The world of sapphire

Please enjoy the following post about sapphires, written by our fellow Scottsdale employee, Thahir Farook!



Best known for its famous blue hue, sapphires come in 40 different individual colors. The sapphire is second only to diamonds with regards to hardness, coming in at number 9 on the mohs’ hardness scale. This makes the sapphire an ideal setting stone.

Blue sapphire is the most familiar amongst all the sapphires with color tones ranging from the very light sky blue to the most desirable cornflower blue and everything in between. Most people don’t realize that sapphires come in every color in the rainbow. The most rare color is the Padparajah sapphire or what I like to call the King of Sapphires. It is named after the lotus plant because of its very unique blend of pink and orange color tones. Imagine a color of a beautiful sunset and then picture it in a ring. Truly, a gem in its own class.

Sapphires are found in several parts of the world including right here in Montana, USA. Montana mines produce a variety of colored sapphires but the blue/green sapphire is the most common of color tones. Unfortunately, it is hard to find large sizes, as the rough doesn’t yield gem quality material.

The continent of Africa is a hot zone for gems. Some of the most diverse colors, sizes and qualities of sapphire we are seeing in today’s market primarily come from Madagascar, Tanzania and Kenya just to name a few.

One of the most pleasing sights is to see a fine selection of Cabochon Sapphires in vivid colors. They look like gum drops, you just want to eat them up!

I love all colored gemstones but to me sapphires will always be near and dear especially coming from a country that produces sapphires and family that for over generations has always dealt in sapphires.