Corundum var. Pink Sapphire

Unknown Owner

Help improve this recordNo owner is registered for this specimen yet. If it's yours or you know more about it, you can add the owner, provenance, publications and other details.

Simply stunning! This richly bi-colored, exceptionally lustrous Sapphire crystal glows with color! It is a hexagonal column with abundant horizontally oriented growth features that remarkably don't diminish the luster and actually add to its reflectivity and sparkle! Much of the body of the crystal is a vibrant, translucent amber-orange capped at each end by gemmy, red-pink, flat, pinacoid terminations. This gorgeous crystal could be interpreted as two, tightly intergrown crystals in parallel growth that are just slightly offset. So why are we calling this piece a Sapphire? Unfortunately, we have generally learned that any red colored variety of Corundum is called Ruby and any blue variety of Corundum is termed Sapphire, which is partly true. Red corundum is defined as Ruby and is colored by the presence of trace amounts of chromium, and any Corundum that is not red is classified as Sapphire. Sapphires may contain trace amounts of a mix of chromium, titanium, and iron to color them. So that's why we are calling this gorgeous toenail with its mix of orange and red a Sapphire, and because "Burma Bill" on his label says so! He says it is equivalent to what the market calls a Padparadscha color, not really a ruby color. And, indeed, the color is something special in person. This bi-colored beauty has a mass of 9.63 grams.