Basic Understanding of Sapphire

• Sapphire Sapphire, known as the "stone of the sky", is the blue category of corundum, which is blue because it contains a small amount of iron and titanium. In the West, sapphire has long been regarded as a representative of compassion, gentleness and loyalty, so Western women like to use sapphire as an engagement ring (Engagement Ring) to look forward to their love and marriage unchanged. The traditional engagement ring of the British royal family is a sapphire ring. Sapphire is one of the few gems suitable for both women and men. About 50% of the people want sapphire besides diamonds.

• Translated name

Corundum color from colorless, yellow, orange, pink, purple to green, but also brown and black. In addition to a few types of corundum color has its own proper name, most of the corundum categories are collectively referred to as "Fancy Sapphire", also known as color just. Sapphire has its own proper name. The English name is "Sapphire", while corundum of other colors is preceded by "Sapphire", such as "Pink Sapphire", "Orange Sapphire", "Yellow Sapphire". There are two Chinese translations for those who put color in front of "Sapphire" in English: for example, "Pink twisted" is often used as "pink corundum" or "pink steel". There is no absolute right or wrong in these two translations, but the names of the translations are different. It is good for readers to know that pink steel and pink sapphire are the same gem!

• Market mainstream sapphire color

When cutting sapphire, in addition to facing the challenge of relatively high hardness (hardness of 9), how to avoid the disadvantage of uneven color distribution of sapphire is a test. The uneven color distribution of sapphire often presents two phases. The color depth is called "color band", and the color depth is called "color gamut". Generally speaking, the color and tone of sapphire are relatively deep, so what kind of blue is the better blue? Usually jewelers will use the commercial names "Velvet Blue" (Velvet Blue), "Cornflower Blue" (Cornflower Blue) and "Royal Blue" (Royal Blue) to indicate that the color is a positive blue with a bluish purple color, without a grayish-black tone, and high color concentration of good quality sapphire. Sri Lanka is the oldest source of sapphire and one of the major producers today. Generally, the sapphire produced in Sri Lanka belongs to the middle depth blue in color, and the brightness is relatively high.

• Quality purchase

In addition to color, transparency and clarity, carat size is also a factor affecting the value of sapphire. In addition to the above quality purchase standards, the jewelry industry likes to take the origin as the quality orientation. The top three high-quality origins are K4Mir, Myanmar and Sri Lanka respectively. At present, Madagascar is also one of the main producing areas of sapphire.

• Heat treatment affects the quality and price of sapphire

Heat treatment is commonly used to change the color of sapphire (make dark color lighter, light color darker), improve transparency. Sapphire after such heat treatment is a permanent change, will not change back to the original, so it has been generally accepted. However, the jewelry market still likes to place special emphasis on sapphires that have not been heat-treated, especially for sapphires with large carats and very good quality. As long as it can be proved that without any treatment, the price will jump again and again, which may reflect that things are rare and that ordinary people still like all natural things.

• Origin

In addition to the known origins of Kashmir, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Australia, etc., sapphire deposits have also been found in Nigeria and Madagascar, and treasure hunters have also found pink and yellow corundum in Tanzania. China also produces sapphires, but because the Chinese have favored jade since ancient times, sapphires have not been taken seriously. In the 1980 s, many sapphire deposits were discovered in the basalt along the eastern coast of China. Among them, Changle, Shandong Province, has the best sapphire quality. It is estimated that Changle sapphire reserves are the largest in China.