1.02 Ct. Blue Sapphire from Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

This 1.02 carat round blue sapphire from Ceylon offers a precise combination of weight and proportion, with measured dimensions of 5.92 by 5.84 by 3.49 millimeters. The stone is cut in a mixed brilliant style, combining a brilliant faceted crown with a pavilion geometry designed to emphasize color saturation and return light efficiently, producing both lively scintillation and even face up color. The nearly equal girdle to girdle measurements indicate excellent symmetry with a maximum variation under point one millimeter, and the depth measures approximately 59.4 percent of the average diameter, a proportion that balances depth of color with optimized light return. The mixed brilliant approach used here intentionally controls pavilion angles to avoid a windowing effect while maintaining a crisp table and strong crown facet pattern, resulting in consistent brilliance across viewing angles. The excellent polish emphasizes sharp facet junctions and clean facet surfaces, maximizing specular reflection and minimizing surface perturbations that would otherwise scatter light.

Color is the defining characteristic of this sapphire, described by trade terms as intense in color intensity, and exhibiting the lively, bright blue typical of fine Ceylon material. The origin of Sri Lanka contributes to a color profile that is often described as vivid medium to medium strong blue with a slightly lighter tone than some other classic sources, producing a lively, glassy appearance when properly faceted. Optical properties of corundum contribute to the gemstone experience, with a refractive index between approximately 1.762 and 1.770 and a low birefringence near 0.008, characteristics that yield strong brilliance and subtle doubled facet edges when viewed from certain angles. The sapphire also displays pleochroic tendencies that can manifest as variations between deeper blue and slightly purplish or violet blue when the stone is tilted, a property the cutter addressed by orienting the pavilion and crown facets to present the most desirable hue face up.

Clarity is graded as very very slightly included evaluated at eye level, indicating that inclusions are extremely minor and not readily apparent to the naked eye under normal viewing conditions. These minute inclusions do not interfere with light transmission or the visual appeal of the stone, and they serve as natural fingerprints that confirm a natural origin. The stone has undergone heat treatment, the standard and widely accepted enhancement for sapphires, performed to stabilize and intensify the blue hue by affecting trace element distributions without introducing foreign filling materials. Heat treatment at gemological temperatures is a permanent enhancement that does not compromise the crystalline structure or hardness of corundum, and it is fully disclosed. Polishing quality is excellent, with facet surfaces free of polish lines and with crisp facet girdle junctions, contributing to uniform light return and high surface luster.

On the Mohs hardness scale this sapphire registers at nine, placing it second only to diamond which is ten, and significantly harder than common jewelry gemstones such as topaz which is eight and quartz which is seven. That elevated hardness translates into robust resistance to abrasion and makes the stone highly suitable for everyday wear in rings, bracelets, pendants, and earrings, while still benefiting from routine care and professional cleaning to maintain its finish. The combination of a hard corundum matrix, a well executed mixed brilliant cut with a balanced depth near fifty nine percent, and excellent polish ensures that this one point zero two carat blue sapphire will retain both its visual performance and its structural resilience over time. At The Natural Sapphire Company we present this stone as an ideal candidate for bespoke settings where the cutter's choice of mixed cut and precise proportions can be leveraged to produce an enduring, lively centerpiece that highlights the natural intensity and clarity of fine Ceylon sapphire.