Sapphire Gemstones

Sapphires are all blue, aren’t they?

In Australia, the majority of sapphires seen in jewellery are in the dark-blue colour range.  However, there is a growing awareness of the wide variety of colours that this popular gemstone is available in.  For example pink and pale blue sapphires are becoming popular. 

Sapphires come in pink, yellow, green, blue, purple, golden and apricot.   Blue sapphires range from pale blue through to black blue.  Partii are multicoloured combinations of blue, greens and yellow.  There is even a rare colour change sapphire.  It changes from blue to purple under different light sources.

Sapphire is the gemstone for September.  Now those born in September have a wide choice of colours to choose from.  Some people even choose to collect a different coloured sapphire each year.

Sapphires are mined in many locations around the world including Sri Lanka, Thailand, Madagascar, Africa and Australia.  Most Australian sapphires are found in Central Queensland.  They are usually dark blue, green, yellow and partii gemstones.

Sapphires are an excellent choice as a stone in quality hand-made jewellery. This is due to their wonderful colours and their hardness.  Their hardness makes them durable and suitable for daily wear.  This hardness also makes them a good investment and worthy of heirloom-quality workmanship and design.

What is hardness?  Hardness is measured on the moh’s scale.  Sapphires have a hardness of 9 on the moh’s scale.  The moh’s scale is a scale that designates the hardness of gemstones.  Hardness is assessed by which other gemstones will scratch them.  If they can be scratched by another gemstone, they are softer than that gemstone.  For example, diamond will scratch sapphire, sapphire will scratch topaz and topaz will scratch amethyst.  Diamonds have a hardness of 10, sapphires have a hardness of 9, topazes have hardness of 8 and amethysts have a hardness of 7.  Interestingly, diamond will actually scratch diamond.  No other gemstones can scratch diamonds. Please don’t attempt this at home!

The combination of sapphires and diamonds is a gorgeous and popular option.  New developments in the cutting of sapphires mean that we have access to sapphires cut in what is called “diamond-cut”.  The results are very glamorous with the sapphires sparkling in a similar way to diamonds.  The sapphires are cut with multiple facets on their pavilion (underside) to disperse the light upwards.   Many of our customers who love the glamour of pink diamonds but not the price have found diamond-cut pink sapphire an excellent solution.

Our Cleveland studio has an earring and pendant set made of diamond-cut pale pink, pale blue and pale green sapphires.  Our Holland Park studio has a similar tennis bracelet.  Please drop-in to have a look they these lovely pastel pieces, as we love to talk about this spectacular and durable gemstone.