SAPPHIRES

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      Blue sapphires pink sapphire

sapphire jewelry, star sapphire

 

   

- Sapphires are beautiful

precious stones with a wide color spectrum from the blue of a fresh cornflower to the very deep mysterious intense deep ocean. They also come with other colors such as pink sapphire, yellow, white and other colors. A pink sapphire could be a very good alternative to a pink diamond since they look very similar and the price is much lower than diamonds.

Myanmar - Burma was one of the major sources of high quality stones in the past but now other producers are taking over in particular Madagascar with the help of  companies from Thailand who usually used Myanmar - Burma stones but because of the political situation in Myanmar no one is investing anything anymore into new production facilities for mining and the supply dries up slowly. They are next to diamond in hardness and therefore resistant to wear. Australia is the largest producer of blue and golden stones.

The largest stone known was a 950 carats gem from Myanmar - Burma. The largest in Australia was 886 carats from Queensland in 1934. There are star sapphires and star rubies found which contain fine fiber crystals giving the star effect when cut as a cabochon.

- A star sapphire

is something special, mined at the Mogok area in Myanmar but the real dealing is going on at Chanthaburi Thailand. Actually it is a common problem with all this precious stones, they are found somewhere, when they are moved out of the production

  country not much value is raised. After the stones left the country lets say for Thailand, India, Europe or Israel the prices made a jump upwards and people in those countries make the real profit by cutting and polishing them.

blue sapphire ring with diamonds
A sapphire ring with diamonds

Star sapphires

have a touch of legends and three of the most prominent gemstones are emerald, ruby and blue sapphire jewelry.

It has been a common belief that this blue stone bring magic, charm and good luck to anyone who gets a hold of them. Pictures of a stone go with blue flower, blue water and blue sky.

They depicts blue color somehow, since the gemstone is effectively corundum, yellow, violet, purple, pink and orange colors are also within the spectrum.

Blue Sapphire on sale at Chantaburi Thailand
sale at Chanthaburi Thailand

Sapphire jewelry photos show

the beauty of this precious stone, if the cut is excellent and maybe a few diamonds added it become the perfect blue piece of jewelry. They come in many colors almost like orchids, depending on the quantity of impurities such as titanium, chromium, iron and other, all can change the color of the mineral into colors such as green, pink, orange, yellow and various shades of blue plus black and grey, more.

A sapphire ring

in blue became very popular during the middles ages, they were the rings of the clergy. Their strange belief was this precious stone is representing heaven and jewelry is still going strong until today.

Since we live in a modern world synthetic stones (and not only blue). Because of the advancement in the production of synthetic stones today they are available for very low prizes relative to the natural gems, more.

Ruby Emerald Diamonds Bracelet with Gold
Ruby Emerald Diamonds Bracelet with Gold
Some of the photos on this page are from jordanrich1

       ruby diamond sapphire ring
      Ruby diamond sapphire ring

star sapphire
       Two star sapphire         

 

Means be careful when purchasing any precious stones since there are all kind of fake stones out there, some are heat treated, often done with rubies, others are synthetic and others are injected with chemicals, this is often used with jade items to give them a translucent green color.

Sapphires were already mentioned in the Bible and some old Greek texts and some people in India are wearing a a blue sapphire to protect them from evil spirits.

A pink sapphire

is often used instead of a pink diamond, they practically look the same and it is not possible to see a difference without technical tools. This similarities lifted the demand for pink sapphire and the prices also moved up. There are some similarities to the market and demand for yellow, also they are usually more saturated than yellow diamonds they look very similar. In any case it needs to be careful 

Blue Sapphire Jewelry
Sapphire Jewelry
pink sapphire
A pink sapphire

  yellow sapphire and pink sapphire
Yellow sapphire and pink sapphire
      blue sapphires

     Blue sapphire

because heat treatment is often used. The pink hue comes from aluminum oxide and some chromium in the crystals. Some inferior pink stones get heat treatment for a better deeper pink color.

Most pink gems came from Myanmar or Burma and Sri Lanka until some decades ago, today this has changed, the main producer now is Madagascar and Brazil. Big deposits have been found in the early 90 ties of the last century.

Myanmar lost a big piece of the market in recent years since there is no investment into the mines. The mines still work in the same way as always done since ancient times.

The mines at Mogok in upper Myanmar are slowly depleting.

Star Sapphire
Star of India blue sapphire, star sapphire and star rubies give a special touch to any jewelry.
Pink Sapphire Ring
Pink Sapphire Ring

 
- Madagascar sapphires mining

or childhood underground, in the mines of Madagascar thousands of children dig after Sapphires, some of the workers are not even six years old. The boy in the right picture is 14 years old,  he works in a sapphire mine at Manombo in Madagascar every day since 2 years now. 

He sleeps outdoor and from six clock in the morning until early evening he pulls bags after bag up the deep hole his uncle digged, twelve hours a day.

For lunch he eat yams or cassava, but not every day, others have nothing to eat at all. On ropes, the mine children move down the hole to dig the sand, bring up the sand and gravel from which the sapphires are sifted.

At Madagascar two-thirds of the population live below the poverty line. The large Sapphire deposits in the south of Africa's Island state attracts kids and others to try to get a bit from the "cake".

According to an official study in 2006, about 19,000 children worked in the mines in this region. In Madagascar, officially, young people are allowed to work only if they are 15 years old, but no one cares. Some some kids in the mine are even only six years old. Informal estimates put the amount circulating in the

Sapphire mining in Madagascar
Sapphire mining in Madagascar
Children in a Madagascar Sapphire mine
Children in a Madagascar Sapphire mine
Madagascar Sapphire mine sifting gear
Madagascar Sapphire mine sifting gear
Madagascar Sapphire mine working the gravel
Madagascar Sapphire mine working the gravel
Children worker in a Madagascar Sapphire mine
Children worker in a Madagascar Sapphire mine

precious-stone market each day at more than $1.4 million: a staggering sum in a country that had a gross domestic product in 1998 of $234 per person.

 

sapphire bracelet with diamonds by Cartier
A blue sapphires bracelet with diamonds

 

blue sapphires, star sapphire, earrings, rings, pink sapphire, sapphire jewelry, white, yellows, beads, color, yellow, sapphire.

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