September marks the beginning of autumn in much of the world. Here in Singapore, summer never truly leaves. Our days unfold beneath cerulean skies softened by hazy grey clouds, before evening slips into washes of pink and amber. It feels fitting, then, that September’s birthstone is sapphire, a gemstone that seems to gather the changing moods of the sky into a single jewel.
Our minds tend to immediately associate sapphire with majestic ocean-coloured blues. Yet this is a gemstone full of surprises. It has inspired myths about the heavens, travelled through royal courts, changed colour beneath different lights and quietly become one of the world’s most enduring choices for jewellery meant to be worn for a lifetime.
It is little wonder that sapphire remains one of our favourite gemstones at Calla Lily.
A Gemstone Fit for the Heavens
Sapphires have been treasured for thousands of years, but what fascinates us most is that people rarely admired them simply for their beauty. Across civilisations, they became symbols of wisdom, protection and the mysterious forces thought to govern the world itself.
The Ancient Persians imagined something extraordinary: that the earth rested upon a giant sapphire, and that the sky was simply its reflection. It is one of those beautiful ideas that survived for centuries, appearing again in later Persian and Islamic cosmology, where sapphire became part of the architecture of the heavens rather than merely another precious gemstone.
The Greeks drew their own connections, associating sapphire with Apollo, the god of the sun and prophecy. Priests reportedly wore the gemstone when consulting the oracle, believing it sharpened judgement and brought greater clarity to the answers they sought. The Romans, meanwhile, carried sapphires as protective talismans, convinced they could guard against envy and misfortune while preserving loyalty and honour.
Long before sapphire entered royal jewellery collections, it had already earned a regal reputation.
Lily earrings with pearl drops
Legends & Stories
Among sapphire’s many legends, one of the most captivating belongs to Charlemagne.
According to medieval tradition, the emperor received a sapphire talisman from a woman he loved deeply. As long as he carried it, his devotion remained unwavering. After her death, he refused to part with the jewel until it was eventually cast into a lake near Aachen. Legend says his affection then transferred to the city itself, where he chose to remain for the rest of his life.
Whether history or folklore, the story reveals something remarkable about sapphire’s place in medieval imagination. It was believed to bind loyalty, reveal truth and protect promises already made.
That symbolism never entirely disappeared. Centuries later, sapphire continues to be chosen for engagement rings, perhaps because those same ideas: trust, sincerity and enduring love; still resonate today.
Not Every Sapphire Is Blue
Here comes perhaps sapphire’s greatest surprise.
Blue may be its most iconic expression, but sapphire exists in almost every colour except red. That distinction belongs entirely to ruby, despite both gemstones belonging to the very same mineral family: corundum.
The rule is wonderfully simple. Red corundum becomes ruby. Nearly every other colour becomes sapphire.
Parti sapphire, derived from the term “partite”, displays a complex blend of blue, green, and yellow.
Suddenly the family becomes far larger than most people expect.
Yellow, green, violet, champagne, lavender and peach all belong beneath the sapphire umbrella, each revealing a different personality while sharing the same remarkable durability that has made the gemstone so enduring.
Among them, few varieties inspire collectors quite like Padparadscha.
The Colours Collectors Chase
Padparadscha is one of those rare gemstones whose beauty lies in perfect balance.
Its name comes from the Sinhalese word for the lotus blossom, and the finest examples seem to borrow precisely that colour: neither distinctly pink nor fully orange, but somewhere beautifully in between. Too much pink and it becomes something else. Too much orange and it loses the delicate quality collectors spend years searching for.
Then there are teal sapphires.
They have quietly become favourites in recent years for their romantic meeting of deep ocean blue and rich green, creating a colour that seems to sit somewhere between sea and sky. No two are ever quite alike. Some lean towards forest green, others towards stormy blue, and many shift subtly as the light changes throughout the day.
That unpredictability is part of their charm.
The Sapphire That Changes With the Light
Some sapphires perform a quiet little trick.
Move them from cool daylight into warm evening light and the colour shifts.
Playing with light
A serene blue may become violet. Greyish blue can deepen towards wine-like reds or soft purples. It feels almost theatrical, as though the gemstone is responding to the room around it rather than simply reflecting it.
The stronger and rarer the colour change, the more unusual the sapphire becomes.
It is one of those details that photographs struggle to capture. You only truly appreciate it when the gemstone is in your hand.
Why Jewellers Love Sapphire
There is another reason sapphire appears so often in engagement rings and everyday jewellery.
It is remarkably resilient.
Can you spot the strong color zoning in this pink sapphire?
Alongside its fiery sister ruby, sapphire ranks 9 on the Mohs hardness scale, making it the hardest non-diamond gemstone commonly used in jewellery. Yet hardness tells only part of the story.
Unlike many gemstones, sapphire has no cleavage plane—a natural weakness along which a crystal is more likely to split. That means it generally handles accidental knocks better than many other precious gems, making it particularly well suited to pieces designed for daily wear.
For jewellers, that balance matters enormously.
A gemstone has to do more than look beautiful beneath display lights. It has to survive years of opening doors, travelling, celebrating milestones and becoming part of someone’s everyday life.
Sapphire manages both with remarkable ease.
The Many Lives of a Sapphire
No two sapphires tell quite the same story.
Some carry velvety Royal Blue so deep it seems almost endless. Others glow with soft cornflower hues, while bi-coloured sapphires reveal two worlds within a single crystal, as though nature paused halfway through painting them.
Rainbow on her finger
At Calla Lily, that individuality is often where the design begins. Rather than asking a gemstone to fit a predetermined idea, we prefer to understand what already makes it distinctive: a hint of violet beneath the blue, an unexpected teal flash or a colour that transforms as daylight fades into evening.
The most memorable pieces rarely rely on perfection alone. They begin with character.
The Longer You Look
Perhaps that explains why sapphire has remained so enduring.
Gemstones or gummies?
Visit us to peruse our sapphire collection!
Across centuries it has been imagined as the colour of the heavens, carried as a talisman, treasured by royalty and chosen by jewellers who understand how much personality can exist within a single gemstone.
Some announce themselves immediately with velvety Royal Blue.
Others keep their secrets a little longer.
And perhaps that is the real pleasure of sapphire.
