Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Star Sapphire Real, or Treated

Sapphire, one of the most precious gemstones in the world. It has a hardness of 9, making it extremely durable. Most sapphires are treated in some way. Either through heat treatment, diffusion, or other accepted treatments. Star sapphires are a phenomenon gemstone. The star is actually an inclusion, formed by rutile needles which when aligned will form a six ray star. The way the stone is cut, is important to centering the star. There are manmade star sapphires namely Linde Star Sapphires. This star sapphire was sold to me as a loose gemstone, and was sold to me as a natural gemstone, meaning no treatment. The picture was taken under a good light source, so the star can be clearly seen. Under poor lighting, or other than natural light sources, the star looks washed out, and difficult to see. It has good movement, and is not just fixed to center of the stone. It does have very straight legs, which may be suspicious to treatment. I set it in a sterling silver filigree design setting. It is a size 6. I actually have two of these, one I kept for myself. I kept my price reasonably low, in case it is not natural as advertised to me. Even a synthetic star sapphire has value, and is beautiful, and appealing on the hand. If the star has a four legged ray, it is most likely a Star Diopside, not a star sapphire, a collectible, and valuable stone in its own right. This lovely ring is available for purchase in my Etsy store, for 34.99

6 comments:

♥Jennette♥ said...

Love that Sapphire!!

Melissa said...

Thank you so much.

onlinewriter said...

Ahhh, so this is my birth stone.lovely!I haven't tried wearing one.I hope it'll look good on my weary fingers,lol.Wish my hubby could think of buying me a ring with this stone.=)

Melissa said...

Rochelle sapphires come in all different colors, blue is however the most popular. Very few have the star asterism, it is considered a rare phenomenon gemstone.

betchai said...

another very beautiful design, Melissa. I wonder how you can come up with different designs each time.

Melissa said...

Thank you betchai. There are so many different settings out there, it all depends on my spare funds.

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