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Birthstone For September: Sapphire
Sapphire is the gem for September. It is a variety of the corundum species
to which the ruby belongs. Sapphire is usually a blue stone, and the
variety described as "corn flower blue" is the finest. It also occurs in
other colors, white being quite rare, with the star stone the rarest.
These gems occur in Montana and North Carolina, and other parts of the
world.
Sapphire is a six-sided crystal with an adamantine luster, has a hardness
of 9, has no cleavage, and is an oxide of aluminum.
-- by Axel E. Janson
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