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Cornflower Blue Sapphires

A cornflower blue sapphire is a blue sapphire of medium tone with a soft, velvety, slightly violetish blue that recalls the petals of the cornflower; the term was first used for Kashmir sapphires and is now applied to stones of similar colour from Sri Lanka and elsewhere. The velvet comes from fine silk, so the look is rarest in unheated stones. Byrex Gems offers cornflower blue sapphires to the trade from Toronto, filmed unedited in our office, with prices for approved buyers and viewings by appointment.

Among the cornflower blue sapphires listed today: 21.80 ct Square Cushion Blue Sapphire, GIA, Ceylon Unheated, 12.07 ct Oval Blue Sapphire, GIA, Ceylon Heated, 9.18 ct Oval Blue Sapphire, GIA, Ceylon Unheated, 8.13 ct Oval Blue Sapphire, GIA, Ceylon Heated, 8.01 ct Cushion Blue Sapphire, GRS, Ceylon Heated, 7.51 ct Cushion Blue Sapphire Pair (3.72 + 3.79 ct), Sri Lanka Heated and 64 more.

How cornflower blue looks and where it is found

Cornflower blue sits in the middle of the sapphire range: lighter than royal blue, darker than a pastel, strongly saturated without being deep, with a hint of violet and no green or grey. What sets it apart is texture. Very fine rutile silk scatters light inside the stone so the colour appears to glow softly from within rather than flash from the facets, the quality the trade calls velvet.

The word belongs to Kashmir. The sapphires mined in the Padar region between 1881 and the 1920s showed this medium, velvety blue so consistently that cornflower became shorthand for Kashmir colour, and a stone with the look from any origin is still said to have a Kashmir character.

Sri Lanka is the main source of cornflower blue today, from the gravels of Ratnapura and Elahera, in stones that are brighter and more transparent than Kashmir's and sometimes unheated. Madagascar's Bemainty deposit produced blues with a velvety texture close to Kashmir, and Montana's Yogo Gulch yields small unheated stones whose colour is routinely described as cornflower. Burma produces the colour occasionally.

How laboratories word cornflower blue

Cornflower blue is not defined by master stones at GRS, Gübelin or SSEF the way royal blue and pigeon's blood are. GRS lists only its royal blue types among its current sapphire colour terms, and the Swiss laboratories do not include cornflower among the colour terms they define. Where cornflower appears on a report it is a colour description, and some laboratories decline to use it at all. The Gem and Jewelry Institute of Thailand has built a master set for it, but the term remains a trade description in most of the market.

What a report does state is what matters: a blue colour, the treatment finding and the origin opinion. Unheated stones read "no indications of heating" at GIA, Gübelin and SSEF and "no indication of thermal treatment" at GRS. Because the velvet comes from silk and high heat dissolves silk, a sapphire with the full cornflower texture is usually unheated or has been heated gently enough to keep its needles, and the report's treatment line will say which.

Origin is an opinion from inclusions and chemistry. A Kashmir opinion is the most valuable and most scrutinised in sapphire, and reports sometimes state origin as inconclusive.

What to check before buying a cornflower blue sapphire

Look for the velvet in daylight, viewed from the top: a soft, even glow across the stone rather than sharp facet reflections. Then check that the silk responsible is fine enough to stay invisible under a loupe at arm's length; dense silk makes a stone milky, and milky is not velvety. Under an incandescent lamp a cornflower blue should stay blue, perhaps a touch more violet, rather than go grey.

Tone is the common mistake. A stone that is too light is a pretty pastel, not a cornflower blue; a stone that is too dark has moved towards royal blue. Zoning should be invisible from the top. Cushions and ovals suit the colour because they spread it; a deep pavilion adds weight without adding velvet.

Sizes above three carats with the texture and no indications of heating are scarce; pairs are rare and worth a search, and a close match should be called one. A stone offered as Kashmir needs a report from a laboratory whose Kashmir opinions are respected, and for important stones two. At the bench, sapphire takes normal handling; white metals flatter the colour.

What drives the value of a cornflower blue

Origin leads in this colour more than in any other, because the look is Kashmir's and a Kashmir opinion on the report multiplies the stone's value. Treatment is next: the velvety texture is a product of intact silk, so unheated cornflower blues command a premium that heated stones of similar colour cannot match.

The texture itself is then judged. Two stones of the same hue and tone can differ entirely in how softly they glow, and buyers pay for the glow. Clarity follows, with fine silk forgiven and anything else expected to be eye-clean; size compounds the rest; cut is judged on how evenly the colour spreads viewed from the top.

Cornflower blue is not a lesser grade than royal blue. It is a different taste, and in the unheated Ceylon market it is often the more sought-after of the two among buyers who want a sapphire that looks alive in daylight.

Kashmir, velvet and the look-alikes

The Kashmir deposit was discovered after a landslide around 1881 and worked intensively for only a few years before production dwindled; by the 1930s it had effectively ended. The stones it left behind, mostly in estate jewellery, carry a silk so fine that it reads as a haze rather than needles, and that haze is the velvet every cornflower blue is compared against.

Heated Ceylon sapphires can approximate the colour but seldom the texture, because heating that improves colour also dissolves silk. Unheated Ceylon stones with fine silk come closest, and Madagascar's Bemainty blues close enough that laboratories separate them from Kashmir with care. Montana's Yogo sapphires have the colour in small sizes.

Look-alikes are easily separated with a report: iolite, tanzanite, blue spinel and glass. Synthetic sapphire can be grown in a cornflower hue but not with natural silk, and a laboratory separates it by inclusions and spectra. Byrex uses the word cornflower as a description of colour and texture, and states origin and treatment from the report.

Buying cornflower blue sapphires from Byrex Gems

Byrex Gems has been in Toronto since 1988, and more than seven thousand trade customers in Canada and abroad have bought from us. Many of our cornflower blue sapphires come with reports from GRS, SSEF, Gübelin, GIA and other leading laboratories; all of them are filmed in our office, unedited and unfiltered.

Approved trade buyers see prices online. Others may write at any hour: WhatsApp +1 (437) 450-3786 is answered within hours and email to info@byrex.com the same day, seven days a week. What is listed is a part of what we hold: more cornflower blue sapphires are kept in the vault, and what we do not hold ourselves we can source through our offices worldwide. Private viewings are arranged by appointment in Toronto, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Dubai.

Cornflower Blue Sapphires: questions buyers ask

What is a cornflower blue sapphire?

A blue sapphire of medium tone with a soft, velvety, slightly violetish blue like the petals of the cornflower. The term began with Kashmir sapphires and now describes stones of that colour and texture from Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Montana and occasionally Burma.

Is cornflower blue a laboratory grade?

Not at the major laboratories. GRS, Gübelin and SSEF define royal blue against master stones but do not define cornflower blue, so where the word appears on a report it is a colour description. Treat it as a trade term, and read the treatment and origin lines for the facts.

Are cornflower blue sapphires usually unheated?

The velvety texture comes from fine silk, and high heat dissolves silk, so stones with the full cornflower look are usually unheated or gently heated. Many heated Ceylon sapphires have the colour without the velvet. Byrex states the treatment line exactly as the laboratory words it.

How does cornflower blue differ from royal blue?

Cornflower blue is medium in tone, velvety and luminous; royal blue is deeper, more saturated and more intense. Neither outranks the other. The choice is one of taste and of how the stone looks under evening light, and within each, origin, treatment and size decide value.

Which reports does Byrex supply with cornflower blue sapphires?

GRS, SSEF, Gübelin, Lotus, GIA or AGL reports stating treatment and origin. For stones offered as Kashmir, Byrex holds reports from laboratories whose Kashmir opinions are respected, often two. GRS reports are shown on the stone page, and a further report can be arranged.

Does Byrex sell cornflower blue sapphires to private clients?

Yes, by appointment at 27 Queen Street East, Suite 407, Toronto. Private clients view the same stones and reports as the trade, with prices released to approved trade buyers who sign in. Byrex can also source a stone or pair to a brief.

Can I see cornflower blue sapphires in Toronto?

Yes. Book an appointment and the stones are laid out in daylight, where the velvet shows, and under incandescent light, with reports beside them. Every sapphire is also filmed unedited in our office so you can study it before the visit.

Do Montana sapphires count as cornflower blue?

Sapphires from Yogo Gulch in Montana are routinely described as cornflower blue, are unheated and are usually small. Montana's river deposits produce paler and greener blues that are generally heated and are not described that way. The report states the origin and treatment in both cases.

Byrex Gems, 27 Queen Street East, Suite 407, Toronto. Coloured gemstones and natural fancy colour diamonds for the trade since 1988, and for private clients by appointment.

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