Sapphires are extremely diverse and are available in plenty colours. After diamonds, these precious stones are the second-hardest. These beautiful gems can sometimes pose difficulty in ensuring that they are real and not fake. It is imperative to have enough knowledge when purchasing a sapphire so that you are not tricked into buying one that is FAKE! Be so clued that you can help spread this knowledge to people around you.
Go to a trustworthy jeweler, someone who is credible and possibly worked for someone you know. This type of jeweler should be able to provide you with details regarding the stone. Such details include:
- Cut;
- Colour;
- Treatment.
Practically all sapphires experience heat treatment in order to increase their brilliance, but natural sapphires should never look like luminous glass. A lab-created sapphire is an authentic stone created in a laboratory and this is something that the jeweler should be able to tell you.
When you close your eyes and you imagine what a sapphire looks like, even though lab-created stones tend to be brighter than natural ones, they are not as shiny as fake glass sapphires. Genuine blue sapphires of the highest quality are deep blue in color and do not reflect other colors when moved in light. The same test can be applied to all colors of sapphires. The light mirrored from the stone should match its color.
Ensure that there are no scratches and/ or bubbles. Sapphires are a naturally hard and tough stone. If you can see scratches or nicks on the stone, then it is probably made of glass. Glass stones will also have small bubbles that are not found in natural sapphires.
Furthermore, take your sapphire to a licensed gemologist. Gemologists perform tests with particular tools to define the quality of the stone and can offer you a certificate of authenticity.
Here are some additional tips and warnings:
