The expertise and sale of a beautiful quality, untreated and unheated sapphire will often require a laboratory analysis that we will propose to you. This will allow us to specify the origin of your sapphire in order to sell it at the best price.
Sapphire is part of the “4 precious stones” family. Sapphire belongs to the gemstone variety of corundum and can present multiple colors, except the red color which then designates only the ruby. This term comes from ancient Greek: sappheiros (“blue stone”) or perhaps from Hebrew, sappir (“the most beautiful thing”). Blue sapphire deposits are found in many countries, but the majority are found in Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Burma, but also in China, India, Brazil, Thailand and Africa.
The most prized:
Kashmir sapphire is one of those exceptional stones whose characteristics blend with their stories and mysteries. The Zaskar region of Indian Kashmir once produced the most prized sapphires. This fame is due to their incomparable colour. It is a silky, velvety, very intense blue with a hint of purple. It is at an altitude of more than 4,000 metres in the northwestern Himalayas that the deposits were discovered and exploited from 1881 onwards. The exploitation of the Kashmir Sapphire lasted until 1979, then stopped abruptly. The deposits were supposedly depleted (although rumour has it that some deposits were re-opened a few years ago). The Kashmir sapphires that we appraise on old jewellery and in particular old rings have become exceptionally rare today and obtain important prices at auctions. Nevertheless, Burma produces sapphires of a very similar tone. These are becoming increasingly rare and their selling price is tending to approach that of Kashmir sapphires.
Burmese sapphires are known for their beautiful, intense blue colour, a rich, deep blue that tends to darken strongly in the evening light. These mines are located upstream from Mogok.
Sapphire from Ceylon, in the south-west of the island of Sri Lanka, “the land of sapphires”, the Ratnapura region has been supplying sapphires since ancient times. The stones are forget-me-not blue or cornflower blue, with a hint of mauve, but there are also yellow, orange, green, pink, brown and colourless varieties. A large majority of the sapphires marketed come from Sri Lanka, their estimates are less important than those of Burmese sapphires. Traditionally blue sapphires were practically the only ones used, but the contemporary era has opened the way to shades of colour, which now uses and combines sapphires of various colours. Pink, yellow and blue colours combine particularly well. The expertise to sell a beautiful quality, untreated and unheated sapphire will often require a laboratory analysis that we will propose to you. This will allow us to specify the origin of your sapphire in order to sell it at the best price.
