Birthstone Engagement Rings: September

Commonly associated with a regal shade of blue, this beautiful stone inspired the term “royal blue.” If you were born in the month of September then your birthstone is the gorgeous sapphire. When we say the name sapphire, no doubt today, it conjures images of that velvet midnight blue stone, but sapphires actually range in colour from green and yellow to orange and even violet. Did you know that a ruby is technically a sapphire since they're both in the corundum family?

The Meaning

Deriving its name from the Latin word "saphirus" and the Greek word "sapheiros", both meaning blue, some believe that the name sapphire is derived from its association with the planet Saturn. Sapphires have been prized as great gemstones since 800 BC. Rulers of ancient Persia believed the sky was painted blue by the reflection of sapphire stones. It is believed to bring gifts of fulfilment, joy, prosperity, inner peace and beauty. Like other beautiful blue gemstones, the sapphire stone is connected to the throat chakra and the third eye chakra too. The throat chakra is essential in learning how to communicate truth and inner selves to the outside world.

Wearability

Sapphire is relatively hard, ranking at a 9 on the Mohs scale. It has excellent toughness and no cleavage, which is a tendency to break when struck. This makes it a great choice for rings and other mountings subject to daily wear. Among the natural gems, only moissanite and diamond are harder, with diamond having a Mohs hardness of 10.0 and moissanite falling somewhere in between corundum (sapphire) and diamond in hardness. Because of this, the only thing that can scratch a genuine sapphire is a diamond! To maximise reflection, sapphires may have a more shallow cut to allow in more light and sparkle, or they may be cut more deeply to showcase a dark saturation. The fewer visible inclusions in a sapphire, the more desirable it is. However, sapphires occasionally feature an inclusion known as an asterism, or the star effect, in which a dazzling six-ray star pattern appears on its surface.