Samson Jewellery - Birth Stone
Sepember / Sapphire

Sapphires are found in many colours besides blue, though the word sapphire does in fact come from the Latin word sapphirus, which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word for blue.   Sapphires are occasionally colourless or, as we call them, white.  Sometimes they are grey, but most commonly green, violet, purple, orange, yellow, brown, pink or black.

Blue sapphires are found in considerable numbers in Sri Lanka and are invariably cut locally, often very poorly.  Frequently the colour in these stones is present in only a small area.  When cut, the blue area forms the base of the faceted stones, so that looked at through the top they exhibit a good blue colour; viewed from the side, however, many of them appear colourless.  Sri Lanka sapphires also tend to dake on a purple hue in artificial light.  Anyone buying a sapphire ring should check that it looks equally attractive in natural and artificial light.  Heat treatment of poor quality sapphires is now common, but as the change is believed to be permanent the resulting fine blues and yellows are sold as if untreated.