posted on May 8, 2001 01:10:19 PM new
Sapphires and Rubies are in the Beryl family. Concerning hardness, they are just below a diamond. They are fairly inexpensive. The best sapphires are the ones that look deep blue, and are not so dark they look like onyx. Thats all I know.
posted on May 8, 2001 03:41:12 PM new
Hi Sadie, your best bet would be to take it down to a shop and have it appraised. The value of stones can vary a lot. Depending on the quality and colour of the stone, and where it originated from. It also depends on if it is a normal blue saphire or a party saphire. A party saphire is usually blue/geen or yellow with blue or green fire through it. If you take it to someone, they will be able to tell you if it has any flaws or is clear. If the stone has a flaw, it can take the value down a lot.
posted on May 8, 2001 06:25:18 PM new
Sapphire is aluminum oxide. It does not contain berylium the beryls are quite soft.
There are such a wide range of values it would be best as suggested to have an expert look at it.
The lower grades have gone down in price mostly due to long term swings in currency exchange rates. but a clean stone with deep blue color and well cut to properly reflect the light back up out of the stone is still rare and worth a good bit of money.
Off color stones that are greenish and stones so dark the cut does not cause display of bright reflections will be worth a lot less.
There are clear/ yellow /pink / orange and green sapphires in all hues and qualities but even the top stones are rarely as valuable as the blue.
Sapphire can be man made as it is just in the heat range of a torch to melt a fine powder into a solid boule. Synthetic clear sapphire is used for a very scratch resistant watch crystal on very expensive watches, and for bearings - the 17 "jewels" of a mechanical watch.
Natural stones tend to have viel like inclutions and some zoning of color. They are often heat treated to enhance color.
US sapphires from the Montana area mostly are very nice but stones over a carat are much rarer than the ones from Shri Lanka and Asia.
