Sapphire Beads
Sapphire beads are corundum, crystalline aluminum oxide, in every color except the red that is called ruby, and at 9 on the Mohs scale they are the hardest common gemstone after diamond. This collection holds natural blue sapphire, Tanzanian yellow sapphire and mixed ruby and sapphire strands in a range of finishes and shapes for bracelets, necklaces and earrings.
Appearance
Bead sapphire is cut from included crystal, so the blue is a cloudy, slightly grey or inky blue rather than the clear royal blue of a faceted gem, and a strand usually mixes lighter and darker beads. Blue sapphire from Sri Lanka tends to be lighter and more even; Tanzanian material comes in blue and in a yellow colored by iron, sometimes with grey and greenish beads among it.
A faceted cut is the usual choice, since it turns dark, opaque-looking beads into points of blue; polished rounds show the depth of the color and its unevenness more honestly. Sapphire has no cleavage and does not scratch in ordinary wear, so it can be worn daily for decades without visible change. It will scratch anything strung next to it except ruby and diamond, so softer stones should be separated by knots or spacers.
Formation and origin
Corundum forms where aluminum-rich rock is metamorphosed with too little silica to make other aluminum minerals, chiefly in marble and in altered basalt, and also in some igneous rocks and pegmatites. Traces of iron and titanium together give blue; iron alone gives yellow and green; chromium gives the red of ruby. Sri Lanka has supplied sapphire for over 2,000 years, and Madagascar, Tanzania, Thailand, Myanmar, Australia and Montana are the other major sources. Blue spinel, kyanite, iolite and glass are the historic look-alikes, and kyanite beads are sometimes sold as sapphire.
Pairings
Emerald beads: green beryl and blue corundum, both hard, both cut small, a fine-jewelry pairing that wears evenly.
Ruby beads: the same mineral in red, matched exactly in hardness, so the two can be strung together without spacers.
Aquamarine beads: pale sky blue beside sapphire's deeper, cloudier blue; aquamarine is a step softer but still durable.
Meaning and Metaphysical Beliefs
Sapphire has long been a stone of wisdom and the heavens. Medieval clergy wore it as a symbol of heaven, ancient Persians believed the sky took its color from a giant sapphire, and it is the birthstone for September. In modern crystal traditions it is associated with truth, focus and loyalty, and blue sapphire is placed with the throat and third eye chakras. These are traditional beliefs, not claims of physical effect.
