Sapphires

Under the name of sapphire are known all the precious stones from Korund, the only exception being the red variant which is called ruby. The name of sapphire is given to a large variety of blue stone but this doesn’t means that this blue is only a hue of blue sky. Sapphires have hues from bright blue to dark blue and even black.

The sapphire is a mineral which appears under mono crystals shape, its chemical formula would be Al2O3.The color is given by some impurities such as:Fe2+ -,Fe3+ -,Cr3+ -,Ti4+ - or V4+ -.Its hardness is of 9 on the Mohs scale, after diamond.

Spreading in nature and producing it on the synthetic way

The rocks were sapphires have been found are called pegmatite which through an erosion process have been carried and deposited in silts, in the running waters’ river bed. The most important countries that era producing sapphires are Sri Lanka (the old name is Ceylon), India, USA, Australia and Nigeria. There can be produced perfect synthetic sapphires of high quality and almost unlimited sizes.

Utilization

Beside their utilization as precious stones, from 1950 till1960 sapphires were used as point of the gramophones and pickup needles. It was also used in the production of the laser, through synthetic mono crystals of sapphire which by their Gallium nitride contents contributes to the producing of the blue laser and the white, blue and green led. By introducing titan ions into the production of synthetic crystals, it is also used in the industry of the long wave laser, between 750 and 1000 Nanometers. For windows that are exposed to extreme temperature and pressure, such as the windows from recognizing planes or space ships, are used synthetic sapphires with a diameter that could reach 75 cm.

The natural sapphire discovered till now is The Star of India of 563.35 karats. It was found in 1901 in Sri Lanka and sold to the American Museum of Natural History by John Pierpont Morgan. On the Mohs scale of minerals’ hardness, the place of chalcedony, the anterior place of the diamond, has been taken by this mineral called corundum, a pure, crystalline, transparent and colorless aluminum oxide (Al2O3). Combined with insignificant quantities of strange elements, which are giving color, the corundum „gave birth” to a new variety of lively colored, transparent and very hard(hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale) precious stones. The pure, colorless sapphire is also called the white sapphire or the oriental white sapphire. The blue one is called oriental sapphire, the green one is called oriental emerald and the red one is called oriental ruby. The word ”oriental” indicates the belonging of the stone to the corundum’s family.

Sapphire jewelry

• Necklace of 48cm, made from Swarovski crystals, sapphire and its locking system is through the mauve Eye Cat Pearl.
• Bracelet from mauve magnetic pearls combined with amethyst pearls, blue Eye Cat, sapphire. It has a size of 20cm.
• Set formed from a sapphire bracelet and a ring made from nylon and crystals. The bracelet is composed from a pearl flower with a silver leaf on the interior (from India), Swarovski crystals and blue Eye Cat. Its size can be adjusted.
• Bracelet with a maximum size of 17.5 cm
• It is made from amethyst and sapphire from The Czech Republic, Swarovski crystals, and zipper with chain.
• Necklace with a size of 46 cm, made from Swarovski crystals, amethyst and sapphire, with a 28 to 10 mm medallion and with a magnetic lock system.