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sapphire information
Historical and cultural references
- According to Rebbenu Bachya, and many English Bible translations, the word Sapir in the verse Exodus 28:18 means Sapphire and was the stone on the Ephod representing the tribe of Issachar. However, this is extremely disputed as though it is true that the english word sapphire derives from the Hebrew sapir (via Greek sapphiros), Sapphires were actually not really known about before the Roman Empire (and were initially considered to be forms of jacinth, rather than deserving of a word to themselves), and prior to that time sapphiros referred to blue gems in general. It is thought by scholars that the sapphire of the Bible was actually lapis lazuli - which was frequently sent as a gift between middle-eastern nations in Biblical times (Texas Natural Science Center, 2006). There is a wide range of views among traditional sources about which tribe the stone refers to.
- Supernatural powers were attributed to gems in India. One way this was manifested was the interdependence between gems and planets. Ruby, associated with the Sun, was the Lord of Gems, for the Sun lorded over all the planets. Blue sapphire is associated with Saturn (Wojtilla, 1973), yellow sapphire with Jupiter.
- Sapphire is the birthstone associated with September.
- The 45th wedding anniversary is known as the sapphire anniversary.
Sapphire?
Sapphire
Sapphire is the usual name for transparent corundum. On this page, we will
often use the word corundum to include sapphire and ruby, because of their
shared characteristics.
The usual color associated with sapphire is blue, but sapphire can be almost
any color.
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Sapphire gemstones
Colors
Corundum can be colorless, red, pink, blue, black, brown, orange, yellow,
green, indigo, violet, or mauve. Red corundum and most pink corundum is called
ruby, blue corundum is called sapphire, and other colors
are also called
sapphire, usually with the color specified as a prefix to the word sapphire,
for example, yellow sapphire.
Brilliant orange sapphires are somtimes called padparascha.
Coloration
Pure corundum is colorless, often called white, and although quite rare, tends
not to be valuable because it does not have much brilliance. Colors
, as
in many gemstones, are caused by small amounts of impurity, usually metallic
oxides. This is a case where impurity is desirable.
Chromic oxide causes brilliant red coloring in corundum, thereby producing
rubies.
Ferric oxide causes yellow coloration, titanium oxide produces vivid blue.
In fact the coloration of sapphire is not quite so simple as this. The titanium
and iron are usually present in the form of ilmenite, a mineral which is a
titanium iron oxide, TiFeO3. Ilmenite is not isomorphous with aluminium oxide.
Isomorphous means being able to replace the host mineral within its crystal
structure. Instead ilmenite is present as a microscopic inclusion, in the form
of colloidal particles.
This colloidal nature may be responsible for other optical effects such as "silk",
asterism, and color banding.
Hardness
Corundum is very hard, having a hardness of 9 on Moh's scale, compared with
10 for diamond, and 8 for topaz. Hardness is generally a desirable feature
is gemstones.
Other uses for corundum, because of its hardness, are as watch bearings, watch
glasses, and as an abrasive.
Additional information:
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