That makes sapphire a hard and durable gemstone, which most jewelers recommend as an alternative to diamonds. Traditionally, sapphire represents faithfulness to a soul mate. The gemstone has been associated with royalty and nobility too, and one can find examples of it from the ancient Roman and Greek rulers who wore sapphire jewelry to protect themselves from bad things and to bring good fortune. A more recent example of gifting the gemstone to symbolize a special bond can be that of American actor Franchot Tone. In the year 1930, he gifted a seventy-carat star sapphire engagement ring to Joan Crawford, who was also a movie star in Hollywood. A star sapphire is one that displays a mysterious optical reflectance effect called “asterism”. When light hits the gemstone, it exhibits refracted light flaring out in different directions giving the impression of a shining star. So if you want to go unique with your engagement ring, consider standard or star sapphire as an alternative to the diamond ring to make her feel special.