SAPPHIRE BUYING GUIDE

Colour in sapphires is broken into hue, saturation and tone with the greatest value being in hues with vivid saturation and medium tone. Certain hues will command a higher price than others.

There is no official clarity grading system for sapphires. It is the presence of rutile needles containing elements that give sapphire its colour, so the presence of inclusions within a sapphire is expected. However the inclusions will normally be masked by the colour in the stone and as long as there are no noticeable inclusions to the eye it will not affect the value.

Sapphires are cut to maximise their colour. For this reason there can be a lot of variation in cut proportions for sapphires. The cut doesn’t affect the value of a sapphire to the same extent that colour and carat weight do.

The higher the carat weight the more valuable the sapphire. Sapphires above 2 carat are exponentially more rare and more valuable. The spread (or face up size) of a sapphire can vary greatly between sapphires of similar carat weights and shapes.

The majority of natural sapphires will have received heat treatment, which is the accepted industry standard. Heat treatment is essentially a continuation of the heating that occurs inside the earth's mantle via volcanic heat releasing colour into the crystal.

Another major factor that will play a big role in the value of a sapphire is the commercial demand. There are famous sapphires such as Royal Blue Sapphires and Pigeon Blood Ruby which will command a higher price than more niche colours or regions such as Australian parti sapphires or Nigerian teal sapphires. This will play a bigger role in pricing than whether the sapphire is heated or unheated in the larger sizes.