Sapphire is a precious stone, one of the most famous in the world. But contrary to what one might think, sapphire is not only blue! It can have a whole range of colors: blue, green, yellow, orange, pink ... The only color it can not have is red. Indeed, sapphire is a variety of the mineral corundum, just like ruby: red corundum is therefore called ruby, and all other colors are called sapphire. Sapphires with a pinkish orange color have their own name: padparadschas - they are among the rarest and most sought-after sapphires. Sapphire is one of the hardest stones (9 on the Mohs scale, just like ruby) after diamond.
The main sapphires producing countries are Sri Lanka, Madagascar and Burma, as well as Australia and Thailand. But the most famous sapphires are the exceptionally blue Kashmir sapphires, whose production stopped in the 1960s. Prices for these stones can soar: a ring with a 10.33-carat Kashmir sapphire as its center stone sold for more than two million euros at Christie's in 2015.
Famous sapphires include the Stuart, a 104-carat blue sapphire placed on England's imperial state crown, and the Star of India, the largest star sapphire ever cut, at 536 carats.
Discover without delay our collection of sapphires, available on Nascendi Paris.
