Sunday Spotlight: The Natural Sapphire Company

This is a bit of a departure, since my Sunday Spotlight typically highlights a designer that I am particularly fond of lately, but The Natural Sapphire Company is a retail outpost definitely worth knowing about. They are precisely what their name implies: a purveyor of quality natural sapphires, sourced from all over the world, and unadulterated by the typical treatments most sapphires undergo before hitting the market.

You may be wondering what the terms “natural” and “untreated” actually mean in this context, which is a set of definitions absolutely worth knowing. In this case and often in the industry, “natural” refers to a stone that was made via the power of nature in the actual earth, as opposed to in a laboratory. “Untreated” means that the stone has not undergone any of the VERY common sapphire treatments used to improve color and clarity.

Before and after of heat-treated sapphires. Image courtesy of The Natural Sapphire Company

A good majority of the Corundum (the scientific name of the stone) that comes out of the earth is cloudy, fractured, poorly colored or otherwise undesirable for mass consumption. This is pretty easily remedied by a number of treatments, the most common of which is heat. These funny little rocks are essentially tossed in the cooker and come out with vibrant colors and much better clarity. We spent months at GIA learning to identify the tiny hallmarks of heat treatment inside these stones at great magnification, but the general consumer would not be able to tell otherwise.

The Natural Sapphire Company, on the other hand, prides itself in dealing with the highest quality UNTREATED NATURAL stones in the industry…and their selection is incredible! Check out some of my favorites:

As you can see, these extraordinary stones come in all colors imaginable! I could write volumes about them, as they are my favorite, but we’ll save the gemology lessons for later posts. In the meantime, be sure to check out the hundreds upon hundreds of extraordinary stones at this incredible company via their website. If you should be so compelled to buy from them, I will go one step further and recommend that you contact Caitlyn Perlman, who I can assure you, as a former student of hers at GIA, is perhaps one of the kindest, most intelligent gemologists and salespeople in the industry. She’s a doll. Tell her I said ‘hi.’