that's a nice pencil

Vintage bullet pencils. source

Antique silver and citrine. source

Antique silver. source

Early 20th century pencil sharpener - what a job! source

sapphire

 I've just recently purchased this Australian parti sapphire for myself as a late birthday present.  It's an amazing yellow-green with deep teal lines through one side.  It's rather large, and it'll take a bit more time before I can afford the gold to make the ring with but it'll be worth the wait I'm sure. 

I'm thinking something along the lines of this ring I made last year, but different in a way I'm not sure how yet!

Paula's ring, 18ct white gold, parti sapphire and emerald

 

Coincidentally, I'm re-reading 'Buried Treasure - Travels Through the Jewel Box' by Victoria Finlay, which is a favourite book of mine.  Finlay jaunts all over the world in search of the history, folklore and mystery surrounding some of the most well know gemstones.  I'm totally enthralled with this historical knowledge, and the sapphire section doesn't disappoint.

 

Here are a few of her interesting tidbits about sapphires:
- The mineral name for both sapphire and ruby is 'corundum' which is from the Sanskrit 'kuruvindam'.
- Indian scholars knew ruby and sapphires were 'twins' minerally speaking since ancient times, but the Europeans were a little slower on the uptake, only figuring it out in the 18th century.
- A star sapphire is like a hologram - if it is split into pieces and individually cut and polished, each piece will show the same star.

- The issue of heat treatment to deepen colour is a soft spot for most, but it has actually been going on in some respects for thousands of years.  Gems thrown into the fire for a few hours are mentioned in an ancient Indian text.
- A watch with 'jewel movement' actually has tiny ball bearings in its workings made from rubies and sapphires, a technique which was developed by mathematician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier in 1704.

There are too many other stories about the sapphire to mention here, sorry but you'll just have to read the book!

But look out for some other gemstone fun facts to come.