Corundum – polished (Star Sapphire)

Star Sapphires for jewellery making

I hesitate to refer to these as cabochons. Realistically, they are most likely to be used as cabochons for jewellery making - but they do not have a flat back.

Star Sapphires are pieces of Corundum which exhibit asterism - the optical effect which shows a shining star with six rays.

They are not cut with a flat back as this reduces the asterism effect - it is usually deep with a rougher back.

The 'star' is not visible in every lighting situation. It was not visible under my diffused photo lamps, but was visible when lit directly by my mobile phone torch. When viewed in direct sunlight it was very obvious - just finding sunlight in the UK can be a little tricky.

Our current stock includes:

• #1 - 9.6x8.1x6.4MM - a nice specimen of a blue-grey star Sapphire, believed to be from Burma/Myanmar. This came to me second hand from an older collection, so unfortunately I'm not perfectly sure of the locale.