Green Sapphire: A Durable Delight
When most people think of sapphire, they probably are not thinking about green sapphire. Blue sapphire has long been the most common and widely known, and many people do not even realize green sapphire exists. Nevertheless, green sapphire does exist, and those who know about it are enjoying this unique sapphire color.
Many years ago, green sapphire was formerly known as Oriental emerald (which was really an incorrect and misleading name). Green sapphire is now more correctly referred to as fancy sapphire or fancy green sapphire.
Sapphire gemstones are members of the corundum family of minerals. Red corundum is known as ruby, a well-known favorite for many years. Any other color of corundum that is not red is known as sapphire. Blue is the most well-known of the sapphire colors, but over the years, sapphire gems of different colors have been becoming more and more popular. These non-blue sapphire gemstones are widely known as fancy sapphires, and include colors such as pink, white, yellow, and green. Presence of titanium, chromium, or iron will affect the color of the sapphire. Green sapphire contains trace amounts of iron. Green sapphire can range from light green to dark green in color.
Green sapphire has been discovered in Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Australia. Green sapphires from Thailand and Australia have more of a blue-green or yellow-green color. Sri Lanka has produced some of the best quality green sapphire.
Green sapphire can occur naturally or it can be created in a laboratory. Green sapphire is sometimes treated with heat to increase the color. As is commonly seen with other gemstones that occur naturally or are created in a lab, green sapphire that occurs naturally is more expensive than the man-made green sapphire.
In addition to natural vs. man-made, other factors that help determine a green sapphire’s price are clarity, color, size, and cut. It is hard to find a green sapphire gemstone that is over ten carats in size that will also have good color.
On the Mohs scale of hardness, sapphires are rated very high. Green sapphire is no exception. Only a diamond, which is rated 10.0 (the highest hardness rating) is harder than a sapphire. Green sapphire, like all of the other sapphire gemstones, has a rating of 9.0.
Green sapphire, with its super durability, can be worn almost anywhere. Your gemstone/jewelry collection isn’t quite complete until you obtain each of the different colors of sapphire gemstones. In comparison with blue sapphire, green sapphire is a relatively unknown stone. Go green (the gemstone way)—go get green sapphire.
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