What Color Are Your Sapphires?

The word “sapphire” makes most of us think of a beautiful deep blue gemstone. After all the word sapphire, in Greek, means blue. What you may not know is that sapphires come in almost every color. The one color they don’t come in is red.

Sapphires are also among the hardest of gemstones. In fact, the only natural item that can scratch a sapphire is a diamond. This durability makes sapphires a great choice for less traditional engagement rings as well as jewelry items intended for every day wear.

A number of celebrities received sapphire engagements rings, the most famous of which was given to Lady Diana by Prince Charles in 1981. That ring consists of a 12 carat oval cut blue sapphire center stone surrounded by 14 solitaire diamonds. It’s now being worn by Kate Middleton, The Duchess of Cambridge. Emma Slater from Dancing With The Stars wears a gorgeous 4 carat pink, dusky rose colored sapphire, while Jenny McCarthy’s engagement ring features a beautiful 10 carat yellow sapphire.

But wait a minute. Why are there no red sapphires? That’s because the sapphire is a variety of corundum, which also happens to be what another popular gemstone is made from, namely the ruby.

Fun Fact: The base Apple Watch Series 3 comes with the same ion-strengthened glass that the iPhones use. The pricier Edition model has sapphire crystal instead, which is harder and more scratch resistant.

Click here to browse our collection of sapphire jewelry.