The Treasure Hunt // Volume 1

Sapphires 

Regal, mystical and all the colours of the rainbow. I wanted to start our treasure hunt with sapphires. This is primarily because they have so much to offer, they are the birthstone of September, come in a kaleidoscope of beautiful colours and have a rich and fascinating history. 

Sapphires are part of a gemstone family known as corundum to which rubies also belong. The individual colour of each stone is altered by mineral content in the ground. The colouring agent in blue sapphire is iron and titanium, in violet stones vanadium, small amounts of iron result in yellow and green, chromium produces pink, iron and vanadium together give you orange. 

Today, the most well known sapphire deposits are found in Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar and Thailand. Sapphires have been found in Sri Lanka since antiquity and it remains one of the most abundant gemstone sources in the world, with over 40 different species being found there. By Sri Lankan law all mining must be non mechanical therefore each individual stone is mined by hand. 

At Victoria Maloney sapphires have always been one of our favourite gemstones to work with. Given their hardness (9 on the Mohs’ scale) they make fantastic engagement rings, but it is the spectrum of colour that makes them so unusual and desirable. 

To find out more about these beautiful stones or to commission your own piece, visit our Bespoke page.