Last time we said how to buy ruby, so today teach you how to choose sapphire ~~

Sapphire is a general term for all gem-grade corundum except red, and the main component is aluminum oxide (AI203). With a hardness of 9 and a high refractive index, it is the most important type of gemstone besides diamonds.
Blue sapphire is due to a small amount of Ti and Fe impurities. The color of sapphire can be pink, yellow, green, white, or even multiple colors in the same stone. 🌈

💙Color
Color is one of the important factors affecting the value of sapphire. The grades are as follows:Light、Medium、Intense、Vivid and Deep.

When we choose the color, it is better to have good brightness, high saturation and bright color.

Royal blue and cornflower are best among sapphires.
Royal Blue: It is a normal blue or purplish shade of blue. It is one of the highest ratings for sapphire color.
Cornflower blue: A purplish blue with a hazy velvety texture.

💙Producing area
There are not many sapphire producing areas in the world, mainly Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Australia, China, etc.
But as far as gemstone quality is concerned, Myanmar and Sri Lanka have the best quality.

According to different geological origins, it can be divided into two categories: one is sapphire produced in Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Kashmir, India.The other type is sapphires produced in Australia, Thailand and China.

Sapphire from different places in the world also has its own characteristics due to different places:
① Myanmar sapphire：Because it contains titanium color, it is bright blue, containing silk rutile and fingerprint liquid inclusions.
② Kashmir sapphire：The color is cornflower blue, which is a microviolet indigo blue.
③ Sri Lanka sapphire：It has a silk like inclusion, similar to Myanmar sapphire characteristics, the difference is that the fiber is fine and long, can show six stars.
④ Thai sapphire: It is blackish blue, grayish blue. There are no silk inclusions in the crystals, but fingerprint liquid inclusions develop.
⑤ China’s Shandong sapphire: High iron(Fe) content, mostly close to carbon black indigo, blue, green and yellow. Mainly indigo blue.

🔔The impact of each origin on the value of sapphire is not necessarily, only the quality of the gem itself is its value, do not blindly pursue the origin of ~

💙 Clarity
The international certificate of sapphire does not grade the clarity, usually we say that the naked eye is completely clean, and there may be the following characteristics:

❌ The internal contains black inclusions

❌ Cracks extending to the surface

❌ Cream crystal hazy

❌ Has an impact on the overall lack of ore

🔔Because natural sapphire will contain inclusions, even if the auction grade quality, it is impossible to be clean and flawless, so the purchase principle is: no obvious black inclusion, the cutting proportion is reasonable, no obvious cracks, the back does not affect the overall ore shortage is acceptable.

💙 Cutting
The original embryo of sapphire generally goes through two processes of cutting and polishing.
① Cutting: To give the sapphire the perfect shape.
②Polishing: To give a smooth mirror effect to the cut surface of the sapphire.

The cut directly determines the shine of the stone. We judge the value of the sapphire from the following aspects: the size of the countertop，whether the cut is correct, the brightness of the fire color, and the thickness of the bottom.
Summarize the purchasing principles:
1. The countertop size can be slightly larger
2. Gemstone cut fire color shine
3. The thickness of the bottom is moderate, not too thick or too thin
4. The cutting circumference is correct, and the cutting surface is as standard as possible.

🔔The cut is good or bad directly affects the color and fire color of the gem, a good cut ratio can perfect the color of the sapphire, can improve the brightness of the gem, and make the crystal more transparent. Therefore, in addition to color and clarity, cutting is also one of the very important factors.

💙Optimum treatment of sapphire
①No indication of thermal treatment: refers to the pure natural sapphire without any processing.
②Heated divided into H(heated) and H(a)(b)(c)(d)(Be) . The H(heated) sapphire is simply heated by the traditional optimization method, and the H(a)(b)(c)(d)(Be) will add other substances during the heating process, and there is residue inside the gem after treatment, so it is not optimized, it is treated ruby.
③ Filling: Filling cracks in sapphire with lead glass, epoxy resin or other polymer materials to strengthen the stone and improve its quality.

🔔In SUMMARY:
Natural is the fundamental reason why precious stones are precious, if you want to preserve and collect, buy No indication of thermal treatment sapphire.
Just to wear and look good, optimized sapphire can be purchased. Filling sapphire not recommended for purchase!

🔔Summary of experience: First look at the color, followed by the size of the clarity, and then look at the burning without burning, in short, the selection of gems will have an eye edge, love at first sight is the best.

💙 Common identification certificates of sapphire:
The main emerald certification is divided into:
Collection Auction class: Gubelin, SSEF
Daily consumer level: GRS, GUILD, AIGS, NGTC National inspection

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