Nature / Essence / Physical state / Constitution

Engraving work has been done on turquoise since ancient times. Muslims carve verses of the Holy Quran on it and inlay floral patterns in gold. Those that are famous now are few in number. A mention of a few is presented to the readers: (1) There are two pieces in the gem collection of the Duke of Orleans. One is engraved with the image of Diana along with a bow and arrow, and the other with the image of Empress Faustina. (2) A jeweler in Moscow has a two-inch-long cone-shaped turquoise that was once set in the armband of Nader Shah. A verse of the Holy Quran is engraved on it in golden letters. (3) In 1808, a necklace of fine turquoise was sold for 3,600 rupees, in which 12 beads were linked. On each of them, an image of one of the Twelve Caesars was engraved. (4) Major Donald sent a fine turquoise to the 1851 exhibition, which depreciated in value due to the deterioration of its color. (5) There is a fine engraved turquoise in the museum of Kensington province. (6) Mr. Thomas Nicols states that an engraving of forty Caesars is carved on a turquoise.

(1) Although the mineral form of turquoise is fine and free of cracks, it does not form well-defined crystals. (2) Hardness is degree 6; it can cut glass. (3) Luster is vitreous. (4) Color is blue, green, white. (5) Opaque, with lustrous edges. (6) Specific gravity is 2.6 to 2.8. (7) Single refractive power. (8) It is composed of 27.34 phosphate of lime acid and 18.18 water. Its color is due to iron oxide and copper. (9) Upon heating, its color turns black due to the drying out of water. It does not melt even before a blowpipe. Its color becomes brownish. No acid affects it.

(1) An English ambassador in Ava (a famous city of Burma) saw a fine, well-colored, and flawless sapphire weighing 951 carats. (2) In the royal treasury of Paris, there is a large, handsome, flawless almond-shaped sapphire weighing 122-1/16 carats. It was acquired by a Bengali spoon/palanquin vendor; for this reason, it was named Don Spun Celeri. Later, upon coming into the House of Ruspoli (this house is in the city of Rome), it became famous under the name Ruspoli. It was then sold to a German prince, who sold it to a French jeweler named Perret for 28,000 rupees. (3) Nowadays, there are two extremely famous sapphires in Europe that were displayed at the 1863 London exhibition. One is black, almond-shaped, flawless, and weighs approximately 252 carats. The other was slightly less in weight, which came from India in 1856 weighing 225 carats, cut locally there. It had a major flaw of yellowish tint. Upon being recut, it remained at 165 carats and was sold in Paris for 7,000 or 8,000 pounds. (4) A very large sapphire named Merveilleux was seen in the Queen's crown, whose color appeared bluish during the day and emerald-like at night. Because sapphire is very hard, engraving work is not performed on it. There are only a few sapphires on which engraving work has been observed: (1) Accordingly, there is a sapphire in Rome on which an image of Hercules is engraved. (2) With the ruler of Lichenstein, there is a sapphire weighing 53 carats on which a hunting scene is engraved along with the carved words Constantius Aug. This scene depicts a king spearing a wild boar that stands before a beautiful woman. (3) On a fine 3/4-inch square sapphire, an image of Pope Paul III is engraved. (4) A yellow, five-sided sapphire was seen on which an image of Henry IV was engraved along with the carved letters C.D.F. (5) A sapphire measuring 3/4-inch in length and 1-1/2 inches in width was seen on which the image of Caracalla's face was engraved. (6) On an antique sapphire, the crest and coat of arms of Cardinal Wolsey are engraved, and so on. Sapphire Mines Located in the State of Kashmir In the State of Jammu and Kashmir, sapphire mines were revealed during the reign of Sri Maharaja Ranbir Singh Bahadur. These are situated in remote, arduous mountains on the border of Jammu, at a distance of 160 miles from Jammu, at 76.53 degrees longitude and 33.30 degrees latitude. The path from Jammu to this place is extremely hazardous and difficult to traverse. These mines were revealed merely by a stroke of chance in such a way that approximately 13 years ago, a landslide fell from a mountain, so that the sapphire-bearing hillside fell into the valley. Only shepherds of the Bhoti tribe visit these rugged highlands in India during the months of July, August, and September for hunting or grazing sheep. Seeing these beautiful, glittering stones, they were amazed, though they did not recognize them as precious gems. However, they gathered several of the better, fine-shaped, and transparent stones so that in exchange, they could obtain salt and sugar candy, which are extremely scarce there and available at very exorbitant rates through traders from Pangi, Chamba, and Shimla. When these shepherds saw that the merchants gladly traded salt, sugar candy, iron, and other necessities in exchange for these stones, they began a considerable, regular trade with them; the merchants profited immensely from the ignorance of these simple shepherds, causing a great loss to the State of Kashmir. Meanwhile, while this unauthorized trade was vigorously underway, a few stones came into the hands of a Delhi jeweler, who was astonished to see such fine sapphires originating from the Himalayas via merchants from Pangi and Chamba. Upon investigating, he discovered the true source of these stones. In order to obtain a substantial reward, he informed Sri Maharaja Ranbir Singh Bahadur that an invaluable treasure existed in his state, which had been uncovered by shepherds and was being squandered by traders in exchange for petty articles. When the late Maharaja heard that a sapphire mine lay within his territory, he dispatched several trusted state officials to that area, had all available sapphires gathered—which were worth hundreds of thousands of rupees—and posted a guard there to prevent any future loss.

The mineral form of sapphire is a hexagonal prism or hexagon. For this reason, it is counted in the dichroic category. Its hardness is degree 9. Therefore, it can only be cut by diamond. The color of sapphire is extremely fine and attractive, ranging from bright bluish to purple hues. In the books of the Hindus, several other varieties of sapphire are described beyond these. Accordingly, it is written: "Although the genuine color of sapphire is blue, which is why it is called sapphire, glimpses of other shades still appear within them. Thus, some sapphires are blue like a lotus flower, some like a sword, a bumblebee, seawater, or the throat of a cuckoo bird, among others. In terms of their colors, there are four classes: (1) Brahmin sapphire (bluish tending toward white) (2) Kshatriya (bluish tending toward red) (3) Vaishya (bluish tending toward yellow) (4) Shudra (bluish tending toward black) The specific gravity of sapphire ranges from 3.9 to 4.2 (or 3.2). The chemical composition, refractive power, and other physical properties of sapphire match those of ruby. The only difference between sapphire and ruby is color: sapphire is sky-blue, whereas ruby is red. The color of sapphire is caused by a compound of chromium (a well-known element). Under the exposure of heat, whitish and yellowish sapphires turn white, but the color of oriental sapphire remains unchanged in gaslight. However, the color of lower-grade specimens turns dark like the color of amethyst.

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Date of birth: January 21 to February 19 Ruling planet: Uranus Element: Air Symbol: Water bearer Favorable days: Saturday, Sunday Favorable numbers: 4, 8 Favorable stones: Agate, Turquoise, Sapphire Favorable colors: Violet, light blue, green