September Birthstone: Sapphire
Isabel Sapphire + Aquamarine SetThe mysterious and elegant sapphire is having a moment... and not just because it is September's birthstone. A number of our A+T custom clients have been interested in its traditional blue hue lately, and they're in great historic company.
Early Buddhists believed in Sapphire's power for spiritual awareness, and ancient Mediterranean culture honored the stone above all others, believing it symbolized sincerity, romance, and faithfulness. There was additionally lore surrounding the idea that a sapphire would protect the wearer from envy or harm, with others writing of its power to protect a young woman's chastity or reveal the secrets of oracles.
Josephine White Sapphire with Melee Diamonds
Sapphires appear often as symbols of the heavens in Judaic and Christian culture, with some biblical students interpreting translations to state that the Ten Commandments were carved into tablets made of sapphire. Many modern royals have chosen to wear sapphires for wedding jewelry, as the stone is more rare than the diamond. Catherine, the current Duchess of Cambridge, has a large center sapphire in her own engagement ring, which previously belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales.
The word sapphire comes from the Greek "sapheiros," which means “bright blue stone." This could be construed as a bit of a misnomer, however, as sapphires come in a wide variety of colors, including pink, purple, yellow, colorless, black, green, and a very rare pink-orange sapphire called "Padparadscha" (lotus blossom in Sinhalese)... all *but* red. This is because the red form of the mineral species corundum is sapphire's sibling-- the ruby.
Main image by @brokin_nglish