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Are Sapphires Rare?

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Sapphires, often called gemstones of the skies, are found only in a few places and are brought to daylight under laborious procedures. Sapphires are found in India, Burma, Ceylon, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Brazil and Africa. From the gemstone mines the rough crystals are supplied to the cutters, where skilled hands turn them into radiant gemstones. A cutter must draw on all his experience and precision when cutting sapphire. Because Sapphires are not only hard, they also display a different coloring and satiation depending on the perspective. Then the cutter must align the orientation of the stone in such a way as to bring about the best possible display of color.

Depending on the place of occurrence, the depth of color as well as the shade displayed by the cut stones will vary, which in turn offers a wider range to select from. Bright daylight makes most Sapphires shine more vividly than the muted artificial light. Therefore, the most highly cherished color for the blue Sapphires is not the darkest blue as is often claimed, but the deep and satiated blue, which even in dim artificial light appears to remain blue.

For Sapphire experts and connoisseurs the Kashmir-color with its velvety sheen is considered the most beautiful and valuable shade. The Kashmir gemstones, which were found in 1880 after an avalanche and where intensively mined for eight years, have set the standard for our ideas of the color of a top quality Sapphire. The Kashmir color is a pure and intensive blue, which is enhanced by a fine, silky gloss. The Kashmir color does not change in artificial light.

The Burma-color is also considered especially valuable. It ranges from rich royal blue to deep cornflower blue.

The oldest Sapphire mines are located in Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, where gemstones were mined in ancient times. The experts recognizes Ceylon Sapphires from the luminosity and brilliance of their light to medium blue color. Most blue Sapphires come from Thailand or Australia.

The Sapphires value depends on size, color and transparency. For very fine qualities these criteria are supplemented by information on the origin of the gemstone. The color is not necessarily linked to the geographic origin of the Sapphire and this explains why there are such enormous price differences between the respective qualities. The most valuable Sapphires are real Kashmir stones. The stones from Burma are almost as highly cherished, followed by the Ceylon-Sapphires. Another factor that reflects on the price of a Sapphire is a stone that has definitely not been treated becomes more and more desirable.

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