September Birthstone - Sapphire

Healing Properties and Interesting Information

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Where Found

Cornflower blue sapphires are rare and the finest examples come from Kashmir, a mountainous area in northern India on the Pakistan border. Geographic isolation, political instability and high demand all combines to make these september birthstones very expensive. Sapphires have been found in many other places in the world but few have attained the desirability of the Kashmir stones. In the United States, the Yogo Gulch area in Montana has historically produced some fine sapphires. In the Old World sapphire has been found in alluvial gravel in Burma and Sri Lanka. Many of the colorless stones from Sri Lanka can be enhanced by heat treatment. There are many other localities of lesser importance throughout the world that have produced sapphires. corundum forms in two distinct geochemical environments. (1) Alkali basalt where partial melting of the lithosphere over rising plumes of the earth's mantle can lead to eruptions of gem bearing lava. (2) Sapphires from Montana formed in crustal metamorphic sources on the basis of low Gallium contents. Sapphire form in rocks that geologists call undersaturated, or rocks that have no free quartz. Spinel is another gem that forms in undersaturated rocks. The most valuable blue sapphires come from Kashmir, India. Sri Lanka provides sapphires that are clear, pink, green, and yellow. Other sources include Myanmar, Australia, Nigeria, and Thailand as well as the Yogo Gulch Mine in Montana.

History, mythology

An ancient Persian legend says the earth rests on a giant sapphire and the blue of the sky comes from the gem's reflection. During the Middle Ages, sapphire symbolized the tranquility of the heavens, and wearing it was thought to bring peace, happiness, and purity of the soul. Medieval priests and monks would wear sapphire jewelry believing it had the ability to quell wicked impulses and impure thoughts.

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