Gemstones Blog

Long before Prince Charles gave Lady Diana that stunning sapphire engagement ring there were pieces of fine colored gemstone jewelry made to showcase this most precious of gems. September babies, those born under the zodiac sign Taurus (or those celebrating a 45th wedding anniversary) have long laid claim to blue sapphire as their own, prompting jewelry designers to create many distinctive styles that feature the full range of sapphire hues.

Still theres something about that blue that remains unmatched…

Todays sapphire earring styles run the gamut from casual to dazzling and drop dead gorgeous. Sapphire rings are an especially popular choice (even for engagement rings) since the gemstone is both beautiful and durable. Sapphire at the neckline continues to be popular, but the quality of the gemstone is king here: accent stones too must be a match to the quality of the center stone.

One of the most intriguing types of sapphire is the so called star sapphire. This type of sapphire is blessed with the rare characteristic of asterism caused by tiny quantities of rutile inclusions. These inclusions reflect light back in the form of a six-rayed star that looks as though it glides across the face of the gemstone. The effect is both striking and offers a special significance to the gift of these gemstones - shes your shining star.

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This is the Burma spinel I got from AJS Gems under darkroom illumination with my LED light source from my microscope, and a portable blacklight for a UV-A light source.

You can see how the stone appears naturally before turning the UV light on. Then you can see how it turns to a brown color as if it were absorbing the light. When the light goes off, it’s a dark brown color. However, it does gradually obtain its color back in time. There is no sign of phosfluorescence, and there is a total lack of fluorescence thus indicating it is a Burma spinel.

The orangey red variety from Mogok mine has a very high absorption rate within a window of the latter range of IUV to the lower end of VIS. I obtained a general graph of how spinels of different colors from Mogok behave under IR spectroscopy, and the graph shows the absorption rate of spectra within the lamp as being highest. A vivid red spinel is slightly less. There was no information available for spinels from Tanzania, but it’s a tell tale indicator of origin.

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Further exploration of Joe the Aspiring Designers Cornflower Blue Sapphire to learn more about its origin and treatments…

This is a darkroom view with the table facing up. The cat scratch type inclusions that are more or less parallel and linear are rutile crystals forming long needles. These arent the same types of needles you see as text book examples, but these are rutile inclusions in crystalline form that appear in various corundum from various places. The nail head type inclusion near the bottom is also seen in Madagascar rubies as well as something that GRS has imagery of in Burma sapphires. If you look near the center of the image, there appears to be another faint set of rutile crystals, and what you might call a fingerprint type inclusion. Other imagery suggests this liquidy yellow field is a field of F-phlogobites based on sources contributing to GRS. These things are found in Madagascar sapphires. You can see the crystals near the top of the image out of focus…

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This article was submitted by John H., gem lover and AJS Gems customer…

Shopping for loose gemstones or gemstone jewelry can be more difficult if you do not first have adequate information about precious stones. The value of a gemstone depends upon its physical characteristics like color, clarity, cut, size and phenomenal effects. In the absence of any universally accepted grading system for the value of precious stones, color still remains the basic criteria for selection. The reason is obvious, because the color of a gemstone is the main characteristic that attracts.

It is pertinent to note that essentially the color of any gemstone depends on the basic nature of light. White light or daylight comprises of different colors and when it passes through any material some colors are absorbed and some are not. What is seen by the naked eye is the unabsorbed color. Burma rubies appear red because they absorb all colors of white light except red, which is reflected back at the observer.

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Below is another post from our good friend and AJS Gems customer Joe the Aspiring Designer, with his research and findings on a certain cornflower blue sapphire he bought from us a while back…

See the Video

Dear Arnold, Matt, Rung, and whomever else I might be missing:

I hope this finds you all well. Despite the fact I cant indulge in my hobby of collecting colored stones due to this ever so great economy and the like, I do enjoy studying these things and what I have acquired. I am happy to provide proof of a discovery I have long since suspected, and I am pleased to announce to you my finding. I am sure youll agree.

I wanted to forward you a micrograph I took of a sapphire I bought from you guys back in the very final days of 2006. I have a portable digital microscope, and I managed to obtain this image at 95 magnifications. If you look in the lower left quadrant of the image, youll see what appears to be intact corundum crystals. If you notice towards the center left of the image, you can make out of there what appears to be something shaped like an intact biotite crystal.

Cornflower Blue Sapphire Magnification

I have another image at around 45-50 magnifications that shows what appears to be rutile needles that are intact. This stone was said to have been heated. When I first looked at it over nearly 2 years ago, I noticed things that suggested the stone was in fact unenhanced. I think this is a good illustration as to how if you do make an error, it is in favor of the end customer on the side of caution.

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