World Of Sapphire

Color

A sapphire’s color constitutes the most decisive factor when it comes to determining its value. Albeit generally known for their blue color, sapphires appear in a wide range of colors, such as green, orange-yellow and pink. The more intense and uniform a sapphire’s color is, the higher its value.

Clarity

Inclusion free sapphires are very rare. Sapphires do, however, exhibit fewer inclusions than rubbies. As a general principle, inclusions influence the value and price of a stone negatively. There are, however, rare occasions, when imperfections such as inclusions may add value to a precious stone such as a sapphire. This happens when said imperfections allow the stone to uniquely interact with light, without significantly and negatively impacting on its transparency. ‘Star sapphires’’ constitute a characteristic example of such cases.

Cut

How a precious stone will be cut is decisively influenced by factors such as the desire to capture its best possible color, to maintain its best possible analogies and to preserve as much of its raw weight as possible. Sapphires do not escape this rule. Pleochroism, namely a stone’s property of exhibiting different colors when examined under different angles, as well color zoning (uneven color distribution within a stone) both constitute factors which the specialist performing the cut of a sapphire lacks the luxury of ignoring.

Carat

A sapphire’s weight is measured in carats. As is to be expected, the same rule that applies to roughly all other precious stones, applies to sapphires as well: the bigger the stone, the rarer it is and, as a consequence, the higher its value. The vast majority of commercial quality blue sapphires do not exceed five carats in weight.