Blue Spinel Vs Sapphire

Blue spinel is a gem made of a compund of iron and sapphire.

Blue spinel vs sapphire.

Color is an important factor that defines spinel s price red spinel is rarer than other varieties and also more expensive. The bright reds and deep blues are spectacular specimens. This dissolved titanium pairs with iron to increase the amount of blue color in the stone. In fact spinel is in great demand among gemologists and gem connoisseurs.

There is no telling how many spinels have actually been sold as sapphire. Blue spinel hues range from violet blue through very slightly greenish blue. Spinel pg 2 red spinel pink spinel other colors. This has to some degree closed the spinel vs.

Sapphire ruby pg 2 ruby. Sapphire ruby. Its cheaper than sapphire and is very light. Blue topaz is the result of irradiation treatment and tanzanite is often heated to enhance its blue color.

It is easy to understand how early gem traders confused spinel with ruby and sapphire for over 1000 years. Blue sapphire is the most famous. Tourmalines pg 3 pink red yellow and other colors. Blue spinel is a rather special stone.

Other varieties are more common and less sought after. However hundreds of years ago when spinel was found together with sapphire and ruby it was impossible to tell them apart. 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 exemplars are the second rarest spinel gems.

Man made spinel is used extensively. Spinel occurs in a wide variety of colors. Red and blue spinel. In the deeper blue colors there are only softer stones such as kyanite and iolite.

Tourmaline pg 2 black orange blue green tourmalines. There are few gems that occur naturally in blue. 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. Tourmalines pg 4 paraiba tourmalines.

Garnet pg 2 understanding garnets. Spinel has been making a name for itself over the last couple of decades and demand for fine stones well exceeds supply. Spinel pg 3 synthetic spinel.