Saphiret is an early glass made in Czechoslovakia during the mid 19th century and was used in jewelry making. The glass was made by adding real gold to sapphire colored molten glass. This created an amazing color combination. The base color ranged from a mocha or pinkish brown to a brick red color, but the amazing part is when light strikes the stone, the glass reflects the light as a soft blue glow.  The stone is opaque to semi-opaque.

    At the turn of the century when gold increased in value, it was not cost effective to continue production of the stone, so the production of saphiret glass was halted (which made it rare). Most of the pieces you find with the older antique saphiret glass are Victorian/Edwardian pieces. Later around the vintage era of jewelry making, Germany produced saphiret glass. I have found no written evidence of when the stones were produced in Germany, but one of the pieces below has Aurora Borealis rhinestones. That dates it to 1955 or after since Aurora Borealis was not used in jewelry until then. Also dating the later German saphiret was that it was used by some of the vintage era jewelry designers such as Florenza, Kramer, Regency, Weiss, and Whiting & Davis. In the photos below the first set is signed Regency.

    Saphiret stones in the vintage jewelry range from cabochons to faceted stones. Many have less gold which makes them bluer. There are some with a washed out appearance, but still have the mocha and blue. The antique saphiret has a much older look to it and you see mostly cabochons, but occasionally a faceted stone. See the antique piece in the photo below. Because of a lack of written evidence, there is a lot of controversy about this stone. I agree that stones could be harvested from old antique settings and used in the vintage pieces, but if that were the case, the stones would have an older appearance and more worn, not a shiny and glossy surface. I have never seen a washed out stone or a stone with a very shiny surface in an antique setting.

    If you've ever seen the stone, you won't forget what it looks like. It is just breath taking and it will tempt you into becoming a collector. One thing is for sure, there are a lot more saphiret collectors than there is saphiret. So the pieces usually bring a premium price.

    If you have ever tried to photograph saphiret then you know how difficult it can be. I am a photographer by trade and I have been photographing ebay photos since 1998 and I must say that this stone is the most difficult thing I have ever photographed. In the first set of photos below, there is an example of the same stone reflecting different lighting.

This beautiful set is signed Regency.

Here I have demonstrated how the stone reflects the different lighting.

The photo on the left was taken in front of a glass window. The window was at the top of the photo (see the shadow?), but the stone has the blue reflection at the bottom. In the photo on the right I placed the necklace in a light tent. Light tents defuse light and soften shadows. You can see how the stone reflects all of the bright light tent. Pretty amazing isn't it?

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This is an antique Saphiret stone. It has more mocha color than blue, indicating more gold was added to the glass. Because of wear, the surface is no longer shiny which makes it much easier to photograph.

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This is a pretty little pin with a Saphiret cabochon. Different angles of the lighting gives more blue and less mocha.

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This stunning unsigned set is accented with a large amount of blue/purple Aurora Borealis rhinestones. Since Aurora Borealis stones were not used in jewelry until 1955, that dates this as a vintage set. These saphiret stones are more semi-opaque. This set was very difficult to photograph as well.

I hope my discription and photos have helped you to identify the stone. You will see many auctions that confuse the stone with many other stones. One stone that is mistakenly labeled as Saphiret is Dragon's Breath (and vice-versa). I have also written a guide on Dragon's Breath stones. Please feel free to view it as well.

(But please, after you vote for this guide)

Will the real Dragon's Breath stone please stand up!

Thanks, Mary

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I hope you learned something from my guide, if so, PLEASE vote YES below. Thanks!