapphire will have a cool or steely quality as opposed to the normal warm velvety hue of a sapphire. You might also like amethyst gems or perhaps a different style such as the bloodstone.
Blue sapphires that are eye-clean or entirely freed from inclusions are uncommon, especially in larger sizes. However, blue sapphires with some internal inclusions are still highly valued, as long because the inclusions don’t reduce brilliance, obscure colour, or otherwise detract from the gemstone’s beauty. Blue sapphires of one-carat weight or more aren’t usually move calibrated sizes or standard shapes. Each gemstone is shaped to maximize the colour and weight of the gemstone.
In blue sapphires, cutting can influence colour in surprising ways. Sapphires are dichroic gemstone, meaning their colour varies depending on the angle from which it is viewed. Viewed in one direction, most blue sapphires appear blue to violet blue. From another direction, they’re going to appear slightly aqua . A skilled cutter will orient their gemstone so that the blue to violet-blue colour shows through the finished gem’s crown.
Silk inclusions are also acceptable in blue sapphires, as long as they are not so dense as to compromise colour or brilliance. In fact, silk inclusions can increase the worth of a sapphire. The heat treatments used to alter colour and clarity in blue sapphires break down rutile silk, so the presence of intact silk indicates that a sapphire is unheated
Heat treatment and diffusion make attractive blue sapphires out of common corundum that might have little or no value without treatment. Heat treatment is widely utilized in the international sapphire market, and it’s estimated that overflow 90 percent of all blue sapphire within the market today has been subject to heat treatment. Diffusion treatment is way more controversial, and diffusion-treated blue sapphires sell for much but those which have only been heat-treated.
Blue sapphires are found in several locations around the world including Kashmir, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Thailand, Australia, Tanzania, and the state of Montana in the United States.
Yellow Sapphire Gemstones
After blue sapphires, yellow sapphires are the most sought after colour in today’s jewelery industry. Many yellow sapphires are thought to closely resemble yellow diamonds. They can range in colour from bright canary yellow to greenish yellow, to everything in between. While customers tend to prefer a yellow sapphire colour that is a medium, vibrant canary yellow, a deep, orangish yellow (whisky colour), is highly valued in some Asian markets.
The most common cause of the yellow colouration in a sapphire is the trace element iron. Typically speaking, increased iron concentrations will also increase colour saturation. Yellow sapphires can also be coloured naturally by low-level radiation within the earth or by lab-induced irradiation. Gemstones that obtain their colour through irradiation have been known to fade with exposure to heat and light. Heat treatments have vastly increased the availability of yellow sapphires on the market today. Unheated yellow sapphires with strong saturation remain rare.
Yellow sapphires frequently have fewer inclusions than other sapphire colours and are held to higher clarity’s than other sapphire colours.
The chemical element titanium may cause an undesirable green cast in yellow sapphires, which makes the foremost valuable gemstone people who are relatively titanium-free. (The titanium-bearing rutile silk is a smaller amount common in fine yellow sapphires than sapphires of other colours.) Yellow sapphire’s transparency and clarity is paramount to the worth of the sapphire.
Yellow sapphire rough has traditionally been less costly than blue, pink, or Padparadscha (a mixture of pink and orange), so cutters are more reluctant to compromise brilliance in favour of weight retention. As a result, well-cut yellow sapphires are easier to find than other sapphire colours. (Yellow sapphires are also more likely to be available in specialty cuts such as radiant cuts which enhance the colour of the gemstone.)
Yellow sapphires are found in Tanzania, Madagascar, Thailand and Australia, although Sri Lanka is that the primary source.
Pink Sapphire gemstones
Pink sapphires are available very pale pastel pinks to vibrant and intense hot pinks. Pink sapphires are coloured by traces of chromium. Lower concentrations of chromium create pink sapphires while very high chromium concentrations will create a ruby. If the chemical element titanium is included within the crystal structure, the sapphire will have a more solferino hue.
Because pink sapphires are rare, gemstones half a carat or more aren’t dig calibrated sizes. Instead, each gemstone are going to be move retain the maximum amount of the gemstone as possible. A mixed cut will enhance the beauty of the colour and retain the weight of the gemstone. Customers will find that the most common shapes are cushions or ovals. Eye-clean, untreated gemstones are available on the market, but the majority of pink sapphires are clarity enhanced by heat treatment.
Many of the sapphires from Madagascar are subjected to moderate heat treatments to reduce their purplish secondary colours. Moderate heat treatments are very different from the traditional long duration, high temperature heating of blue and yellow sapphires. Madagascar pink sapphires, on the opposite hand, are heated at temperatures far lower and are considered more gentle (about 400º C) for less than a couple of hours.
This process does not alter the internal characteristics of the gemstone while high heat temperatures will affect the inclusions drastically.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sapphires are minerals called corundum. They rank 9 on the Mohs scale for gem hardness, the third after a diamond and then Moissanite.
Sapphires are found around the globe from Tanzania to Vietnam, Afghanistan, China, Sri Lanka and the USA.
A sapphire is a mineral but definitely not a diamond even though a diamond is a mineral as well. Diamonds are about forty times harder than sapphires.
Sapphires are known for their blue hues. There are also other beautiful colours that include peach, pink, yellow, orange, green, purple, black, gray and colourless.
Deep intense blue sapphires of high clarity tend to sell for the highest prices. Flawless pink and yellow sapphires are also quite pricey.
