Blue Spinel Vs Sapphire

Blue exemplars are the second rarest spinel gems.

Blue spinel vs sapphire.

It is easy to understand how early gem traders confused spinel with ruby and sapphire for over 1000 years. In fact spinel is in great demand among gemologists and gem connoisseurs. Blue spinel is a gem made of a compund of iron and sapphire. Blue sapphire is the most famous.

Spinel pg 2 red spinel pink spinel other colors. There are few gems that occur naturally in blue. Blue spinel vs sapphire. Spinel occurs in a wide variety of colors.

In the deeper blue colors there are only softer stones such as kyanite and iolite. Spinel pg 3 synthetic spinel. Blue topaz is the result of irradiation treatment and tanzanite is often heated to enhance its blue color. Tourmaline pg 2 black orange blue green tourmalines.

Color is an important factor that defines spinel s price red spinel is rarer than other varieties and also more expensive. There is no telling how many spinels have actually been sold as sapphire. Blue spinel is a rather special stone. However hundreds of years ago when spinel was found together with sapphire and ruby it was impossible to tell them apart.

Sapphire ruby. Discovered accidentally when scientists were experimenting to try and produce a flame fusion blue synthetic sapphire spinel s great advantage is that it can be made to reproduce almost all colors except purple the blue synthetic spinel sapphire imitant is much more genuine looking than a synthetic blue spinels imitating synthetic sapphires. Other varieties are more common and less sought after. The bright reds and deep blues are spectacular specimens.

Tourmalines pg 4 paraiba tourmalines. Nevertheless spinel s price even in those cases is still lower than the price of sapphire and ruby. Spinel has been making a name for itself over the last couple of decades and demand for fine stones well exceeds supply. Sapphire ruby pg 2 ruby.

Red and blue spinel. Man made spinel is used extensively. Its cheaper than sapphire and is very light. With modern gemological tools we can easily distinguish between blue spinel and blue sapphire.

Garnet pg 2 understanding garnets. A case in point is the internal diffusion seen in a heat treated sapphire induced as the titanium from rutile silk inclusions was dissolved into the crystal lattice of the host sapphire at high temperatures. Blue spinel hues range from violet blue through very slightly greenish blue.