Sapphires and rubies

Press, 29 November 1977, Page 17

Sapphires and rubies

If you were to ask anyone but an expert what colours sapphires are, nine times out of ten the answer would be blue. This however is only one type. Sapphire is in fact the collective title for all colours of corundum other than the ruby. The only difference between a ruby and a sapphire is in the colours.

Ruby and sapphire are both corundum gemstones, both consisting of crystalline aluminium oxide. Ruby is the red variety of corundum. All the other different coloured corundums, the orange, pink, green, brown, yellow, purple and of course blue, are known as sapphire. A much sought after sapphire is the “Star Sapphire.” These are generally blue-grey in colour and rather opaque.

Sometimes referred to as the stone of fate; the three intersecting lines that form the star are called fate, hope and happiness and are supposed to protect the wearer against poison; poisonous insects or reptiles shut in a room with a Star Sapphire are supposed to be killed by the rays emitted.

In ancient India they ascribed fertility to the stone and their Sapphire Godesses being Lalita. The nineteenth century occultist Madam Blauatsky tells us the Buddhists attributed to the sapphire a sacred magical power which every student of psycological mesmerism will understand for its polished and deep blue surface produced extraordinary phenomena.

Sapphires are much more widely distributed over the earth’s crust than are rubies. They are found in Thailand, Malagasy Republic, Montana (United States), the Urals, Ceylon and Burma and sapphires of a fine cornflower blue colour are found in the Vale of Kashmir, a small valley in the Himalayas.

Ruby is, in fact found in very few places, because chromic oxide is a comparatively rare substance. And because the ruby-bearing areas of Burma, Thailand and Ceylon have been systematically mined for longer than anyone can remember, good rubies are becoming very scarce. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that a fine ruby today is extremely expensive.