Sapphires: More Hues than just Blue

Like most folks, I was under the impression that Sapphires were only blue in color. To the contrary, sapphires come in every color of the rainbow!

"Sapphire" is one of three gemstones that are produced from the mineral Corundum (an aluminum oxide). Blue is a common color, but sapphires also come in yellow, green, pink, purple, and black. When sapphires are in colors other than blue, they are called "fancy sapphires." When Corundum is red, it is the gemstone Ruby, and orange Corundum is the gemstone Adparadscha (a very rare gemstone from Sri Lanka).

Another type is Sapphire is the "Star Sapphire." This occurs when a gemstone exhibits "asterism" or a luminous star-like shape when under an overhead light, which will reflect an intersection of tiny needle-like crystal inclusions. Rubies can also exhibit asterism, and are called "Star Ruby."

Sapphires from different geographic locations will have different colors and compositions. Deposits are found in Afghanistan, Australia, India, Kashmir, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and the United States (Montana, North Carolina). Some famous sapphire specimens include the Logan Sapphire (422 carat, at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC), the Star of India (563 carat blue star sapphire, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City), and the Star of Bombay (182-carat violet-blue star sapphire, also at the Smithsonian), all of which originated from Sri Lankan mines.

At The Mountain Gypsy, we have a collection of beautiful Black Star Sapphires, and a few pieces of Blue Star Sapphire. We also have a multi-colored bracelet as well as pendants, earrings, and rings in varying shades of greens, dark blues and black.