Color Story

Wallace Chan, moonstone, diamond and fancy colored sapphire ring

Sapphire is one of the holy trinity of precious stones. Ruby, sapphire and emerald are the hoard of royalty everywhere. And small wonder. They are rare and beautiful, and difficult to recover.

Say it Like You Know it
The word sapphire conjures up a richly saturated cobalt that draws the eye with a magnetic pull.

All sapphire is corundum. But not all corundum is sapphire. Wait . . . what? True, the mineral corundum has several delightful progeny. It can be discovered completely void of color whatsoever.

white sapphire gemstone

White is Sort of Hot Stuff
And between you and me, I'm sort of loving colorless sapphire, as a classy alternative to white diamonds in important jewelry like wedding rings for example. Reason? Next to diamonds, which are known for their extraordinary bling-bling, sapphires come in a very close second on the dispersion claim. They can shimmer and sparkle like nobody's bidnez. But I digress.

To be correct, sapphire always means the blue stone. Kashmir sapphire is considered the elite of that species. Its silky, velvety cornflower blue tint is rich and saturated; plus there really is no more new Kashmir sapphire being pulled from the high Himalayas these days.

Then There's Color
Sapphire also comes in a wide range of other colors. This rainbow of coloration is due to trace amounts of differing minerals in the corundum mix.

Shades of fancy colored and blue sapphire gemstones

Pretty neat, huh? Those are all various shades of natural sapphire, including the expected cyan variety. Referring to sapphire of any other color than blue, you say fancy colored sapphire. And fancy it is. Any of these vivid tints will amaze and surprise many jewelry lovers that don't actually understand that sapphire can mean a whole lot of hues.

Speak like a Pro

Just remember; the word sapphire is the blue stone. All others are fancy colored sapphire. Indeed.