Antique jewelry glossary

Welcome to our extensive antique jewelry glossary with around 1,500 jewelry related entries.If you feel you are missing an explanation, feel free to let us know and we will add it.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z     all

Star sapphire

A variety of sapphire that has a silky structure and when cut en cabochon shows a 6-rayed (sometimes 12-rayed) star in reflected light, due to the phenomenon known as asterism. The stone must be precisely cut, aligned with the vertical axis, as otherwise the result will be an off-centre, crooked or dim star, or even the absence of a star.

Such star stones are natural or a synthetic gemstone. The largest known star sapphire, grey-blue and weighing 12,6 kg (about 63000 carats), was found in 1966 at Mogok in Burma.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson