{"title":"Sapphire","description":"\u003cp\u003eSecond-hardest thing on earth, and it decided to be the colour of the sky.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"blue-sapphire-bird-ring-earrings","title":"Sapphire Flight — Blue Sapphire Bird Ring \u0026 Earrings","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSecond-hardest thing on earth, and it decided to be the colour of the sky.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSapphire and ruby are the same mineral. Corundum. A red one is a ruby and every other colour is a sapphire, and the entire distinction is a trace of chromium versus a trace of iron and titanium. One element's difference and four thousand years of separate mythology.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCorundum is 9 on the Mohs scale. Only diamond is harder, and diamond is a long way off at 10 — but nothing else in ordinary life comes near. \u003cstrong\u003eSecond-hardest thing on earth, and it decided to be the colour of the sky.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMedieval clergy noticed. Sapphire became the stone of the ecclesiastical ring — heaven's colour on the hand of somebody who was meant to be pointing at it. Pope Innocent III fixed it in the twelfth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSri Lanka has been supplying them for over two thousand years. Ratnapura — the name means city of gems — sits on gravel beds that Marco Polo wrote about and that men still work in pits by hand, standing in water, sieving.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003cp\u003eBoth pieces here are birds, in silver with gold-plated wings, set with blue sapphire.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI put a ring and earrings together because a bird alone reads as an ornament and a pair reads as a pair — which is different, and better.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe sapphires are natural. Like the overwhelming majority of sapphire sold anywhere in the world, they are heat-treated: standard, permanent, disclosed, and practised since antiquity. Untreated sapphire of good colour exists and is priced for collectors.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e925 sterling silver with gold plating. Made after you order it, up to twenty days.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e£209 at launch, £229 after\u003c\/strong\u003e — for both pieces.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMaterials\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural blue sapphire — heat-treated, as is standard\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBlue accent stones set around each bird\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e925 sterling silver with gold plating\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRing and earrings, sold together\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMade to order, up to 20 days\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWorn for centuries as a stone of safekeeping. Some people feel something. Some don't. If you don't, it is still the second-hardest thing there is, in the colour of the sky.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Asi8","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49038658994346,"sku":"ASI8-SAP-015","price":219.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/files\/p15a.jpg?v=1786491297"},{"product_id":"blue-sapphire-butterfly-necklace-brooch","title":"Sapphire Wing — Blue Sapphire Butterfly Necklace and Brooch","description":"\u003cp\u003eA swallowtail with the wings held open and the lower wing drawn out into a tail. Natural blue sapphires run down the centre of each wing; a green pavé follows the outer edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt fastens two ways — on the chain, or pinned. The scale is deliberate: at 32 mm across it is closer to a small object than to a charm.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eMaterials\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural blue sapphire, 5 × 10 mm and 3 × 6 mm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNano emerald-green accent stones\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eApprox. 32.1 × 25.8 mm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSolid 925 sterling silver with a gold-plated finish\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eMade to order. Plating is a surface finish and it wears with time; the silver beneath it does not.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Asi8","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49045091319978,"sku":null,"price":249.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/files\/34-1.jpg?v=1786612695"},{"product_id":"diffusion-sapphire-jewelry-set","title":"Blue Trace — Diffusion Sapphire Jewellery Set","description":"\u003cp\u003eA small gold figure standing under a bare tree, inside an open oval outlined in blue. The pendant and the earrings tell the same scene twice.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe stones are \u003cstrong\u003ediffusion-treated sapphire\u003c\/strong\u003e. We name the treatment because it matters: colour is driven into the surface of the corundum at high temperature. It is a real sapphire and a genuine, permanent treatment — not a coating — and it is priced as what it is.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat is in the set\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOval pendant necklace\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePair of drop earrings\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003ch3\u003eMaterials\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDiffusion-treated blue sapphire\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClear accent stones\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSolid 925 sterling silver with gold-tone plated details\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eMade to order.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Asi8","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49045092991146,"sku":null,"price":229.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/files\/46-1.jpg?v=1786612741"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/collections\/p15a.jpg?v=1786536633","url":"https:\/\/asieight.com\/collections\/sapphire.oembed","provider":"Asi8","version":"1.0","type":"link"}