What is a Montana Sapphire?
Increasingly people are looking for affordable, unique engagement rings. Although, diamonds are always the front runner, more and more couples are open to alternatives to diamonds.
Enter the Montana Sapphire.
Montana Sapphires are known for their intense teal color which sets it apart from other sapphires you may have seen. Montana Sapphires are also known for their brilliance & clarity. They may also come in other shades such as yellow, pink & violet…but by far the most coveted and well known Montana Sapphires are a gorgeous shade of Teal Blue…such as the ones we use in our engagement rings. One of our favorites is our Claudette Art Deco Ring with a Teal Sapphire center stone. Any of our rings can be customized with sapphires, diamonds or even your heirloom stones.
Many of them are “color shifters”…which in the trade means that they can change color with different light & heat sources. We love these and spend a great deal of time resourcing them.
Who discovered Montana Sapphires?
Montana Sapphires were first found in Montana in the late 18th century by a gold miner near Helena, Montana. Some of the first Montana Sapphire stones mined were forwarded to Tiffany & Co. They declared that the stones were “sapphires of unusual quality” and a small scale sapphire rush began. These particular sapphires quickly became known as “Montanas”.
Why a Montana Sapphire for my engagement ring?
Montana Sapphires have been successfully mined for over 100 years and are becoming increasingly rare. The most coveted shades are a bright teal green color and becomes even more sought after if it is a color shifter. These are the Montana Sapphires we always look for.
The Montana sapphires we use in our engagement rings here at Rough Luxe are for the most part, not heat treated. The particular chemistry of Montana Sapphires is not very conducive to heat treating. So, the beautiful Aegean sea color you see in the Montana Sapphires we offer is au natural.
We work very closely with families that specialize in mining the rough and hand pick every Montana Sapphire that we use…looking for rich depth of color and only choosing stones that have exceptional clarity and that are eye clean.
Montana Sapphires are by far some of my favorite stones to work with…as every single one is unique in its own way. I sometimes have a hard time parting with them...I want to keep them all!
