Any treatments should be disclosed to the buyer.

Sapphire is often heat treated to improve both clarity and color.

Some other sapphires change color in different types of light these phenomenal sapphires (showing special optical characteristics) are considered collector’s gems. Star and cat’s-eye sapphire, two of the varieties sporting unique optical phenomena, are fashioned as cabochons.

Sapphire gemstones are faceted into all shapes.

Sapphire is a very durable gemstone, along with ruby it’s second only to diamond, with a hardness of 9.0 on the Mohs Hardness Scale.

Other sources include Australia, Cambodia, China, India, Kenya, Laos, Nigeria, Tanzania, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam.

Sri Lanka and Burma (Myanmar) are sources for sapphire, yet a more recent source, Madagascar, is also said to produce fine blue sapphires.

Sapphires in colors other than blue are referred to as “fancy colored sapphires” and are best described by their color, such as “yellow sapphire.”.

They virtually share the same chemical composition. Sapphire is a variety of the mineral species corundum as is ruby.