Sapphire: 10 Fun Facts!

September’s birthstone is the gorgeous blue Sapphire! Here’s some fun facts to share about this popular stone.

1. Sapphires are a corundum stone, the same as ruby. Sapphires can come in any color except for red. If it’s red, it’s a ruby!
   
2. The rarest sapphires are padparadscha sapphires, which are a pinkish orange color.
   
3. Until the 20th century, sapphires were the typical gemstones used for engagement rings.
4. In addition to coming in a rainbow of colors, sapphires can also be opaque and have stars in them and there are even color-change varieties!
5. Because of their heavenly color, sapphires symbolized blessings and divine favor in the middle Ages.
6. Prince William of England gave Kate Middleton his mother’s sapphire engagement ring when he proposed in 2010.
7. Synthetic sapphires aren’t just for jewelry. They’re used for watch faces in place of glass and even in some smartphone screens!
8. In ancient Greek, sapphires are called sappheiros which means “blue”, and also referred to Lapis Lazuli, another dark blue gemstone.
9. One of the largest star sapphires in the world is called the Star of Asia and is almost the size of a golf ball.
10. Sapphires have a Mohs hardness of 9. The only natural material that can scratch a sapphire is a diamond.