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It is typically blue, but natural "fancy" sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green colors; "parti sapphires" show two or more colors. The only color corundum stone that the term sapphire is not used for is red, which is called a ruby. [1] Pink colored corundum may be either classified as ruby or sapphire depending on locale.
Today the gemstone trade no longer makes such a distinction. [25] Many gemstones are used in even the most expensive jewelry, depending on the brand-name of the designer, fashion trends, market supply, treatments, etc. Nevertheless, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds still have a reputation that exceeds those of other gemstones. [26]
Nephrite is a variety of the calcium, magnesium, and iron-rich amphibole minerals tremolite or actinolite (aggregates of which also make up one form of asbestos).The chemical formula for nephrite is Ca 2 (Mg, Fe) 5 Si 8 O 22 (OH) 2. [1]
Theodore Maiman says that "because of the low chromium level in these crystals they display a lighter red color than gemstone ruby and are referred to as pink ruby." [ 8 ] After absorbing short-wavelength light, there is a short interval of time when the crystal lattice of ruby is in an excited state before fluorescence occurs.
In October 2014, Sotheby's Hong Kong achieved consecutive per-carat price records for Kashmir sapphires – first with the 12.00 carat Cartier sapphire ring at US$193,975 per carat, then with a 17.16 carat sapphire at US$236,404, and again in June 2015 when the per-carat auction record was set at US$240,205. [39]
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Sapphire is a saturated shade of blue, referring to the gemstone of the same name. Sapphire gems most commonly occur in a range of blue shades , although they can come in many different colors. Other names for variations of the color sapphire are blue sapphire or sapphire blue , shown below.
Main opal producing countries. Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica (SiO 2 ·nH 2 O); its water content may range from 3% to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6% and 10%.