Sapphire

Corundum sapphire

The sapphire is the stone of the Popes, it is the link between the earth and the celestial spirits.
In the past, the term “sapphire” from the Hebrew “sappîr” “blue stone” referred to various blue gems.
The word “sapphire” comes from the Latin sapphirus, itself derived from the Greek sappheiros, meaning “blue”.
From Antiquity to the Middle Ages, sapphire was most often understood as lapis lazuli.
Around 1800, it was discovered by Jacques Louis de Bournon (1751-1825), a 19th century French mineralogist and crystallographer, that sapphire and ruby were varieties of corundum, red corundum is called ruby.
The word “sapphire” without qualifying its color is always reserved for blue sapphire. The other colors are specified by a qualifying adjective; green sapphire, yellow sapphire, etc. The colorless sapphire is called “leucosaphir” from the Greek “leukos” which means “white”, the highly prized pinkish orange sapphire is called “padparadscha” “lotus flower” in Sinhalese.

The corundum sapphire is one of the four precious stones along with the diamond, the ruby and the emerald.

The blue color of corundum sapphire is attributed to the presence of iron and titanium, violet to vanadium, to trivalent iron are attributed yellow and green tones, to chrome the pink color, to vanadium and iron the orange color.

Gemstone sapphire

The most sought after color of the gemstone sapphire is a frank cornflower blue.
Inclusions of oriented rutile needles give the gemstone sapphire a silky luster, in larger quantities they produce a chatoyancy (cat’s eye) or a six-pointed star (star sapphire) in the gemstone, but it sometimes there may be twelve-pointed stars.
The most popular gemstone sapphires are those from Kashmir (India), followed by those from Myanmar (formerly Burma) and those from Siam. Regarding the Kashmir sapphire in India, the deposits are at 5000 meters above sea level, in the Zaskar region, 200 km south-east of Srinagar, it seems that these mines are now partly exhausted .
Currently, the so-called sapphires fallaciously from Kashmir are mostly Burmese sapphires.
There are other sapphire deposits in the world, among others, such as Brazil, China, Cambodia, United States, Gabon, Kenya, Laos, Malawi, Nigeria, Madagascar, Rwanda, Tanzania, Vietnam, Zimbabwe.

In lithotherapy, sapphire is considered the stone of patience, tenacity and loyalty. Sapphire energies also promote peace and make you invincible. It is credited with the virtues of healing eye diseases, it protects against the plague.

Sapphire is a sought-after precious stone, with lively and deep tones, it is very popular in jewelry, fine jewelry and fine jewelry for the manufacture of flamboyant jewelry.