Sapphires
What is a Sapphire?
Sapphire is a precious gemstone, one of only four considered to be in the category, and is a subclass of the parent mineral corundum. While most natural sapphires are blue in color, "fancy" sapphires also exist in other colors such as yellow, pink, green, orange, or even colorless. A pinkish orange sapphire variant is called padparascha. Corundum also come in red, but they are categorized as rubies instead of sapphires.
Where are Sapphires from?
Natural sapphires are mined from deposits located in Cambodia, Colombia, Ethiopia, India (Kashmir), Madagascar, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, an Vietnam to name a few. Every sapphire mine delivers sapphires with a large variety of quality, and its root is not a guarantee of quality. Nevertheless, most decently-sized gem-quality sapphires are found in Kashmir, Burma, Sri Lanka, and Madagascar.
insert a sapphire mine picture
different hue sapphires, and dual hues
Two blue sapphires with the same hue but different tones
Sapphire Color Components
The sapphire is well known for its translucent even color. At Golden Eiffel, we inspect every one of our sapphires to make sure that they have an even color with negligible color zoning, spotting, or banding. In our inspections, we primarily observe their hue, tone, and saturation.
Hue
Hue indicates the actual color of the sapphire. As such, the hue refers to two things: the main color of the sapphire and any other colors that might exist. For example, sapphires can be found in violet-blue or yellow-green hues. In this case, the secondary color is specified first, whereas the primary color is mentioned second.Â
Tone
Tone refers to the intensity or depth of color. For instance, two sapphires may both have blue hues. However, the first sapphire is sky blue while the second appear to be ocean blue. The variation between the sky to ocean blue is the tone.
Saturation
Saturation specifies the purity of color within sapphires. For example, a blue sapphire is considered to be more saturated when it is free of brown or grey hues. The highest saturation, "vivid", refers to sapphires that have the purest color with minimum impurities.
As such, Golden Eiffel's standard guidelines make sure we exclusively offer blue sapphires ranging from green-blue to violet-blue hues and strong to vivid saturation with varying tones.
Clarity
Clarity in sapphires is perceived in a very different manner compared to diamonds. Sapphires are found in mineral-rich deposits that cause specks of minerals to be easily trapped within the gemstones. Some of the more common clarity characteristics in sapphires include needles, crystals, and naturals. That being said, due to the profound color in sapphires, small clarity characteristics are more easily masked. As a result, sapphires that do not have any inclusions easily seen with a naked eye are regarded "eye-clean" and is one of the mark of an excellent sapphire that are traded at premiums. On the flipside, sapphires that are more included command lower prices, especially those with inclusions that present significant risks to the gemstones' durability.
At Golden Eiffel, we avoid stones that carry big noticeable flaws and screen for mostly eye-clean sapphires.
Cut
Cut is essential to bring out the true worth of sapphires. However, unlike diamonds, there is no one standard perfect cut for sapphires because each one have a unique combination of color components, clarity characteristics, and transparency levels. Therefore, it is critical that sapphire cutters are able to maximize a gemstone's beauty using the cut. For example, a cutter might choose to cut more deeply for lighter-colored stones compared to one with deeper colors from the get-go. Additionally, color can be distributed unevenly throughout a stone and different tones of the same hue can often be found in a stone. Cutters then must contemplate the best way to cut it such that the stone reflects exclusively one shade of color as evenly as possible. Similarly, cutters try their best to "hide" clarity characteristics through cut and possibly remove them if deemed undesirable in addition to orienting the gemstone with the goal of having as much transparency as possible to reach the highest level of brilliance and fire or "liveliness" of the gemstone. The objective of every superior cut sapphire is to end with a gemstone that has a beautiful, even color saturation face-up combined with brilliance that makes the stone look full of life while maintaining as much weight as possible for value.
Transparency
Transparency refers to the relative ability of a sapphire to transmit light. A sapphire's transparency is often assessed by using a flashlight from the pavilion of the gemstone. A stone with great transparency would look very clear even when tested, while those with less transparency would look cloudy and the light would have a hard time piercing through. High transparency is one of the hallmarks of a magnificent sapphire as it affects salience greatly.
Why Sapphires?
Individuality
Sapphires are considered to be one of the most treasured gemstones by many. The most prominent reason is its countless lineup of options in a variety of size and shape, in combination with its virtually trademarked deep color. This brings a lot of individuality to each piece of sapphire jewelry and its wearer alike by making them stand out from the crowd. Furthermore, sapphire is a symbol of loyalty and truth on top of being the birthstone of September, which adds to its value as a modern engagement ring option.
Value
Sapphire is generally the significantly more affordable option compared to diamonds. This bang for your buck makes it so you can get a bigger sized stone. Moreover, large-sized high-quality sapphires see their prices consistently rise over the years due to their beauty and salience topped off by their ever increasing interest, demand, and scarcity.
Durability
Just like diamonds, sapphires are durable and therefore is perfect for daily wear. Sapphires are graded 9 out of 10 on Mohs Scale of Hardness just behind diamonds, which indicates that they are very sturdy. Consequentially, they tend to be hard to crack or chip, so they can be worn without the horror of damaging the gemstones. Lastly, sapphires are not unusually sensitive to exposure to heat, light, or chemicals often found in perfumes and such.