Sapphire is one of the Big three of jewelry colored gemstones—the other two are ruby and emerald. A durable stone that’s designated as a birthstone for September, it captures jewelry buyers with its practicality and aura of romance.

Corundum is the mineral species that includes both sapphire and ruby as varieties. Red corundum is known as ruby and all other colored corundum (including colorless, or white sapphire as it is known in the trade) is sapphire, although blue is the most well-known.

Colors Of Sapphire

Sapphire is generally known as a blue gemstone but surprisingly it comes in a wide range of colors and quality variations. In general, the more intense and uniform the color is, the more valuable the stone.

Sapphires that are not blue are known as fancy sapphires, and may be any color—except red (which is a ruby). The fancy sapphire colors are: pink, orange, yellow, green, purple, and violet. There truly is a different color of sapphire to suit anyone’s taste!

Blue Sapphires

Color has the greatest influence on a sapphire’s value, and preferred sapphires have strong to vivid color saturation. The most valued blue sapphires are velvety blue to violetish blue, in medium to medium-dark tones. Sapphires with these qualities command the highest prices per carat. Less valuable blue sapphires might also be grayish, too light, or too dark.