Should Pink Sapphires be considered Sapphires or Rubies? (support, scientific)

[Pink Jazz]

Since this thread is more about the scientific/geological aspects of gemstones, I personally think it belongs in this forum rather than the Fashion & Beauty forum.

As some people should know, Sapphires and Rubies are varieties of the same mineral Corundum, with Ruby referring to the red varieties and Sapphire referring to all other colors. However, starting in the 20th century in the United States, the pink variety of Corundum is now referred to as Pink Sapphire, rather than Pink Ruby. Some other countries still refer to pink Corundum as Pink Ruby.

Both Ruby and Pink Sapphire are colored by the same impurity, Chromium, with Ruby containing a larger amount of it to produce the darker red hue.

So, doe anyone think Pink Sapphires should be considered Sapphires, or should they be considered Rubies? I personally think they should be considered Rubies.

[Charles22]

There are reasons to support both positions. Basically, if it's not a ruby it should be called a sapphire. That's how I would decide.

[Pink Jazz]

Originally Posted by Charles22

There are reasons to support both positions. Basically, if it's not a ruby it should be called a sapphire. That's how I would decide.

I know with the Beryl family (such as Emerald and Aquamarine), all colors (including pink) have their own name. However, in the Beryl family, even though both Morganite (pink Beryl) and Red Beryl are colored by the same impurity (Manganese), Morganite stones are usually clean (being considered Type I stones, as with most varieties of Beryl except Emerald), while the much rarer Red Beryl is usually heavily included like Emerald (being considered Type III stones). For this reason (along with its rarity), some refer to Red Beryl as Red Emerald.

Rubies and Pink Sapphires, on the other hand, generally contain similar amounts of inclusions (both being Type II stones, which are more included than Type I but less included than Type III).