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Sapphires for peace and friendship

by Ravi Ladduwahetty

Japan, a world economic power, has been dedicating a calendar year to an international gemstone since 2001. The first year, they dedicated it to Pearl, which is the stone which has been found in diverse abundance in that country. The next year 2002, they dedicated it to the ruby, the red stone.

This year Japan was trying to do it with emerald, the stone found abundantly in Columbia, until the timely intervention of the Director of the Product Management Division of the Sri Lanka Export Development Board Indira Malwatte who persuaded the Japanese Authorities to use the Sapphire as the gemstone for the year 2003. This, she did when she led the Sri Lankan delegation for the International Jewellery Fair in Tokyo.

Indira, pushed the case for Sri Lanka, asserting that Sri Lanka was in the process of brand marketing the Ceylon sapphire. The relationship with the Japan Jewellery Association has also been to the advantage. She appealed for Japan's assistance to get the Sri Lankan Sapphire on the global map. It was then that Japan decided to declare the sapphire as the gemstone for the year 2003. this was done in September 2002.

Sri Lanka will benefit by this for marketing its Sapphires and its Sapphire mounted jewellery. Sri Lankan sapphires should be finding its way not only to Japan but also to the United States.

When the world renowned jewellery designer Bulgari was in Colombo, he has also made it known that he would be promoting the Ceylon sapphire through his 25 departmental stores in Japan, making use of the declaration of the sapphire which is more known as the Ceylon Sapphire. The brand image is abundantly clear.

The Japanese Government, in its bid to promote the Ceylon Sapphire, has also procured television personality- Ms Tanaka for all the television shows. She is very popular with the yuppy groups.So, is the jewellery.

The additional advantage with the sapphire is the rainbow of colours. From red, yellow to blue. For instance, the Corn Flower Blue will be more expensive than a diamond. So, in sharp contrast to the image that has been created of the diamond that a diamond is the girl's best friend, the sapphire can create a person's life than the diamond.

The coloured sapphires can be exciting than the diamonds, not in competition, but in complementing each other. Research investigations into the US markets have revealed that the decade beginning 2003 is the year of spirituality. Residents of the United States have lost faith in love and romance and there is a segment which look for qualities such as spirituality in life. The Sapphire is seen as the gemstone which could develop spirituality and friendship among people.

This is because of the properties seen in sapphires are conducive for it. The Sri Lanka Export Development Board will pursue the US market through these properties. It is believed that a sapphire will create a spiritual calmness in one's life. Even the individual product pieces have been named as Nirvana, Athma etc.

Then, the Ceylon Sapphire is bound to do well in the US market and Japan is also expected to follow suit. The name sapphire, originates from the Latin word Sapphirus - which is said to have its roots in Sanskrit, although uncertain. The sapphire is the gem and the soul of autumn and is the birth stone of September.

The ancients were under the impression that sapphires were able to influence spirits, to be the charm against unchastity and capable of making peace between enemies and protecting the owner against captivity. The Romans and Egyptians praised the sapphire as the gem of peace and friendship. In ancient India it was a symbol of fertility.

It is further said that the significance of the sapphire was further enhanced in the twelfth century when the Bishop of Rennes in France used this gem for his religious functions. History is replete with stories of the abundance of this gemstone in ancient Ceylon during the 5th Century.

The famous historian and Chinese monk Fa Hsein has mentioned there were a large number of gem dealers visiting this country for its precious stones, especially sapphires. Even before 600 BC Marco Polo records of a gem collection of the King of Ceylon. Sapphires are found in a profusion of colours - blue, yellow, pink, green and colourless. The most sought after are the pink, the yellow and the Pathmaraja. They are also found as star sapphires.

Sapphires are found in several countries such as Thailand, Burma, Madagascar, India, Brazil, Australia and the United States. However, the best and the most exquisite which is the source for even Royalty come from Sri Lanka.

The largest blue sapphire ever found in the world has been in Sri Lanka and has been 20 kilos in the rough.

The sapphire is the second hardest among the common gems, coming immediately after the white diamond, which is the hardest.

It is much less brittle than diamond. Sapphire makes much better jewellery than diamond when it is set in platinum, white gold or yellow gold, and the celebrities have always chosen sapphires to supplement their collections.

Queen Elizabeth owns a magnificent Ceylon Blue Sapphire ring and her crown magnificently displays a Blue Sapphire from Ceylon. The late Princess Diana decided that it would be a Ceylon Blue Sapphire that would adorn her wedding ring while the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson has the famous Panther Brooch with a 152 carat Ceylon Blue Sapphire made by the famous designer Cartier.

The fame of the blue sapphire continues. In the United States, the busts of Presidents Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Eisenhower are carved out of Blue Sapphires , each of which weighed in the excess of 2000 carats in the rough. In the 1960s, a large number of American gem dealers visited Sri Lanka for the purpose.

References to the Sapphire will be incomplete when one remembers the Padparadsha (mispronounced commonly as Padmaraga), a stone which has close links to Buddhist philosophy.

A magnificent 1126 carat of the Padparadsha Crystal from Sri Lanka is considered the masterpiece when judging the colour of stones that claim the title of Padparadsha.

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