Sapphire is a gemstone that is famous for being the birthstone for September and the gem used to celebrate a 45th wedding anniversary. However, that isn’t the only occasion for which sapphires can be worn and we think that sapphires make a great choice for an engagement ring.
Traditionally, sapphire is blue in color, however, sapphire gemstones can come in a range of colors from purple to green.
Interestingly, the only color that a sapphire can’t be is red as this would be classed as a ruby (which of course is just as beautiful!).
Sapphires are known to have been worn as jewelry as far back as Roman times and when used in jewelry, the stones are polished until they display a fantastic shine, perfect to be used as the centerpiece for rings, necklaces, earrings and much more!
The color of sapphire comes from the minerals within the gemstone and sapphires get their color from a particular mineral called corundum. There are other minerals contained within a sapphire (such as iron and copper) and the color of the stone will vary based on the amount of each mineral that the sapphire contains.
One thing is for sure, sapphires are tough! They’re actually the third hardest mineral in the world and are noted as being 9 on the Mohs scale which is used to measure the hardness of minerals (diamonds are the hardest mineral).
This is great news if you’re wearing a sapphire as part of a ring because it means that it is very durable and won’t scratch easily. It’s very likely that you may already own a sapphire or at least something which contains sapphire.
Sapphires are so hard that they are often synthetically produced to make robust sapphire glass (often used by watchmakers and even by Apple for some models of their Apple Watch).