The 6Cs of Sapphires by Brilliyond - C5.Country of Origin

The 4Cs of a diamond is an industry-accepted practise to grade, classify, and describe diamonds. Apart from these four properties, many other factors are considered when determining the quality of sapphires. Incorporating the two major factors which are heavily used in the sapphire trade, Brilliyond introduced the 6Cs of Sapphires for the first time in the industry. The fifth C is the Country of Origin of the Sapphire.

Many top jewellers always mention the source of their sapphires. The Ceylon sapphire is the top in the demand and the Madagascar sapphires are also getting popular. Once famous Kashmir sapphires are not mined any more and anybody who claims they sell them could be suspicious.

Are you Ethical Conscious?

There are blood diamonds, but as far as we know there are no blood sapphires unless you are referring to the colour of a red sapphire (ruby) gemstone. Environmental pollution and labour exploitation could be present in sapphire mining operations. However, countries like Sri Lanka (historically known as Ceylon where the Ceylon sapphires are coming from) is knows for their ethical mining practices and they were doing this from as early as 600 BC without any serious environmental impact. In 2011, Sri Lanka banned the use of heavy machineries such as backhoes for mining operations and strict government regulations and licensing processes are in place to prevent environmental hazards.

On the contrary, the countries such as Madagascar which has become one of the major sapphires suppliers during the last two decades has a different story to tell.  

 These valleys of Ceylon are rich in sapphires.