The name of sapphire comes from the Greek sappheiros, which means "dark blue". Despite its name expressing only one out of its numerous colors, the color palette of the sapphire strikes one's imagination by its variety: blue-purple, green, yellow, clear, orange and pink-orange.

Sapphires were often used during various historical eras for decorating the crowns of royals. A dark-blue sapphire of the "Saint Edward" is in the center of the cross of the British Empire Crown, the Crown of the Russian Empire are decorated with two huge sapphires (258 and 200 carats.)

The sapphire is considered to be the symbol of power, obedience, fidelity, chastity, and in the medieval times, it was called the "Stone of Bishop" and believed to be a stone of higher spiritual values.

Apart from that, sapphire was believed to be capable of alleviating pain, averting conflicts, and giving eternal life to its owners.

The astrologers advise to wear sapphires to people born under the signs of Capricorn, Sagittarius and Aquarius.

Sapphires, these gemstones of the skies, rest hidden away in only few places of the earth and have to be brought to daylight in laborious procedures. Sapphires are found in India, Burma, Ceylon, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Brazil and Africa. From the gemstone mines the rough crystals are supplied to the cutters, where skilled hands turn the into sparkling gemstones.

Depending on the place of occurrence the depth of color as well as the shade displayed by the cut stones will vary, which in turn offers a wider range to select from. Bright daylight makes most Sapphires shine more vividly than the somewhat muted artificial light. Therefore the most highly cherished color for blue sapphires is not the darkest blue as is often claimed, but a deep and saturated blue, which even in dim artificial light remains to appear blue. For experts and connoisseurs the Cashmere-color with its velvety sheen is considered the most beautiful and valuable shade.

The oldest Sapphire mines are situated in Ceylon, today called Sri Lanka, where gemstones were mined in ancient times. The expert recognizes Ceylon sapphires from the luminosity and brilliance of their light to medium blue color. Most blue Sapphires, however, come from Thailand or Australia. Their value depends on size, color and transparency.

For very fine qualities these criteria are supplemented by information on the origin of the gemstone. The color as such is not necessarily linked to the geographic origin of the Sapphire, and this explains why there are such enormous price differences between the respective qualities. The most valuable sapphires are real Cashmere stones. Almost as highly cherished are stones from Burma, followed by Ceylon-Sapphires.