What Is A Blue Star Sapphire

Al2o3 corundum aluminium oxide cut.

What is a blue star sapphire.

A lindy star on a yellow sapphire cabochon. Star sapphires exhibit a special optical phenomenon called asterism. A burmese blue cabochon star sapphire and diamond cocktail ring. Most star sapphire exhibits a white star but star sapphire from thailand is famed for its gold colored asterism.

This effect is caused by asterism. The most desirable color is a vivid intense blue. According to legend helen of troy owned a magnificent star sapphire and napolean gave a seven piece jewelry set featuring 29 sapphires to his wife josephine. This effect is caused by asterism.

Star sapphire is a type of sapphire displaying an optical star like effect. The thai blue star sapphire is a variety of sapphire that displays a six pointed star pattern radiating from the inky depths of the stone. Furthermore natural star sapphires rarely have perfectly even color so if the color is excellent and perfectly blue there is a good chance it was created in a lab somewhere. The optical phenomenon responsible for the star sapphire s shimmering rays is called asterism from the latin word astrum for star.

Sapphire along with her sister gemstone ruby belongs to the corundum group of gemstones considered one of the hardest minerals on earth. Move star joan crawford owned several huge sapphires of 70 carats or larger and elizabeth taylor was given a large sapphire ring by one of her husbands. These stones are generally cut as cabochons to bring out the best star that can be visible. 9 hardest after diamond formation.

Formed by what is commonly known to be needles in the gemstone industry the star seen on a sapphire tends to be more valuable when the rays are. The really deep blue ones are the most expensive although if you see a twelve pointed star these are more rare than the six pointed star that usually puts the price up by quite a lot. Star sapphires can range in color from blue in various tones to pink orange yellow green lavender gray or black. Tiny needles of silk within the sapphire crystal reflect light and form a star sapphire s telltale star.

You can read more about asterism in our phenomenal gems article. It has a nice blue colour. A blue or white star sapphire or a pink star sapphire are usually more expensive and get into the thousands of dollars. The most common star pattern is a 6 rayed star although star sapphires with 4 rays and 12 rays have been found.

Star sapphires occur in almost every color seen in transparent sapphires although yellow orange and green star sapphires are very uncommon.