Sapphire

The word sapphire is Greek and means blue. Once science gave birth to geology and understood how to classify stones, it was discovered that rubies also fit into the corundum species. Sapphires come in other colors too: green, yellow, colorless, pink, purple, orange, brown and black. All of these are called sapphires except the red varieties (ruby) and orange-pink (Padparadscha).

What makes a blue sapphire blue? Iron and titanium. The most popular color is corn-flower-blue.

Heat treatment can change an ugly duckling (cloudy or colorless) into a radiant blue beauty. Rutilation (little needles of contaminants) will give it a six-pointed star if they are all oriented in the same direction.

The hardness of a sapphire is the same as a ruby, which is a 9 on Mohs' scale. Even though this is a pretty tough cookie (diamonds are a 10), be careful because the hardness changes with directions. Bead carvers will find the optimum direction to drill a hole. If you put pressure on the opening in a perpendicular direction, you may crack the sapphire bead. To clean your sapphire, use mild detergent and a dedicated baby’s toothbrush.