Blue sapphire wanted by exclusive 1000 VIPs!

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The blue sapphire is the birthstone of September. It is a rather popular precious gemstone, wanted by 1000 VIPs and I’ll bet also by you! There is so much to tell about this exquisite gemstone. So read the blog post and find out.

To start with...

The color blue in gemstones is rare. Blue in nature is rare. Maybe therefore people love the color blue in their pieces of jewelry. Not only today, but blue has been the favorite for centuries already.

The value or beauty of the gemstone color is determined by the hue, the tone, and the saturation. To talk about hue: gemstones have a primary hue, in the case of the sapphire that is blue. Although this gem has also other primary colors, like pink.

The secondary hue is most of the time green and violet. The purer the blue of the gemstone, the more valuable that gem is. But to be honest, it is also a matter of taste. If you like the blue color with some violet or green hues, go for it.

The blue hues are at their best in saturation (or intensity) when they are medium-dark. If the saturation is vivid and sparkling the value is higher. Remember that darker tones look more inky and lighter tones may look washed out or even look gray.

Luckily there are blue gemstones in a range of colors, and one of the best is sapphire.

My most precious gift, a blue sapphire ring

I get a special feeling when I see a piece of jewelry with these blue gemstones. Before our marriage my husband and I visited Thailand; it was our first holiday together. My husband finds out that I am a lot more adventurous than he is: I like sleeping in a treehouse/tent and don’t mind washing in the river nearby. That was more or less a shock for him, but he came over it. Back in Bangkok, he wants to buy me a ring. And I know exactly what I want: a white gold ring, with a small blue?sapphire?and diamonds. And I don’t know why I want a ring just like that.

Princess Diana's engagement ring

At that time princess, Diana marries Prince Charles of Great Britain and she wears a big white gold ring with a big blue sapphire and diamonds. I did not pay attention to the engagement announcement on the television, I just looked at the ring. This large blue sapphire gets to you: those high blue sparkling gemstones, that cannot be scratched, only by diamonds. Later I understood that this gemstone is the symbol of attracting wealth and protecting the wearer from envy and infidelity and it helps to banish fraud. Maybe I felt that emotionally, choosing my ring.

But sapphires are much more than that. Let’s dive into the history of this beautiful gem:

The blue sapphire in Greek legends

In Greek history is a great story about Helen of Troy, who owns a large star blue sapphire. It is not clear whether her thirty suitors vying for her hand are more interested in Helen or the blue sapphire. Even in those days, such a gemstone is very valuable. Anyway because of political reasons, she marries King Menelaus of Sparta. But Paris, a very handsome man, abducts her. This love story causes the Trojan War. Nobody knows whether the beautiful Helen, who ‘launched a thousand ships’ owes her lovely Paris to the attraction of the star blue sapphire or her beauty.

The blue sapphire in history

Charlemagne (747-814 AD) is a very high and mighty ruler in Western Europe and the first great monarch of France and Germany after the fall of the Roman Empire. At that time the blue sapphire symbolizes heaven and the promise of eternal salvation. Charlemagne, being a very religious man, owns an amulet with the relic of the True Cross placed between two big sapphires.

That jewel is buried with Charlemagne, but Otto III exhumes it. The wife of Napoleon, Josephine de Beauharnais, wore a blue sapphire at her coronation in 1814, passed it to Napoleon III and after his death, it was given to the Archbishop of Reims (France).

You get the power and I get the money!

At the beginning of the 13th-century pope, Innocent III has a lot of quarrels with King John of England. Finally, they agree that the King gets the power of the country and the pope can raise tribute of service money. As a part of the truce, the pope gives the king a ring with four gemstones: an emerald, a blue sapphire, an opal, and a topaz. These stones represent virtues, that according to the pope are useful for the king (virtue of faith, hope, good works, and charity).

The Hollywood rich and famous love them

Not only do royals love the blue sapphire, but also others want pieces of jewelry with these blue gems. But they were so expensive, that only very rich people could afford them: like the stars of Hollywood. Mary Pickford owned two gorgeous and big sapphires: ‘the Star of Bombay’ and ‘the Star of India’. Jean Harlow gets a 150-carat blue sapphire engagement ring and Joan Crawford gets one from her second husband, but that one is ‘only’ 70 carat. It seems that blue sapphire is popular in an engagement ring since Elisabeth Taylor and Princess Diana got one too.

Royal Sapphires

The sapphire is a symbol of loyalty and royalty. And since the color blue is the color for kings and queens, you can say that sapphire is very popular with the nobility.

For example, Princess Diana and the current Duchess of Cambridge have a sapphire engagement ring and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands also loves sapphires. And that was visible in the diamond and sapphire tiara she wore during the coronation of King Willem Alexander.

Royal jewelry has often been in the same family for centuries, and the design is sometimes modified for various reasons. This is also the case with Maxima's coronation tiara.

Originally, the tiara was a gift from King Willem III to Queen Emma, his wife. This piece of jewelry was made of white gold, 655 brilliant, and 33 Ceylon sapphires. It originally consisted of 3 parts, of which the middle part could be worn separately as a hair comb.

In 1928, the tiara was adjusted because the tiara was too heavy to wear for a long time (700 grams): the frame was adjusted, some diamonds were removed, and the 'hair comb' was fixed, so that the tiara became whole.

On her death, Queen Emma gives this tiara to her granddaughter Juliana, who regularly wears the tiara, just like her daughter Beatrix.

Adjustments will be made again in 2013 at the request of Maxima, who wants to wear the tiara on the coronation day of Willem Alexander, as King of the Netherlands.

The plume of the middle part is replaced by 1 diamond, making the tiara look like a crown. But that change could be reversed if wanted. The frame was also changed for better wearing comfort.

This crown may only be worn by queens. No idea who came up with that, but oh well. Queen Maxima has already worn this sapphire tiara a few times. And after her, Crown Princess Amalia will take the tiara from her.

The star sapphire

The star sapphire is even more prized than the blue sapphire and is used for talismanic purposes. Sir Richard Francis Burton ( a famous adventurer and diplomate) has a large star sapphire, that he took along on his travels. He thought it would bring him luck.

The blue sapphire is also called asteria or the ‘stone of destiny’. The star has six ‘points’ and every point is connected with a point on the opposite side. So there were three crossbars (6 points connected makes 3 cross bars) and every crossbar is linked in Christian mythology with ‘faith’, ‘hope’, and ‘destiny’. Such a talisman can ward off the evil eye lead travelers in the right direction and protect them from illness and other bad things on the way. It is said that you give a star sapphire on someone’s 65th wedding anniversary: I would rather have it a bit earlier.

Buying one of these blue beauties

If you like faceted stones (and you should because the facets catch the light so beautifully) the blue sapphire is the one you should consider buying. The saturation can be very high, so the color is stunning.

This gemstone is very popular as an engagement ring and you can buy it in many colors, except for the red, since that will be a ruby.

You must realize that sapphires often are treated with heat, to improve their clarity and color. If you go for the real one, the price can be high, certainly, if the size is large, the color is perfect and the clarity stunning.

There are lab-made sapphires available. They are as hard as the real one, the beauty of the stone is great, and they are a fraction of the price you pay for the real sapphire. This is not a good idea if you want your gemstone to be an investment. The real stone will go up in price over time, and the lab-made copy will not.

The blue sapphire, the birthstone of September

The blue sapphire, the birthstone of September, but also a popular stone in an engagement ring, has a great blue color, that makes your heart shine like the sun in the blue sapphire sky. It’s hard not to love this beautiful piece of nature and it’s even better to have this gemstone on your neck or in your ears. An additional advantage is that it leads you the way (no need for GPS anymore), it saves you from poisoning and it attracts wealth. And that is a hard one: because you need a bit of wealth before you can buy a blue sapphire or…. find a wealthy partner!

Hopefully, you enjoyed reading this blog post. There are stunning gemstones in this world, that you might not know about, or you want to know more about a certain stone, maybe your birthstone. So I wrote a PDF about birthstones, where you can find all the information about your and your friend’s birthstones.

Use this link to download the free PDF about gemstones and birthstones https://florencejewelshop.com/the-stories-of-the-birthstones-lp/

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