Sapphire Meaning and Properties: September's Birthstone

Ask someone to picture a precious blue stone and they will picture a sapphire. Royal, durable and endlessly reimagined, it has anchored engagement rings and crown jewels for centuries. As September's birthstone it is also one of the most meaningful coloured gems to give. Here is what sapphire means and what to know before choosing one.

One mineral, two famous names

Sapphire is a variety of corundum, the mineral family whose chemistry is Al2O3. The name actually covers every colour of corundum except red, which gets its own famous name: ruby. So blue sapphire and ruby are siblings, and the family also includes the so-called fancy sapphires in violet, green, yellow, orange, pink and purple. Some even change colour, shifting from blue in daylight to purple under incandescent light.

The meaning behind the blue

Sapphire has long signified wisdom, loyalty and sincerity, which is why it became the classic stone of faithfulness and, ultimately, of engagement rings. The world's most famous example sits on the same royal hand twice over: Princess Diana's sapphire engagement ring, now worn by Catherine, Princess of Wales. For September birthdays, and for fifth and forty-fifth wedding anniversaries, sapphire is the traditional gift. A sapphire pendant or a pair of studs marks the occasion as surely as any ring.

Kashmir, and what makes blue finest

The benchmark for blue is Kashmir: intensely saturated, velvety sapphires from that Himalayan source set the standard the trade still quotes. At the other end of rarity sits padparadscha, a pinkish-orange sapphire named from the Sinhalese for lotus blossom, among the most valuable of all fancy colours. A fine blue should look lit from within, vivid and saturated rather than inky.

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A rainbow beyond blue

Blue gets the fame, but fancy sapphires deserve attention: pink and violet for romantics, yellow and orange for warmth, green for something quietly unusual, and colour-change stones for collectors who want two gems in one. Because the whole family shares corundum's hardness, every one of these colours carries the same everyday durability as classic blue. That breadth of palette at that level of toughness is matched by no other gem family.

Tough enough for every day

At 9 on the Mohs scale, sapphire is the hardest coloured gemstone, second only to diamond among popular stones. It is so durable that synthetic sapphire is used for the windows of supermarket scanners and spacecraft. Fine specimens sometimes display a soft, milky star when cut as cabochons, another of the family's quiet phenomena. For an engagement ring worn daily for decades, that matters: sapphire is one of the very few coloured stones that genuinely takes a lifetime of wear in stride. Look closely at fine stones and you may spot delicate rutile inclusions known as silk, a hallmark of natural origin.

Buying notes

Judge a sapphire on its colour first: saturation and tone drive value far more than size. Well-cut stones show their colour evenly; poor cutting leaves pale or dark zones. And because sapphire keeps its looks with simple care, warm water, mild detergent and a soft brush, it asks very little of its owner. A yearly check of the prongs by a professional keeps the setting as sound as the stone.

Find your sapphire with Shewah

Shewah sets fine sapphires and certified lab-grown diamonds in solid gold, made to order in Surat and shipped to the US, UK and Australia. Explore Shewah's jewellery or message us on WhatsApp at +91 96622 66360 for a September gift with real meaning.

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Sources

• Sapphire Gemstone - GIA