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SAPPHIRES

Blue sapphires, blue star sapphires, buy sapphires, Ceylon sapphires, sapphires gems, sapphires necklace, gemstone, loose sapphires, Myanmar sapphires, natural sapphires, sapphires earrings

Sapphire are beautiful precious stones with a blue color spectrum

from the light blue of a fresh cornflower to the very deep mysterious deep blue of the deep ocean. But there are also sapphire with other colors, more on this below.

Myanmar - Burma was one of the major sources of high quality sapphire 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 sapphire but because of the political situation in Myanmar no one is investing anything anymore into new production facilities for sapphire mining in Myanmar and the supply dries up slowly.

Variants of Sapphire are -

Pink Sapphires, Blue sapphires and Yellow Sapphires are found in Thailand and East Africa. They are next to diamond in hardness and therefore resistant to wear. Australia is the largest producer of blue and golden sapphires. Non-blue sapphires are White Sapphires or Golden Sapphires.

The largest sapphire known was 950 carats 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 fibre crystals giving star effect when cut in en cabochon.

Madagascar is in the grip of a sapphire

rush that has led thousands of poor farmers to abandon their fields to search for sapphire.

People from all over the country have flocked to the south, around Sakaraha and Ilakaka, which have been transformed from tiny settlements to Wild West-style frontier towns.

`It's phenomenal,' says Dr Koto Bernard, head of the Sakaraha office of the global environment agency WWF. `The town of Sakaraha has completely changed in the space of a year.'

But the real Sapphire dealing is going on here. at Chantaburi Thailand.

Sapphire on sale at Chantaburi Thailand

No-one knows the extent of the gem deposits in the region, where savannah and red earth conceal rich reserves of sapphires in yellow, pink and blue.

Informal estimates put the amount circulating in the 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.

Environmental and social groups have raised concerns about the safety of those involved.

Sapphire and Diamond Ring

Digging is largely unregulated and done by hand by groups of people who scoop out holes ten metres or more in depth, sifting the earth ii1 water in order to reveal gems. They say the work is hazardous, with a constant risk of tunnel collapses.

Another cause for concern is the influx of professional gem dealers from countries such as Sri Lanka and Thailand. Israel, a former student who acts as an intermediary between the diggers and the merchants, says it is hard for miners to secure good rates for their gems. `The problem is the prices,' he says. `All the foreigners buy as they like.'

Sapphires have brought with them social difficulties, with both students and their teachers leaving schools to hunt for gems. The stones offer people the prospect of swapping lives of agricultural subsistence for wealth beyond their wildest imaginings. Despite government promises to crack down on sapphire

dealers, as an interpreter to a group of Thai businessmen, puts it: `It's the sapphires that rule.'

Finest gemstones like royal blue sapphire, deep blue sapphire cut and facetted colors available: white, pink, blue, pastel -
mixed, sizes: 2 mm up, calibrated

ruby diamond sapphire ring

Sapphires of every color

Diamond Sapphire Wedding Band

A diamond sapphire wedding band is a great idea for that special once in a lifetime occasion.

Sapphire Ring with Diamonds It is important then to ensure that you get just the right diamond sapphire wedding band and that you get value for your money.

Here are some pointers to help you select the right wedding band and pay the right price too!

Firstly it is a good idea to know what your budget is. 2 months salary is considered a good benchmark for how much to spend although, depending on your financial circumstances this may vary of course.

Pick a good dealer. One who has some experience in diamond sapphire rings and who is also prepared to spend some time with you and help you select something suitable.

The diamond's and sapphire should all come clearly detailed with certificates to show exactly what the quality of the stones are. The weight in carats as well as the cut, clarity and color should all be clearly explained for both the diamonds and the sapphire.

Sapphires are traditionally blue but can come in a number of other colors. The red ones are known as rubies of course. Sapphires and Diamond Bracelet by Cartier

When buying online ensure the dealer has a returns policy. When you get a ring home it can look quite different to on the screen and in natural light diamonds and sapphires can look quite a different color altogether. The important point is, is it the color you want? If not then it should be returned.

Likewise in a jewelers shop ensure you are able to see the jewellery in natural light and not just in the bright lights of the store. These are carefully designed to show off all gems to their best advantage but how they look in natural light is important too as that is where one normally sees them.

Mostly it is using a bit of common sense and some patient due diligence to ensure that you get what you want and not accepting something less.

Provided you do the above then you will go along way to getting the diamond sapphire wedding band of your dreams.More information is available at http://priceofdiamonds.org
Permission to use this article is granted provided the link to Price of Diamonds is included., Author Michael Moore

The Padparadscha - The Best of the Non Blue Sapphires

The short story is that the most prized of the non blue sapphires or the �fancy� sapphires is called the Padparadscha which gets its name form the lotus flower. Its coloring is a blend of pink and orange.

These sapphire stones are rare and have a distinct even arrangement of the colors throughout. The colors are evenly spread throughout the stone but if you view it from the side and the stones are be separated then this is just a fancy sapphire rather than a true padparadscha.

The longer story is more complex and the color identity is not as easy as most writers discuss.It seems that people who research this thoroughly suggest that the colouring is also like a tropical sunset

Experts suggest that even the term padparadscha is misunderstood and perhaps should not be used for what is now commonly understood by the term. The answer is to trust your eyes and trust your vendor after taking the steps to make sure that you actually can trust him or her.

The gem experts suggest that a high quality Padparadscha will be untreated, eye clean, that is having no inclusions visible to the naked eye, will have a blend of pink and orange, and will be best cut as a round stone. They will come from Ceylon.

Sapphire bead Emerald and Diamond suite by Giovane

They are best viewed in daylight or fluorescent light rather than incandescent. The lesser quality stones will most likely be heat treated to improve their overall quality as only the very best are untreated.

They may also come from other places such as Vietnam and Africa and even Australia. There are also synthetic padparadscha stones.

They are strong stones and can be made into any kind of jewellery even engagement rings. Author Gary Hocking makes custom jewellery specializing in Australian opals. He has his own website www.jewelleryexpress.com.au Feel free to use this article as long as you keep the bio and the live link to his website.

Madagascar sapphire 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.

Deep blue Sapphire

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.

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

SAPPHIRE

Sapphires necklace, blue sapphires, blue star sapphires, buy sapphires, Ceylon sapphires, sapphires gems, sapphires necklace, gemstone, loose sapphires, Myanmar sapphires, natural sapphires, sapphires earrings

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