Sapphirine Gemstone: Properties, Meanings, Value & More

Sapphirine (pronounced sa-fur-eyen) is a rare gemstone mostly known among collectors. It’s named for its resemblance to blue sapphire, but like sapphire, sapphirine also comes in other colors.

But is sapphirine a sapphire? No, sapphirine and sapphire are completely different gems with entirely distinct properties.

However, they do share some traits in common, like a history of being used to name different stones and making gorgeous, durable jewelry gems.

We’ll give you all those details and more about sapphirine gemstone properties, meanings, powers, prices, and more!

Pictured above: Facet-grade sapphirine rough from Madagascar

About Sapphirine Stone

Sapphirine is a rare semi-precious gemstone, unlike the precious gemstone sapphire.

Speaking of which, what is the difference between sapphire and sapphirine? There are a few differences between sapphirine vs. sapphire:

• Composition: Sapphirine is a magnesium aluminum silicate, sapphire is a variety of corundum (aluminum oxide).

• Mohs Hardness: Sapphirine hardness ranks at 7.5, sapphire ranks at 9.

• Popularity: Sapphirine is only well-known among collectors and gem enthusiasts, sapphire is one of the most popular gems in the world.

• Rarity: Sapphirine is rarer as a gemstone than sapphire, though sapphire is pricier.

• Colors: Both stones are most often blue, and they share many overlapping colors besides blue, but only sapphirine colors include red. Red “sapphire” would be ruby.

It doesn’t help the confusion that the term “sapphirine” was originally used for anything made of sapphire, but we’ll get into that more in the History section later.

As a sapphire look-alike, though, sapphirine can substitute for the precious gem as a September birthstone, 5th, 45th, and 65th wedding anniversary gem, and Taurus stone.

On its own, sapphirine is an astrological talisman for Gemini and Virgo signs.

Industrially, what is sapphirine used for? It doesn’t have as many industrial uses as sapphire, but scientists have made synthetic sapphirine for geological research.

Pictured above: Dark blue sapphirine crystal with a bit of scapolite near the base | Image credit: Kelly Nash

Sapphirine Specifications & Characteristics

Sapphirine is a magnesium aluminum silicate. The formula can be written:

• Mg3.5Al9.0Si1.5O20 (+Fe) or

• (Al,Mg)8(Al,Si)6O20 or

• (Mg,Al)8(Al,Si)6O20 or

• Mg4(Mg3Al9)O4[Si3Al9O36] – specifically for sapphirine-2M

• (Mg,Al,Fe2+)8[(Al,Si,Fe3+)6O18]O2 – specifically for sapphirine-1A

The stone has a few polytypes, but the main ones are sapphirine-2M and sapphirine-1A (also written as sapphirine-1Tc). The former is monoclinic and the latter is triclinic.

Sapphirine crystals can be anhedral, granular, or (less often) tabular. The crystals can also form aggregates or occur as disseminated grains.

The sapphirine mineral is part of the sapphirine group along with addibischoffite, khmaralite, louisfuchsite, and warkite. This group is in the larger sapphirine supergroup, which also contains serendibite.

Commonly Confused Minerals

Serendibite is quite similar to sapphirine, but has a lower Mohs hardness and lower refractive indices.

Sapphirine can also be confused with benitoite, but sapphirine has a darker color.

Yet another stone commonly mixed up with sapphirine is idocrase (a.k.a. vesuvianite), a calcium magnesium aluminosilicate. The two stones have similar refractive indices, but sapphirine has a higher density than idocrase. Sapphirine also has a biaxial negative optic character, though idocrase is sometimes anomalously biaxial.

Sapphirine properties listed:

• Mohs hardness: 7.5

• Color: Shades of blue, blue-gray, greenish-gray, gray, green, blue-green, brownish-green, yellowish-brown, yellow, red, pink, purplish-pink, black, white

• Crystal structure: Usually monoclinic; Sometimes triclinic

• Luster: Vitreous

• Transparency: Translucent to transparent

• Refractive index: 1.701-1.734; Can change with stone colors (highest for brownish-green stones, intermediate for blue stones, lowest for purplish-pink stones)

• Density: 3.40-3.58

• Cleavage: Indistinct/poor on {100}, {001}, and {010}

• Fracture: Conchoidal, irregular/uneven, or subconchoidal

• Streak: White

• Luminescence: Usually none except in Tanzanian red sapphirines - dull red in LWUV & weak orange in SWUV

• Pleochroism: Present and distinct, usually in 3 shades of body color; Pink, yellow, colorless, light brown, or yellowish-green to sky blue, sapphire blue, lavender-blue, or blue-green to sky blue, sapphire blue, or dark blue

• Birefringence: 0.004-0.007

• Dispersion: 0.019 (moderate)

Types of Sapphirine

Unlike sapphire, sapphirine doesn’t have dozens of varieties. However, there are two varieties of sapphirine based on impurities:

• Beryllium-bearing Sapphirine: Contains beryllium; Similiar composition to that of khmaralite

• Chromium-bearing Sapphirine: Contains up to 5.5 percent chromium oxide

We’ll move away from mineralogy now to get into the metaphysical side of sapphirine!

Pictured above: Brooch. St. Petersburg, 1908-17. Workshop of I. Britsyn. Sapphirine, silver, enamel. Collection of V. Kirichenk (description translated from Russian) | Image credit: shakko, CC-BY-SA-3.0

Sapphirine Meaning & History

Sapphirine crystals have much of the same symbolism as sapphires, representing friendship, truth, and commitment.

Individually, sapphirine also symbolizes serenity, abundance, and intuition.

History

German mineralogist and explorer Karl Ludwig (or Charles Lewis in anglicized versions) Giesecke first discovered sapphirine in Fiskenæsset old harbor, Greenland, in 1819. He determined it was a new gemstones and called the stone blauer Diamantspath, German for “blue adamantine [diamond-like luster] spar.”

German chemist Friedrich Stromeyer published the first description of Giesecke’s specimens the same year. Stromeyer originally spelled it “saphirine” but changed the spelling to “sapphirine” in 1821.

However, the first use of the term “sapphirine” dates back to the 1400s. It was used to describe objects made of or resembling blue sapphire.

In the early 1900s, “sapphirine” was also used incorrectly by gemologists for blue spinel, blue quartz, and blue chalcedony — in particular, ancient Greek, pale blue chalcedony scarab-like signet rings have been called “sapphirine chalcedony” by 20th century museums and collectors. (Examples pictured below)

That said, true sapphirine gemstones have graced antique jewelry, like a Russian brooch made around 1908 to 1917 (pictured above). In 1950, Wilfrid R. Foster reported the first sapphirine synthesis.

In 2007, the first red sapphirine crystals were discovered in Tanzania.

Pictured above: Panagia with cameo "Virgin and Child". Cameo - Constantinople, late 11-12th century, setting - workshops of the Moscow Kremlin, second third of the 17th century. Sapphirine, gold, amethysts, turquoise, pearls, enamel, carving. MMK. (Description translated from Russian) | Image credit:  Photo: Wikipedia / Shakko, CC-BY-SA-4.0

Pictured above: "Sapphirine" chalcedony rectangular prism, Minoan, circa 1900–1600 B.C., Metropolitan Museum Collection | Image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public domain

On the metaphysical side, what are the healing properties of sapphirine?

Sapphirine Healing Properties

As a commonly blue healing stone, sapphirine has the soothing and clarity-boosting properties of blue gemstones.

Physical Healing

Physically, sapphirine is believed to treat issues related to:

• Spinal pain

• Vision

• Blood circulation

• Heart problems

• Muscle issues

Emotional Healing

Emotionally, sapphirine is recommended for dispelling harmful thought patterns, instead helping you adopt a grateful, optimistic perspective. Crystal healers also recommend it for balancing emotions and reducing melancholy.

Chakra Healing

Chakra healing involves opening or balancing a blocked energy center (chakra) so energy can flow freely through it again. Sapphirine is a throat chakra stone.

The throat chakra governs truth, understanding, and communication. When it’s blocked, you may feel suppressed, confused, and afraid to speak. An open throat chakra allows you to understand yourself and communicate your truest self to the world.

Pictured above: Large, two-sided, indigo-blue sapphirine crystal with embedded matrix, from Dick Jones Collection, dated from the 1960s or 1970s | Image credit: Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

Sapphirine Gemstone Properties

Is sapphirine valuable? It depends. Besides their rarity, sapphirine gemstone value depends on their color, cut, clarity, and carat weight.

Color

Sapphirine, like sapphire, is best-known for its blue hues, including pale to light tones and green or gray undertones. Richer blue hues come from the amount of iron impurities in the stone.

It also commonly forms in brown, brownish-green, green, greenish-gray, or black colors. Yellowish-brown, red, pink, and purplish-pink colors are rarer. Red to purplish-pink hues can be more valuable.

Gem-quality specimens are rare already, and most are grayish-blue, making other colors rarer and possibly more valuable.

Cut

Since well-formed, gem-quality crystals are rare, faceted sapphirine gems are also rare, making them quite valuable. They’re often cut into standard shapes like oval brilliant.

Sapphirines can also be cut into cabochons or carvings.

Clarity

Luckily, the majority of gem-quality sapphirine crystals have eye-clean clarity, meaning no visible inclusions to the naked eye. Red sapphirine crystals from Tanzania didn’t even have inclusions visible under a microscope!

Included sapphirine gems may have fluid inclusions along partially healed fractures, scattered needles, and/or planes of crystals.

Sapphirine has also been found as an inclusion in other gems like corundum.

In 2019, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) found subhedral sapphirine crystals surrounded by fractures in a purple-red ruby and similar sapphirine inclusions in other alluvial rubies and sapphires from Thailand.

Carat Weight & Size

Faceted sapphirine gems are small, typically under 3 carats and often under 1 carat. Price-per-carat rates increase significantly for gems over 1 carat.

Pictured above: Sapphirine crystals and mica crystals var. phlogopite (description translated from French) | Image credit: Géry Parent, Public domain

Sapphirine Formation & Sources

Sapphirine usually forms via high-grade metamorphism of silica-poor, magnesium- and aluminum-rich environments, though some can form during magma crystallization.

The mineral is found in various rocks but usually in high-temperature metamorphic rocks or aluminum- and magnesium-rich, silicon-poor xenoliths. It’s also found in granulite, metatroctolites, calc-silicate skarns, quartzite, and amphibolite facies.

Common associated minerals are:

• Calcite

• Chrysoberyl

• Cordierite

• Corundum

• Garnet

• Kornerupine

• Kyanite

• Phlogopite

• Plagioclase

• Pyroxenes

• Quartz

• Scapolite

• Sillimanite

• Spinel

• Surinamite

Mining Locations

Gem-quality sapphirine material mostly comes from Sri Lanka and Madagascar. Additional sources of gem-quality material are:

• Australia

• Canada

• Czechia

• Greenland

• Italy

• Japan

• South Africa

• Sweden

• Tanzania

• Thailand

• UK (Scotland)

• USA (Michigan, Minnesota, Utah)

Now, how much does sapphirine cost?

Pictured above: Pristine, hexagonal, floater sapphirine crystal with typical blue-gray color, unusually laminated with stepped side faces; Herb Obodda specimen | Image credit: Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

Sapphirine Price & Value

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most expensive sapphirines are faceted gems.

The price of faceted sapphirine gems generally ranges by size:

• 0.5 to 1 carat: Around $300 to $600 per carat

• 1 to 5 carats: $500 to $1,000 per carat

Facet-grade rough crystals range broadly in price, from around $7 to over $130 per carat.

Sapphirine cabochons are generally about $145 per carat.

Sapphirine Care and Maintenance

Last up is gemstone care. Luckily, sapphirine has very good wearability, making them suitable for daily wear, with or without protective settings.

You can clean them with the standard method of warm water, mild soap, and a soft toothbrush. Store them separately from other gems to avoid scratches.

Pictured above: Facet-grade blue-green sapphirine rough, untreated 

Smitten with Sapphirine?

Though sapphirine may seem like a lesser-known cousin of the gemstone celebrity sapphire, it has plenty of unique traits of its own. With appealing rarity, beautiful colors, and great durability, sapphirine just might be the gem for you!

Buy sapphirine gemstones today!