Gem of the Sky

Be it transparent grayish blue, sunny yellow or pink, one can hardly miss the splendor of an immaculate sapphire. One even finds mentions of this precious gemstone in the ancient scriptures.

Today, Sapphire, too, is most sought after gemstone. Especially, the world woke up to this gem of the sky after marriage of Kate Middleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince William, now the Duke of Cambridge. When Prince William proposed to Catherine Middleton in the fall of 2010, he gave her a sapphire ring, which earlier belonged to his mother Princess Diana. The ring reportedly consists of 14 solitaire diamonds surrounding a 12-carat oval blue Ceylon sapphire set in 18K white gold. It was created by jeweller Garrard.

This certainly kick-started the trend of sapphire jewellery, especially sapphire engagement rings. This stone is for them who like things little bit different. Sapphires are not only beautiful but also less expensive as compared to diamonds.

In this feature, Kavita Parab is bringing you some exciting new designs of sapphire jewellery, which can be stocked up for the upcoming season.

Sapphire Fancy

The exquisite beauty, magnificent colours, sparkling transparency, constancy and durability of sapphires in its natural form is what makes it ‘Fancy’. The fact that sapphires also come in various colours was for a long time the soul proprietary knowledge of insiders. In the gemstone trade, sapphires which are not blue are referred to as fancies. In order to make it easy to differentiate between them, they are referred to not only by the gemstone name but also by description of their colour. In other words, fancy sapphires are described as purple, pink, green or white sapphires.

- Amit Naheta, Managing Director, Jaipur Jewels

Colour, Cut and Shape Matters

Blue and yellow sapphires are the most sought after type of sapphires. As far as shapes are concerned, Ovals and Cushion cut shapes are the most popular amongst the sapphires. If the sapphire is big then Cushion cut is the most preferable and for smaller sapphires Marquis and Pear shape are most popular. In colours, rich deep blue and for yellow sapphire, yellow to orangey yellow is the most preferable colour. In regards to Cuts, Oval shapes with triangular and kite shaped facets on the gems crown (Top portion) and parallel rectangular facets on the gem's pavilion (Bottom portion) are very common for sapphires.

- Raashi Zaveri, Director, TBZ The Original

Sapphires having a large variety in colour are the most desirable stone in the colour stone category. So when I have to buy a sapphire, I judge it for its colour i.e - What colour it is, along with the fact whether the colour is light or dark (can be due to the cut) , is it enhanced/treated. The preference of colour in different continents is different. For example, in India blue and yellow sapphire is recognised for its astrological importance, Padparadscha Sapphire is the most desirable in America followed by purple, pink and orange colour and In Europe, Kashmir sapphire is the most desirable.

Another factor to take into consideration is the Size. Sometimes a small sapphire with rich colour can cost you much more than a medium colour in big size. Lastly, I judge the sapphire for its clarity.

- Deeta Thakural, Designer, Khushboo Lakhi Signature Jewelery

Is sapphire a good investment?

Rare blue sapphires, as most of rare gems, are concentrated portable wealth. For first-time investors, blue sapphire is arguably the safest, but the most expensive bet. Based on sales from the top auction houses, blue sapphire is the second most popular colour stone for investment. To buy an investment grade blue Sapphire, you have to buy a true valuable rare gem, not a Big Dark Blue Sapphire! Sapphires are tough and durable and should be highly valued if they are beautiful and large enough to be considered rare.

Sapphires have the highest historical value. The rarest sapphires are from Kashmir, but no new material has been mined there in more than 100 years. Next most valuable is Burma sapphire, followed by Ceylon and Madagascar. Fancy colour sapphires - yellow, pink and padpardascha - are now popular with investors as well.

- Aakash Barmecha, CEO, Yoube Jewellery