They are available in a range of colors including yellow, orange, green, pink, colorless, purple, black, violet, and an array of blue hues. Sapphires are often enhanced for optimum beauty. The cutting of a gemstone is probably the oldest enhancement, and has the most profound effect on the sapphire s appearance. When a gem is cut and polished, it takes on a beauty it did not have in nature. Therefore, the quality of the cutting has a lot to do with the gem s look.
Heating is another treatment that has long been in practice.
In this process, Sapphires are slowly heated and cooled to enhance its appearance. Heating a sapphire dissolves tiny inclusions, improving the sparkle and permanently enhancing the color to some degree. Inclusions and color zoning are a common occurrence in sapphires and unless extreme, does not impact the beauty of the gem. Color zoning is when the sapphire displays dark and light zones of color running parallel to each other. Inclusions are the presence of foreign materials inside the gemstone that are trapped during the natural crystal growth stage.