What's So Fancy About Sapphire?

Those clever Greeks named cobalt corundum, sappheiros, or blue stone. Sometimes saying things simply is really the best. It's iron or even titanium that casts its azure spell on the mineral corundum to give it the blues.

But there's something fancy about sapphire too, that turns the corundum crystals into a rainbow of exotic hues, some so rare they need a name to match--like the peachy-pinky-slightly orangy corundum called padparadscha, because it looks like the Asian lotus blossom it was named for.

Pick Your Color
Since corundum crystals may grow in deposits within contact of other trace elements, we may find this gemstone with a purple, yellow, pink, even green tint. All sapphire except blue is properly called fancy color sapphire.

You're likely to find these exotic stones in equally far-and-away lands like Thailand, Sri Lanka or Madagascar.

There's an App for that!
Lest you dismiss these vibrant stones as just another pretty facet, think again. Sapphires are coveted for other uses outside the jewel box. Sapphires' remarkable hardness make it perfectly suited for applications like watch components, even watch crystals, and wafer thin films for semiconductors.

Designer Julia Behrends can't choose which sapphire color she likes best, so she grabbed the whole crayon box full for her fanciful Candy Necklace Collection dangle earrings in multi colored sapphire and diamond in white gold.

Dangle Earrings in Candy Necklace Collection image Courtesy: Julia Behrends Design

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