Sapphire Blue Ovals

Blue Sapphire

Blue Sapphire is a blue variety of the mineral Corundum - its physical and chemical properties are virtually identical to those of ruby.  Interestingly, all Corundums that are not considered as Rubies are classed as Sapphires, which means that this particular gem exists in many colors, from blue to green, pink to mauve, purple, white, grey, violet, yellow and orange and all shades in between.

The blue colour of sapphire is due to small amounts of titanium oxides and iron. The finest colour historically is found in the Sapphire found in the Indian Kashmiri material. There is very little Sapphire from this locality available now with the vast majority of commercial Sapphire coming from Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), Madagascar and Africa.  Other large producers are Australia and China with smaller amounts coming from U.S.A (Montana), Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia etc.  Sapphires are generally of a light to dark blue with the lower value being taken up by the very dark Black and Blue-black variety. As the gem takes on a more vibrant, intense blue the value increases and as the gems go to either the very  light (very little colour) or extremely dark (no visible blue) tone the value decreases.
Blue is the most popular colour in the Sapphire as blue is also the favorite colour of some 50 per cent of all people, men and women alike.

Like its sister Ruby, Sapphire is the most durable of all colored stones and it is for this reason along with its beautiful color that it has long been the biggest seller and most asked for of all the colored gemstones. We associate this colour, strongly linked to the sapphire as it is, with feelings of sympathy and harmony, friendship and loyalty: feelings which belong to qualities that prove their worth in the long term – feelings in which  composure, mutual understanding and indestructible trust are forefront.  Thus the blue of the sapphire has become a colour which fits in with everything that is constant and reliable. This  is one of the reasons why women in many countries wish for a sapphire ring on their engagement. The sapphire symbolizes loyalty, but at the same time it gives expression to people`s love and harmony.