Blue Spinel Vs Sapphire

With modern gemological tools we can easily distinguish between blue spinel and blue sapphire.

Blue spinel vs sapphire.

Tourmalines pg 4 paraiba tourmalines. Spinel occurs in a wide variety of colors. This dissolved titanium pairs with iron to increase the amount of blue color in the stone. 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 3 pink red yellow and other colors. Blue exemplars are the second rarest spinel gems. 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. However hundreds of years ago when spinel was found together with sapphire and ruby it was impossible to tell them apart.

There is no telling how many spinels have actually been sold as sapphire. Blue spinel is a rather special stone. Man made spinel is used extensively. Spinel pg 3 synthetic spinel.

Its cheaper than sapphire and is very light. Blue sapphire is the most famous. This has to some degree closed the spinel vs. The bright reds and deep blues are spectacular specimens.

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. Sapphire ruby pg 2 ruby. Red and blue spinel.

Blue spinel is a gem made of a compund of iron and sapphire. Other varieties are more common and less sought after. There are few gems that occur naturally in blue. Color is an important factor that defines spinel s price red spinel is rarer than other varieties and also more expensive.

Spinel pg 2 red spinel pink spinel other colors. Tourmaline pg 2 black orange blue green tourmalines. Garnet pg 2 understanding garnets. In the deeper blue colors there are only softer stones such as kyanite and iolite.

Blue topaz is the result of irradiation treatment and tanzanite is often heated to enhance its blue color. Blue spinel vs sapphire. Nevertheless spinel s price even in those cases is still lower than the price of sapphire and ruby.