Sapphire

 

Sapphires have been prized for centuries for their unique blue shades. The word sapphire derives from both the Latin word saphirus and the Greek word sapheiros which both mean blue. Sapphires come in a variety of colors including yellow, orange, purple, and green.

Red sapphires are actually rubies, as both sapphires and rubies come from the mineral corundum and have the same MOHs hardness of 9.0.

 

Natural vs. Lab Created

Natural sapphires can be found in many places including Montana (USA), Cambodia, Columbia, Ethiopia, Burma (Myanmar), Vietnam, Tanzania, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Madagascar. These gems almost always present some type of inclusion and very rarely are 100% clean.

Lab created sapphires have the same elemental composition as natural rubies, but are created in a lab which replicates in weeks what takes nature millions of years to develop. While lab created gems are chemically identical to natural sapphires, natural sapphires have a higher value, even with imperfections. Lab created sapphires are typically prized for their exceptional clarity and less invasive technique of development.

 

Our Sapphires

At Wyger & Co Jewelry we carry most natural sapphires in various clarity and cuts. Our sapphires are 100% natural and genuine; some include GIA® reports which describe the characteristics of each stone submitted.