Sapphire, the birthstone for September

Colours
Sapphire is famous for its wonderfully striking and beautiful blues, however Sapphire is also found in other colours like yellow, orange, purples, bluish greens and lavender. Sapphires are also available in pinks, however here lies a dilemma. Sapphire and Ruby are in fact the same mineral. This leaves the some of the pinks in a no mans land of classification. Should they be classed as Rubies or Sapphires? This is dependant upon the shade of the stone, they can be classified as pink Sapphire or pink Ruby. Sapphires like its sister stone ruby, also can be found with chatoyant properties. Chatoyant means that when the stone is seen in different lights or from different angles, a star (in the form of crossed lines radiating out) can be seen which moves around the stone.