The term sapphire comes from the ancient Greek: sappheiros (“blue-colored stone”) or perhaps from the Hebrew sapphir (“the most beautiful thing”)
There are also pink, yellow, orange, purple, green sapphires, and others that are colorless or with other tones. The blue variety is the best known. The purplish-pink or orange-pink shade, called “Padparadja” or “Padparadscha” sapphire (translated from Sinhala as lotus flower) is the rarest and most sought after.
All our sapphires come mainly from Sri Lanka or Madagascar.
Sapphires are made up of aluminum oxide crystals (Al2O3) containing trace impurities (oxides) which give them their color (titanium and iron for blue, vanadium for violet, chromium for pink, iron for yellow and green).
Sapphire can be heat treated; the stones, too light, too dark or with many inclusions, are heated. This process enhances color and clarity by dissolving elements present in trace amounts in the stone. It is an ancient authorized lapidary method that does not devalue the beauty and value of the sapphire. Star sapphires can be found where the asterism is due to the presence of inclusions of rutile needles crystallized at 60° or 120° in the stone. The star sapphire is cabochon cut. Under the rays of the sun appears a star of 6 branches or more rarely 12 branches.
The sapphire will dazzle you with its various colors.