Color: Montana sapphires come in a wide range of colors, including blues, teals, yellows, whites, and pinks.
In general, sapphires are found in nearly every color - except red because we call those rubies! Sapphires and rubies both belong to the corundum family of gemstones; the only difference is their color.
Custom Montana Sapphire Mountain Ring
Our Sources: We love working with Montana sapphires because they are some of the most traceable gems in the world! Our clients can be confident that the sapphires in their jewelry were mined, cut, and polished with the highest standards of human and environmental ethics in the mining industry. We are fortunate to have personal relationships with several miners from whom we source most of our Montana sapphires. We also source them from Fair Trade certified suppliers Columbia Gemhouse and Americut Gems.
The Fairmined Montana Sapphire Hexagon Carved Solitaire
Stone Cutting: We know the full story of each new Montana sapphire we source. This includes how and where they are each cut and polished. One of the amazing miners with whom we work cuts and polishes the rough gemstones himself. The other sends his rough stones to a small family-run cutting operation in Sri Lanka. Columbia Gem House and Americut Gems both have their own cutting facilities in China and New Jersey, respectively. This ensures a high standard for both workers' rights and environmental protection.
More on Sapphires: Sapphires are the traditional birthstone for September. They are extremely durable - rated a 9 on the Mohs hardness scale - making them an ideal choice for everyday jewelry!
Sapphires have been treasured throughout history, holding cultural and symbolic significance all around the world. Sapphires can symbolize wisdom and creativity. These gemstones have long been associated with spirituality or religion and also with royalty. Some people believed that sapphires contained protective powers that would shield the wearer from danger. Others thought the stone had healing powers that could improve the wearer’s overall health and strength, facilitate healing, cure disease, and even act as an antidote for poisons.
Our Commitment to Ethical Sourcing:
W.R. Metalarts strives to know the full story of the materials we use in our jewelry. We are committed to supporting artisanal miners and mining communities, promoting healthy and safe working conditions, and avoiding environmentally destructive practices. We are dedicated to deepening our understanding and working to address the historical and ongoing harm of the jewelry industry on indigenous communities and communities of color all around the world. We do not claim to have all of the answers; we are constantly evaluating our practices as we gain a more nuanced understanding of our complex industry. Transparency is critical so that you, our clients and collaborators, can trust that we’ve done all we can to create the most beautiful jewelry - not just the end result, but beautiful at every step of the journey.
The way that we back up these values is to do our homework, putting our suppliers through rigorous vetting processes. We don’t take our vendors at face value when they say a stone is “conflict-free” or “sustainable;” we push them to give us the whole story about the journey of a stone and if they are not able to back up their claims of “ethics'' with sources or credentials, we won’t work with them. We source directly from local cutters and miners, when possible, which is one way to ensure ethical, responsible, and sustainable business practices. It takes time and diligence to find suppliers that we trust, but once we find them, we forge incredible relationships built on our shared values of transparency, accountability, and doing good.
