Burma & Sri Lanka Jewel Rings

Burma is famed for producing some of the finest rubies and sapphires in the world. Sri Lanka is the most historically famous source of sapphires, and was colloquially known as ‘Ratna Dweepa’, or the ‘Island of Gems’. The unmistakable colour of a defined Burmese ‘pigeon blood’ red ruby is a natural phenomenon. But, equally astonishing, is the rich saturated pure blue, and vivid pink, colour of a Burmese sapphire. The fine rutile silk-like inclusions are what produce the captivating lucent colour of a true Burmese gemstone. The term ‘cornflower’ blue is a shade of sapphire most commonly associated with the oldest known source of sapphires: Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has been a source of many varieties of precious and semi-precious stones for millennia, and it’s these cornflower blue sapphires that are their most treasured. Sri Lanka is also the most famous historic source of yellow and pink sapphires too. Unknown to most, sapphires come in a huge range of colours; blue, pink, green, yellow, orange, purple, colourless and even black.

Myanmar (formerly Burma), in Southeast Asian, has several important locations that produce sapphires and rubies. The most preeminent is the Mogok Stone Tract (Upper Burma), which has a proclaimed history of production dating back several hundred years. However, as mining in these parts of the world become severely restricted; sapphires from Myanmar are becoming even more scarce.