Sapphires

For its beautiful blue color the Romans called Hyacinthus, as the flower of hyacinth.Considered by the ancients for its color an “air stone”, was directly connected to the sky, was the symbol of divine justice, courage and confidence in life.

Features
According as hardness only to diamond, sapphire, from the chemical point of view crystallizes with the trigonal system, and is a valuable variety of corundum, the same family of the ruby.
In nature it has, in addition to blue, in various colors: pink, mauve, green, yellow, brown or colorless. They are all equally precious, although the intense blue and velvety is the most commonly known and sought after.

Deposits and mines
The oldest deposits are located in Sri Lanka, where sapphires are extracted excellent color, from light sensitive to blue. Equally important deposits are found in Burma, Thailand, Australia, Cambodia and Madagascar. I am now very rare sapphires from Kashmir: they are very few, but their color cornflower is considered by experts unsurpassed.

The quality
As we have said, with the name sapphire is recognized the blue variety of corundum with shades ranging from light blue to dark blue. For hundreds of years the best color tone has been considered the “blue mantle of the Madonna”. When choosing a sapphire snaps, as for other stones, the quality factor that experts first identified in color, saturation and intensity that the major determinant of its value, and then the vibrancy, transparency, gloss, size, weight and cut, where we find how much more extensive than in oval or round.