Sapphire, The Symbol Of The Firmament

The blue sapphire, modestly presenting its true charm, is wrapped in the mist of holiness. In a perfect manner it entwines its chill and metaphysical abyss. Its name comes from various languages. In Sanskrit sapphire is called sauriratna, which means devoted to Saturn. In Chaldic it was called sampir, sappheiros (“blue”) in Greek, saphirus in Latin and safir in Arabic. All those names make it evident that this gemstone have been known to the world for a long time. Undoubtedly sapphire is more common than his red brother – the ruby. In some regions it’s found in such big amounts, that same as with the diamond, the specimens of lesser quality are used as the polishing material.

Sapphire and ruby are close related. Being noble representatives of the same family of corundum, they both have same characteristics. Being so, sapphire is also crystallized aluminum oxide. It’s very often to find both minerals in the same spot, i.e. the mountains in Burma, from time to time, surprise us with a spontaneous combination of two red rubies with a center of plum-blue sapphire. The most desirable colour is a shade of cornflower: calm yet challenging, glossy and yet velvety, refined with a touch of purple. A little less prized sapphires are royal blue in colour. Also dark blue have a big value. But it’s not all: the shades are ranging from rich, dark blue to a cool icy-blue tint, from the vibrant azure, pass the joyful, sky blue to sparkling blue electric (greenish-blue). Taking into consideration all the tints of sapphire, the Mother Nature proved so clever, that that talking about sapphire as of a blue stone seems to be a misunderstanding.

Same as rubies, the sapphires were formed as the result of many geological processes. The Kashmir sapphires were made in pegmatics rich in aluminum and boron (iron and titanium, staining blue, come from secondary rocks). Totally different circumstances were responsible for the sapphires in Australia, Cambodia or Thailand. They were formed deep under the Earth’s surface as the result of the carbonatites’ reaction to high pressure and temperatures. The inner life of sapphires is a real mini scale wonderland, where they play a role of good hosts that once having guests, they hold them inside forever.

The main places of sapphire occurrence are in Sri Lanca, Thailand, Tanzania, Cambodia, Australia, on the island of Madagascar and in Montana, USA. The gems are mined mainly from alluvial eroded gravel, partly also from the mother rock. In Burma, Tanzania, Montana and at the hardly accessible, famous Kashmir deposits of cornflower blue sapphires, in India both kinds of deposits are mined equally, so the primary, as the secondary ones. But in every case, the precious crumb deposits are far more efficient.

In the ancient cultures of Egypt and Rome, the sapphires have been given the honour proper to the holy stones of truth and justice. For Buddhists, sapphire resembles peace, friendship and consistency, therefore it is called as the talisman of marriage happiness. The treasure chests of all the kings of the world competed to have the most luminous and beautiful “Saitya goddess’ tears”. However, not always the blue jewels were associated with divinity and royalty. The United States were the birthplace of treating them with more of... utility way. With the use of three sapphires, around 2000 carats each, the heads of the presidents Washington, Lincoln and general Eisenhower were carved.

Until recently, the biggest uncut sapphire was the 60000 carats found in Mogok in 1974. But this record was beat. Madagascar holds the record now, with a man-mined, the youngest yet the heaviest specimen of all times – the 89500 carats sapphire, weighting 17,5 kg.