Sapphires are mostly light to dark cornflower blue, but can also be found in rare colors such as: bluish-green, yellow, slightly reddish-orange, brown, black and pinkish-orange. Though the name "sapphire" means "blue" in Latin, as you can see, the sapphire comes in almost any color. The ancient Persians believed that the earth rested on a giant sapphire whose reflection gave the sky and sea it's blue color.

Blue sapphires are a lot bigger than a ruby. A lot of sapphires come in a size of 100 carats or more. They are mostly available up to 2 carats but it is not unusual to see some that are 5 - 15 carats. The sapphire has a mohos hardness of 9.

The places that sapphires are found the most are in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Montana, Australia and Africa. They used to be mined in India, but there are not too many places that are easy to get to mine this gem.

There are some interesting stories and beliefs that are told about the sapphire. An old legend says that if you put a poisonous snake in a jar with a sapphire, the rays from the sapphire would kill the snake. People thought that this meant that the sapphire was an antidote against poison. Kings would wear sapphires to protect them from harm and saw this gem as a symbol of truth and sincerity.