Corundum

Corundum is one of the most popular gemstone families, best known for Ruby and Sapphire.  The main difference between the two is due to Chromium & Iron trace elements, which produces the red hues.   Sapphires come in a vast variety of colors, with the most famous/popular being Blue Sapphire.   Blue hues in Sapphire are likely due to Titanium and Iron impurities (i.e. trace element).  Natural Yellow, Pink, Purple, Green, Black and White sapphires are in the market.   The term Sapphire implies Blue Sapphire and others include a prefix such a Yellow Sapphire. 

The finest Rubies come from Myanmar (i.e. Burma), but we are seeing bright, vivid Red deposits from Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Today, Thailand seems to be the primary sources for Rubies, with brownish red hues.  

Kashmir, Blue Velvet  Sapphires from India and Sir Lanka (formally known as Ceylon) and Royal/Midnight Blue from Mogok, Burma are highly coveted, but Madagasar, Thailand and Cambodia produce excellent specimens too.  Decent smaller size blues can be found in Montana deposits yields an attractive metallic blue, finest from the United States.  Other sapphire localities include Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Rwanda.  

The rarest of all Corundum is Padparadscha, pink-orange to orange-pink hues, usually light to medium tone, but some can be quite vivid, with medium strong saturation.   

IGY Silver Lining is pleased to bring you fine quality Corundum from Burma, Sir Lanka, Afghanistan, Brazil, Australia and Montana.   We also have African and Thailand rubies as part of our 'Up and Comers Collection'. 

The only treatment that is acceptable in the trade for Corundum is heating (low to moderate) to improve the appearance/color of the stone.   The results are stable/long lasting.    Ninety plus percent on the market today is heated.  You will pay a premium (on average 35-50% higher) for none treated Corundum when it comes to the high quality pieces.  For the lower and medium qualities, there's not a huge delta in pricing/cost.

It's important to note here that treatments such as oiling, dyeing and surface diffusion are becoming more common in the market.  Every seller has the moral and ethnical obligation to disclose all known treatments to consumers.   Our philosphy at IGYSL is unless a supplier specifically indicates no treatment, we assume the stone is treated. For high ticket items, we send to a credible lab (e.g. GIA, AGTA) for a full report.  Some treatments, our GG can easily detect in our inhouse lab, while others we can not.      

We have several unheated Corundum pieces that we will offer soon*.    

*We have 6000+ inventory items, so we will be updating the website weekly.   If you do not see what you are looking for, please ask us about it. Nine times out of ten, we will probably have in stock.