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60 free Sapphire trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This sapphire trivia quiz covers the gemstone from every angle. The easy questions handle the basics most people half-know: which mineral it belongs to, where it sits on the Mohs scale, which month claims it as a birthstone and what its red sibling is called. From there it moves into what actually makes a sapphire blue, why some show a six-rayed star, what a padparadscha is and where the finest stones are mined. The harder end is for jewellery lovers, geology students and pub-quiz regulars: the 1964 museum heist that briefly lost the Star of India, the 733-carat black stone a family used as a doorstop, the sapphire in the British Crown Jewels that had to make way for the Cullinan II, the Montana gulch that produced America's finest blues, and the industrial side of the story, from Verneuil's flame-fusion process to the iPhone camera lens. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries for the stone and the famous individual gems before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, our diamond, gemstone and geology quizzes are the natural next stop.
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Q 01Sapphire is a gem variety of which mineral?
Corundum
The same mineral in red is sold as ruby; almost every other colour is called sapphire.
Q 02What score does sapphire earn on the Mohs hardness scale?
9
Only diamond and moissanite are harder, which is why sapphire ends up on watch faces and barcode-scanner windows.
Q 03Gem-quality stones of the same mineral as sapphire, but red, are sold under which name?
Ruby
The red comes from chromium; the two gems are so closely related that some dealers call rubies 'red sapphires'.
Q 04Sapphire is the traditional birthstone for which month?
September
The month's other associations are more modest: its flower is the aster and morning glory.
Q 05Sapphires that are any colour other than blue are known in the trade as what?
Fancy
They turn up in yellow, orange, green, purple and even colourless, though only the blue ones are what most people picture.
Q 06Which two trace elements together produce the classic blue of a sapphire?
Iron and titanium
The blue appears with as little as 0.01 percent of the pair present, whereas a ruby needs at least 1 percent chromium to turn red.
Q 07The name padparadscha comes from Sanskrit words describing the colour of which flower?
Lotus
The name is from padma ranga; natural, untreated stones of this shade are the most valuable of all the fancy sapphires.
Q 08A padparadscha sapphire is prized for which unusual blend of colours?
Pink-orange
The variety was originally found in Sri Lanka, though deposits have since turned up in Vietnam and East Africa.
Q 09The star-like effect seen in a star sapphire is known by what name?
Asterism
The stones are cut as smooth domes rather than facets so the star sits near the top under a single overhead light.
Q 10The needle-like inclusions that create a star sapphire's star are most often which mineral?
Rutile
The same titanium dioxide needles give an untreated stone its 'silk'; heating dissolves them and deepens the blue.
Q 11A typical star sapphire displays a star with how many rays?
Six
Twelve-rayed stars occasionally occur when two different sets of inclusions line up in the same crystal.
Q 12A twelve-rayed star sapphire pairs the usual needle inclusions with platelets of which mineral?
Hematite
The rutile makes a whitish star and the second mineral a golden one; the two overlap to form twelve rays.
Q 13Roughly how much does the famous Star of India star sapphire weigh?
563 carats
It is almost flawless and unusual in showing a star on both sides of the stone.
The Star of India is on display in which institution?
Q 21The Star of Adam, the largest known blue star sapphire, was found in 2015 in which country?
Sri Lanka
At 1,404 carats it dethroned the 733-carat Black Star of Queensland, and its name refers to the belief that Adam settled on Adam's Peak.
Q 22The Sri Lankan sapphire town of Ratnapura is known by which nickname?
City of Gems
The Logan Sapphire, the Star of India and the Star of Adam are all believed to have come from its mines.
Q 23A 733-carat black star sapphire found by a boy in 1938 served his family for ten years as what?
A doorstop
Twelve-year-old Roy Spencer picked it up on a hillside; a Los Angeles jeweller later paid $18,000 for it and cut away 400 carats to reveal the star.
American Museum of Natural History
J. P. Morgan donated it with the rest of a collection assembled for the 1900 Paris Exposition.
Q 15The Star of India was stolen in 1964 by a gang whose best-known member went by which nickname?
Murph the Surf
The thieves climbed in through a bathroom window they had unlocked during opening hours; the gems turned up in a Miami bus locker.
Q 16During the 1964 museum heist, the Star of India was the only gem protected by an alarm. Why did it fail?
Its battery was dead
The stolen stones, valued at over $400,000, also included the DeLong Star Ruby and the Eagle Diamond.
Q 17The 423-carat Logan Sapphire is roughly the size of what?
A large chicken egg
It is set in a brooch with 20 diamonds and is the heaviest mounted gem in the Smithsonian's collection.
Q 18The Logan Sapphire takes its name from what?
The donor's surname from her second marriage
Rebecca Guggenheim gave the stone to the Smithsonian, then married John A. Logan in 1962 and the gem took her new name.
Q 19Which silent-film star bequeathed the 182-carat Star of Bombay to the Smithsonian?
Mary Pickford
The violet-blue stone had been a gift from her husband Douglas Fairbanks and gave a famous gin its name.
Q 20The label of Bombay Sapphire gin carries a portrait of which monarch?
Queen Victoria
The name nods to the gin and tonic of the British Raj; the 'Sapphire' half honours the Star of Bombay.
Q 24Which singer wore the 733-carat Black Star sapphire on television in 1971?
Cher
It appeared on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour while on loan to the Smithsonian; the stone has rarely been seen in public since.
Q 25Which country became the world leader in sapphire production, thanks to the deposits around Ilakaka?
Madagascar
The Ilakaka rush transformed a tiny village into a boomtown in the late 1990s.
Q 26In 1987, which country was the world's largest producer of sapphires?
Australia
The country is still the largest source of parti-coloured sapphires showing two or more colours in one stone.
Q 27Sapphires from which origin command the highest premium in the gem trade?
Kashmir
The deposits produced for only a short period around 1900, and their velvety blue is instantly recognisable to dealers.
Q 28The record auction price per carat for a sapphire, set in October 2015, is roughly how much?
$242,000
The ring sold for more than $6.7 million in total; the stone was, of course, from Kashmir.
Q 29Sapphire has been the official state gem of which Australian state since 1985?
Queensland
The state also gave its name to the famous 733-carat black star stone found there in 1938.
Q 30The prized Yogo sapphires are mined in which US state?
Montana
The state produces more gem-quality sapphires than anywhere else in North America and made the stone a state gem in 1969.