Egyptians associated the clear sapphire with the eye of Horas, Greeks identified the white sapphire with Apollo and was used by the oracles at Delphi. The stone was used by the Greeks to stimulate the opening of the third eye and to tap into the subconscious. In the old days, it was used to banish envy and jealousy. Sapphire would keep one's thoughts pure and heavenly and help those in the right find justice in legal matters. The peaceful, heavenly hues of blue stones were often thought to calm the mind, body, and spirit.

Sapphires were used to cure all eye ailments, purify the blood, and fortify the heart. Mixed with milk, this gem dried up ulcers, boils, and pustules. It would also cool fevers, sharpen eyesight, and protect against mental illness. The gemstone was also thought to be a powerful amulet to protect against poisonous creatures and was lethal to venomous insects and reptiles hiding nearby. Wearing a sapphire acted as an antidote against poisoning and if rubbed on a wound would stop bleeding. It was thought to be effective in quelling inflammation of the eyes. Soldiers wore them to prevent capture by the enemy.

Sapphires were believed to have gender: dark stones were designated female, light ones were male. September's birthstone is thought to make its wearers amiable, wise, virtuous, and strong. It also promotes chastity in virgins and insures fidelity in marriage. If given to a mate it would dull if you were ever unfaithful. Clear sapphires, like diamonds, are the guardians of love. When given to one another it enhances love for each other and tunes your psyches to one another.

Perhaps the most important attribute of Sapphire was said to be that of protection against sorcery. It is said to lessen the powers of the cast spells of evil ones or evil spirits. Sapphire was worn as a protection stone and to return any negative vibrations to the producer. It was thought to banish evil spirits and frighten devils. It would turn evil sorcery and negative spells back against the sender, provide advance warning of hidden dangers, and free the mind of the enchanted. If a wicked person wore it, it wouldn't shine and would crack.

The main sapphire-bearing rocks are marble, basalt, or pegmatite, mined mainly from alluvial deposits or deposits formed by weathering. Sapphires rarely are mined from the primary rock. Corundum stones (sapphire and ruby) are gems with the smallest hexagonal unit cells. They resemble boxes with hex ends and rectangle sides. This structure can be seen distinctly then viewed under a gemscope. They have four axes -- three that intersect each other at 60 degree angles, and one perpendicular to the other three. In the spectrascope, sapphire shows iron absorption in a wide band from 450-460 nm, with a fainter band to 470 nm. Hardness 9.00 Specific gravity - 3.96 to 4.0

When a sapphire shows asterism, it is called a "star" sapphire. The star is seen in cabochon cut sapphires (rounded, dome-shaped cuts) as several movable arms, or rays of white light, radiating from the center. Black star sapphires are usually cut in a flat cabochon. And they need to be worn with more care than other sapphires to prevent separation between their "twinning" planes. "Twinning" occurs when alternating layers grow in different directions.

Prices of almost all sapphires have increased only slightly since our Tenth Edition Catalog was printed. Kashmir sapphires continue to command the highest prices. But prices of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) sapphires have increased dramatically in the last five years. Also, there has been a significant increase in prices of stones of three carats and larger.

I'll bet you've noticed a sapphire on the market know as Diffused Sapphire. Diffused is not a geographical location like Ceylon, Thailand, or Burma. Diffused is a process where man takes colorless or pale corundum and treats it with elements that give sapphires their blue color. The colorless or pale stones they once were are now beautiful rich blue stones that anyone would love to possess. They even sometimes rival the finest blue Ceylon color. The diffused sapphires are quite durable as long as they are never repolished or recut. The treatment to produce blue is only .25 to .50 millimeter into the stone's surface. Therefore, recutting or repolishing would remove the enhanced color. But it does not make the surface any softer than any other natural sapphire. The prices on these diffused stones are very reasonable, running about 1/6th the price of natural colored sapphire of similar color. Because they are repolished, a small layer of the colored surface is cut away leaving concentrated color zones at the facet junctions. The zoning can be detected by immersing the stones in methylene iodide. Diffused sapphires do have some people in the jewelry trade a little nervous because they can be mistaken for very expensive natural colored sapphires. Fortunately identification of diffused sapphire is fairly easy. Probably the most important enhancement besides that designed to improve color is that used to improve clarity. Controlled heating and cooling can dissolve the slender rutile needles (called silk) right into the crystal structure to improve the clarity. PSU does not sell diffused Sapphire.

Sapphires are comprised mainly of aluminum oxide, but titanium and iron are the trace elements that give natural colored sapphires their color. For years almost all sapphire rough has been heat treated. The addition of heat burns out impurities and allows the trace elements to expand improving the color. Then the rough material is cut into faceted or cab gems.

Sapphire was important to wizards and seers who used it to help interpret visions and prophesies. Here are the mystical properties associated with Sapphire. Many people think all sapphires are blue. But sapphires are actually corundum that are any color except red. Red varieties are called rubies. Sapphires range in color from violet--the most difficult to distinguish from a ruby -- to blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, and purple. The general term for any color except blue is "Fancy." The GIA is shying away from using "place" names in describing color. But you can still use fanciful language when selling the beauty of color. For example, the term "padparadscha" ("pad" for short), meaning "lotus color," is used to describe sapphires having a rare pinkish-orange color.

The most desired sapphire color is pure cornflower (not cauliflower) blue. Small differences in any of the color components--hue, tone, and saturation--can have an important impact on value. Although large sapphires are rare, the Smithsonian has the Logan sapphire--a 423 carat blue stone from Sri Lanka. The most important sapphire sources are Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Australia, and the Yogo Gulch in Montana. Other sources include Burma, Kampuchea (Cambodia), Kenya, and Tanzania.

Kashmir is the quintessential sapphire source! Blue sapphire from Kashmir has always been very highly regarded because of its superb cornflower blue color. The deposits were located in 1881. Almost all Kashmir sapphires show zoning, and this is one of the ways in which they can be identified. The zoning is associated with very small layers of liquid inclusions that give the velvety or sleepy appearance. The Kashmir mines have not been operating, at least officially, since 1983 and any crystals recovered were found by the indigenous population who were forbidden to engage in mining or in gem trading.

Gem quality sapphire is found in many parts of Queensland, Australia but the main deposit is at Anakie. Sapphires occurring in alluvial deposits were first discovered in 1870. Colors include deep blue, green, opaque black, bronze and yellow. Increased heating of Australian sapphire, in Thailand, has reduced the volume of available inky-black Australian sapphire. Thailand is today's leading source of sapphire. But mining is not the reason. Instead, heating accounts for the large volume of stones sold. The Thai have developed elaborate procedures for "lightening Australian and darkening Sri Lankan" sapphires. Costs for the rough, mining, and cutting all fall behind the cost of the fuel needed to maintain the ovens used to "cook" sapphire. Black star sapphire is mined principally in Thailand.

The rarest and most valuable collector fancy sapphire is the padparadscha, which is Sinhalese for "lotus flower". This gem is occasionally found in Sri Lanka. A gem padparadscha will range between $5000-$10,000 per carat. Large padparadscha can exceed these prices. Some unscrupulous dealers have been selling some of the new African fancy sapphires as padparadscha. However, these stones have too much orange-brown to be properly labeled as padparadscha.

The most well-known color is blue, but Sapphires are also beautiful in shades of pink, yellow, and other colors. The most desirable color, if blue, is said to be cornflower blue - an intense color, neither too light nor too dark. Sapphire's name was originally linked to the color blue, and some of the legends surrounding the stone might actually apply to other blue stones such as Lapis Lazuli. But fancy colored Sapphires, the other members of the Corundum family of gemstones, offer a myriad of colors other than Blue. So take the blues out of September with fancy color Sapphires such as green , yellow, orange, pink, purple, violet, brown, black, gray or colorless . The black and gray varieties are most often seen in star sapphires.

The second most valuable fancy sapphire is the electric pink. The best of these stones have a pure vibrant color without violet or purple. What makes these stones exceptional is an electric intensity and a tone that pushes it way above a pastel color. Although technically pink sapphires in America, some cultures, such as the Japanese and Europeans, buy and sell these stones as "Burma rubies". Gem pinks sell from $1500-$3000 per carat. Large multi-carat sized pinks can exceed $4000 per carat.