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Sapphire

Sapphire

This glossary entry has not yet been updated and is under review.

At Adin - Antique and Vintage jewelry, you can find exquisite sapphire and diamond jewelry. Buy one of our engagement rings, earrings, bands.

Sapphire

See our: Sapphire jewelry. A precious stone that is a variety of transparent corundum of any colourother than red (which is a ruby). The usual and preferable colour ('Kashmirblue') ranges from pale cornflower-blue to deep velvety blue; but less valuablevarieties of corundum of other colours are included as sapphires, e.g. white,yellow, green, pink, purple, brown, and black. Any sapphire that is not blue issometimes called a 'fancy sapphire'. The cause of the variety of colours isuncertain, but the blue colour is probably due to traces of oxide of iron andtitanium.Some sapphires change colour in daylight from that in artificiallight. Due to the Asiatic origin of the stones, the yellow variety is sometimescalled 'Oriental topaz', the dark green 'Oriental emerald', and the purple'Oriental amethyst'; but these are misnomers that should be discarded.Sapphires are usually cut as a brilliant or mixed cut, but sometimes they arecut and strung as beads.Sapphires show strong dichroism, often asterism (as inthe case of the star sapphire when properly cut en cabochon), and occasionallyfeathers; they are extremely hard and have a vitreous lustre. Zones ofdifferent colours, or concentrations of one colour, are sometimes present instone, as a result of which, and also owing to the dichroism, the quality ofcut stones depends greatly on skilful cutting; faceting is done mainly in SriLanka (formerly Ceylon).The finest stones came from India (Kashmir) since 1862and have a rich blue colour that does not 'bleed' (i.e. change in differentlights); the next finest blue sapphires (paler vanetles) came from Burma andsome are still being found in Sri Lanka.The colour of sapphires is sometimesaltered by heat treatment (which dulls the colour) or irradiation (the effectof which fades).Among the most famous or largest sapphires are the Bismarck sapphire, Lincol sapphire, Logansapphire, Raspolie sapphire, and gem of The Jungle, and among those that showasterism are the Star of Asia and Star of India.In our online shop you can find some exquisite examples of antique and vintage jewelry set with sapphire. Check out our sapphire and diamond engagement rings, wedding rings, earrings, bands and many more.

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Sapphire

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At Adin - Antique and Vintage jewelry, you can find exquisite sapphire and diamond jewelry. Buy one of our engagement rings, earrings, bands.

Sapphire

See our: Sapphire jewelry. A precious stone that is a variety of transparent corundum of any colourother than red (which is a ruby). The usual and preferable colour ('Kashmirblue') ranges from pale cornflower-blue to deep velvety blue; but less valuablevarieties of corundum of other colours are included as sapphires, e.g. white,yellow, green, pink, purple, brown, and black. Any sapphire that is not blue issometimes called a 'fancy sapphire'. The cause of the variety of colours isuncertain, but the blue colour is probably due to traces of oxide of iron andtitanium.Some sapphires change colour in daylight from that in artificiallight. Due to the Asiatic origin of the stones, the yellow variety is sometimescalled 'Oriental topaz', the dark green 'Oriental emerald', and the purple'Oriental amethyst'; but these are misnomers that should be discarded.Sapphires are usually cut as a brilliant or mixed cut, but sometimes they arecut and strung as beads.Sapphires show strong dichroism, often asterism (as inthe case of the star sapphire when properly cut en cabochon), and occasionallyfeathers; they are extremely hard and have a vitreous lustre. Zones ofdifferent colours, or concentrations of one colour, are sometimes present instone, as a result of which, and also owing to the dichroism, the quality ofcut stones depends greatly on skilful cutting; faceting is done mainly in SriLanka (formerly Ceylon).The finest stones came from India (Kashmir) since 1862and have a rich blue colour that does not 'bleed' (i.e. change in differentlights); the next finest blue sapphires (paler vanetles) came from Burma andsome are still being found in Sri Lanka.The colour of sapphires is sometimesaltered by heat treatment (which dulls the colour) or irradiation (the effectof which fades).Among the most famous or largest sapphires are the Bismarck sapphire, Lincol sapphire, Logansapphire, Raspolie sapphire, and gem of The Jungle, and among those that showasterism are the Star of Asia and Star of India.In our online shop you can find some exquisite examples of antique and vintage jewelry set with sapphire. Check out our sapphire and diamond engagement rings, wedding rings, earrings, bands and many more.

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References

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson