The Most Valuable Blue GemStone - Sapphire

Sapphires are a stunning blue gem that is desirable due to its excellent colour, durability and lustre. The deep, dark blue colour of a sapphire is one of the most instantly recognisable on earth.

The sapphire gemstone’s reputation as a highly beautiful and lustrous gem has made it a popular wedding and engagement ring stone. Sapphire engagement rings have a history of royalty. The most famous sapphire engagement rings in the world belong to Kate Middleton and Princess Diana.

A sapphire gemstone’s blue colour comes from the family of minerals called corundum. Despite being renowned for its dark blue colour, sapphires can be found in a variety of shades, except for pure red. From pinks, purples, greens and oranges, sapphire gemstones cover an array of colours.

Sapphire Gemstone Evaluation

The traditional way of assessing a gemstone is through the 4 C’s: colour, clarity, cut and carat weight.

Colour

Colour is the most important factor in determining the value of a sapphire gemstone. The rich, vibrant blue of a sapphire’s colour grading can be broken down into the hue, tone, and saturation.

A traditional sapphire’s hue is blue. Its tone describes the depth of the blue colour. A sapphire should have a deep, but not too dark, vivid royal blue hue and tone. Saturation determines the evenness of the hue and tone elements. If light spots occur in the stone, or its tone gets too dark or fades, the saturation would be uneven and the colour grading and value of the stone would decrease.

Clarity

All gemstones have some imperfections such as inclusions and blemishes. However, sapphires do have better clarity than rubies. Generally, any inclusions can make a stone less valuable.

Inclusions commonly found in sapphires include long, thin mineral inclusions called needles. Other typical surface marks that can affect the gem’s clarity grading are colour zoning, colour banding and partially healed breaks that look like finger prints.

Cut

The rough shape that a sapphire crystal is found in can highly influence how it's cut and polished. Because rough sapphire crystals are often a barrel or spindle-shaped pyramid, the stone itself tends to have a deep cut.

Sapphire gemstones are often cut with a brilliant pattern on the crown (top half) of the stone, and a step cut pattern on the pavilion (bottom half). A polished sapphire typically appears as a cushion cut stone.

Carat Weight

Sapphire stones can be found in a variety of sizes and carat weights. A gemstone can be anywhere between a few points to hundreds of carats. Large sapphire gemstones are more readily available than large rubies.

Most commercial-quality sapphires weigh less than 5.00 carats. However, larger commercial-quality stones are more common than fine-quality gems. For instance, a fine-quality 5.00-carat blue sapphire sells 5 more times per carat than a 1.00 stone. But a commercial-quality 5.00 carat stone sells for only roughly twice as much compared to a 1.0 carat stone of the same quality.

Browse Our Impressive Selection Of Sapphire Gemstones

Explore the stunning range of sapphire engagement rings, wedding rings, earrings and more at GemTrove. Our carefully curated collection of luxury jewellery is available online or instore. Find the perfect sapphire engagement ring, pendant or earring to spoil your loved one.

To learn more about the characteristics of sapphires, purchasing tips or custom designs talk to one of our jewellery experts today. Our staff will help assist you in your journey with sterling gemstones and jewellery.

See our selection of sapphire jewellery online.