She is lovely and delicate, but she’s been tested by the fire, has proven her mettle by her endurance and devotion.Įven the ancients saw the blend of the aesthetic and the durable in precious sapphire, such as you see in genuine sapphire rings. Sapphire is both gorgeous and strong, like the woman you love, whose beauty is tempered by patience and her unflinching faith. Sapphires that aren’t gem-quality may be used in wristwatch crystals or the infrared optical components of certain scientific instruments. Because of sapphire’s incredible hardness (9 on the Mohs scale-only moissanite and diamonds are harder!) they are used for industrial purposes as well as being prized for ornamentation throughout history. Having been found among the sediment of river beds and on alluvial plains since ancient times, sapphires have long been valued for their beauty.

Sapphires are mined in many locations from Montana in the United States to Australia, Madagascar, Thailand and Sri Lanka, the latter being the source of the legendary Logan Sapphire, a 423-carat blue gem-quality sapphire now housed in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC. It is the integrity of sapphire’s primary hue-blue-that determines its evaluation, although a violet undertone adds to its beauty and appeal in many cases. Precious sapphire is known for its royal blue color, though sapphires are found in nature in nearly every hue from the white that is nearly colorless through shades of gray and blue to the very deepest blue-black of the most valuable and expensive stones, with yellow and pink variations also in existence, though they are less highly prized.

It is that distinctive deep blue September twilight that is captured so perfectly by the sapphire, this month’s traditional birthstone. September is often a month of contradictions, a confluence of two seasons, filled with transitions from summer pool parties to autumn’s bonfires, with the back to school rush and the drop of temperatures from sweltering August to the cool longer dusks of September. The Autumn Sapphire: September’s Birthstone

Blue sapphire birthstone