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Nearly every single gemstone on the open market today has been heat-treated. It is a very common practice which has been employed for centuries to bring out the purest of the sapphire's hues. The controlled heating of a gemstone is considered a finishing process to complete what nature has started, and is a widely accepted and expected practice by the jewelry industry, the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA), and all major reputable gemstone retailers. The effects of heating are as permanent as the gemstones themselves because it is merely a continuation of the gemstone's formation process deep in the earth. Fine quality unheated gemstones (which should be accompanied by a certification from an independent third-party laboratory stating that the gemstone exhibits no indication of heating) are exceedingly rare and generally command exorbitant prices.
In ancient times, some people believed that the firmament (heaven) was an enormous blue sapphire in which the Earth was embedded. Perhaps this belief was not too far fetched in its metaphor to the beauty and magnificence of the blue gemstone. And yet this gem comes not in one but in all the blue hues of that firmament, from the deep blue of the evening sky to the shining aqua
blue of a lovely summer's day.
However, this beautiful gemstone also comes in many other colors: not only in the transparent grayish-blue of a distant horizon but also in the gloriously colorful play of light in a sunset - in yellow, pink, orange and purple. Sapphires really are gems of the sky, although they are exclusively found deep within the heart of the earth. The best place in Los Angeles to find all the colors of the rainbow in sapphires is certainly Inta Gems & Diamonds.
Blue is the main color of the sapphire. Blue is also the favorite color of some 50 per cent of all people, men and women alike. We associate this color, strongly linked to the sapphire as it is, with feelings of sympathy and harmony, friendship and loyalty: feelings which belong to qualities that prove their worth in the long term - feelings in which it is not so much effervescent passion that is to the fore, but rather composure, mutual understanding and indestructible trust. Thus the blue of the sapphire has become a color which fits in with everything that is constant and reliable.
That is one of the reasons why women in many countries wish for a sapphire ring on their engagement. The sapphire symbolizes loyalty, but at the same time it gives expression to people's love and longing. Perhaps the most famous example of this blue is to be found in music, in George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue". And the blue of the sapphire even appears where nothing at all counts except clear-sightedness and concentrated mental effort. The first computer which succeeded in defeating a world chess champion bore the remarkable name 'Deep Blue'.