Blue Sapphires are perhaps some of the most treasured colored stones in history. Where do these magnificent stones come from?

Most Blue Sapphires are mined in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka. Ratnapura is also known as the City of the Gems. Ratnapura is Southeast of Colombo and the scenic routes pass by rubber plantations, paddy fields and tea estates.

Ratnapuras' rich soil has created high yields of Blue Sapphires, Rubies, Cat's Eyes, Alexandrites, Aquamarines, Tourmalines, Topaz, Garnets, Amethyst and Zircons. Home to 40 varietys of precious stones, Ratnapura has more gems than any other place in Sri Lanka. Blue Sapphires from Sri Lanka make up around 75 percent of the country's gem exports to the world.

Ratnapura is situated at the foot of the 2243 metre high Adam's Peak, which many believe is a holy mountain. A visit to one of the museums gem workshops will give you the opportunity to see a variety of precious stones and teach you about the history of Ratnapura. Another popular place is the 'Temple in the sky' gem mine, which produces some of the worlds most precious gemstones.

For Sri Lanka, the blue sapphire is a lot more than a precious stone. Its is the stone of Saturn, the planet responsible for the obstacles and challenges that people must face in life in the path of their soul's evolution.

In fact, at INTA Gems & Diamonds, our owner Jerry Young travels to the mines in Sri Lanka to hand-pick each sapphire. Therefore, we guarantee, that are Ceylon sapphires are of the finest quality. Sapphires are remarkable stones that are an excellent alternative gemstone to a diamond for engagement ring and other gemstone jewelry.

The scientific name for the sapphire is corundum, which is an aluminum oxide mineral. And gemstones in the corundum mineral family are very hard stones with a rating of 9 out of 10 on the Mohs’ Hardness Scale. The only gemstone harder than corundum are diamonds, making sapphires a perfect alternative for an engagement ring.

90% of colored gemstones are the market has been heat treated to enhance the natural color of the stone. Heat treatment is an acceptable enhancement for colored gemstones, but for colored gemstone purest, unheated sapphires are also sold. However, these natural unheated stones are very rare and fetch a much higher price on the market.

While many jewelry consumers often associate sapphires with the color blue, these amazing colored gemstones come in a variety of magnificent colors and hues. Some of these colors include: pink, green, and yellow. 

Unfortunately, unlike blue sapphires, yellow, pink, and green sapphires are not as valued because they are not often thought of when purchasing a sapphire. However, these stones are actually very rare, yet lower in price than the more common colors. In fact, yellow sapphires are starting to show a steady increase in popularity. Soon, they will be just as popular as their blue counterparts.  At INTA Gems, we sell a gorgeous selection of fine quality Ceylon blue, pink, and yellow sapphires in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Sapphire is the official birthstone for the month of September. It is also one of the birth stones for the Zodiac signs of Pisces, Taurus, Virgo and Sagittarius.  A rare variety of sapphire, known as color changing sapphire, exhibits different colors in different light. A color change sapphire is blue in natural light, and violet in artificial light (a similar effect is also seen in alexandrites).

For more information on Blue Sapphires and Gemstones, please call (213) 689-9650.

Email: intainfo@intagems.com