In Sanskrit (the ancient sacred language of India), one of the terms for ruby is ratnaraj, “King of Gems”.

Large, fine-quality rubies are extremely rare and valuable. But strong worldwide production and treatments have increased availability and put rubies within the reach of most customers.

Rubies are found in various countries: Afghanistan, Kenya, Madagascar, Myanmar (considered to produce finest quality rubies), Sri Lanka (often lighter in tone than rubies from Myanmar or Thailand), Tanzania, Thailand, and Vietnam.

For centuries, sapphire has been associated with royalty and romance.

It’s a variety of the same species as ruby -corundum- and any corundum that does not qualify as ruby is considered sapphire.

In the trade, “blue sapphire” refers to stones ranging from very light to very dark greenish or violetish blue, as well as those in various shades of pure blue. Most jewelry customers think all sapphires are blue, and when gem and jewelry professionals use the word “sapphire” alone, they normally mean “blue sapphire”. Not all sapphires are blue, however. Fancy sapphires come in violet, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, and intermediate hues. There are also parti-colored sapphires that show a combination of different colors. And some stones exhibit the phenomenon known as color change, most often going from blue in daylight or fluorescent lighting to purple under incandescent light. Sapphires can even be gray, black, brown or colorless. One of the most sought-after sapphire is the padparadscha sapphire, ranging from pinkinsh orange to orange pink.

Sapphire is the birthstone for September and the main sources are Australia, Cambodia, China, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam.