|
 |
 |
|
Blue Sapphire: SAPPHIRE, saf'ir, a name given to all em varieties of corundum except those of red-ish color, which are called ruby. The word ipphire used alone always refers to the blue emstone. Those of other colors are called, for xample, yellow sapphire or pink sapphire, and 'hen colorless are called white sapphire.
The finest sapphires come from Kashmir, orthwest India, and their color is described as Kashmir blue. Occasional fine stones of the same uality from other sources are also called Kash-lir sapphires. Most mines produce a variety of jlors. Other important producing districts are ear Bangkok, Thailand; near Mogok, Upper 'Urma; and Ceylon, Afghanistan, and central lueensland, Australia. Some fine sapphires have Iso been mined in the United States in an area )uth of the Missouri River in central Montana.
Although a few sapphires have been mined from crystalline rocks, the great majority have come from placer deposits in stream beds. Prior to World War I they were extensively mined for use as jewel bearings in watches and electrical measuring instruments such as household meters. The finer stones were sold as gems but most of the income from the mining operations came from the sale of industrial-quality stones.
Sapphires other than those of blue color are often sold under the names of other gems with the word Oriental as a prefix; thus, Oriental Emerald for green sapphire, and Oriental Topaz for yellow sapphire. In the literature of antiquity and the Middle Ages, colorless sapphire was often referred to as a form of diamond, and other gemstones, now given specific names of their own, were often called sapphires.
.
SAPPHO, saf'6, Greek poetess: b. Lesbos, Greece, probably late 7th century, B.C. The date of her death is unknown, but she seems once to speak of herself as old and she was married, with a daughter. Little is known for certain of her life. Stories of love for Phaon and suicide are doubtless fictions. Sappho was by far the most famous of Greek poetesses. Her collected works were apparently arranged according to type into nine books in ancient times. There were many poems; the famous "few, but roses all"
Colour, however,is the feature that gives many gems their special qualify. The transparent red ruby [13] and the blue sapphire [15] (both of which are forms of a normally dull, grey or colourless mineral called corundum), the green emerald, a form of the mineral beryl and the yellow topaz are all admired because of their pure tints. Opaque or cloudy gems such as opals depend entirely upon their colour to make them attractive. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
