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Colored Gemstone
Hot Color
Over time, different colored gemstones rise and fall in popularity. Currently, sapphires — especially blue and yellow — lead the pack, with spinel and tourmaline close behind. We’ve asked a few dealers to share their insights on their top-selling stones right now.
By Brook Showell
Sapphires are by far the number one best seller, whether they’re 4-carat or 5-carat unheated, or half-carat melee. Blue sapphires are front and foremost; they’re the more traditional choice. Ceylon with cornflower blue overtones is the most popular color; it’s
the most vibrant. Consumers are also partial to ice pink sapphires because they mimic
pink diamonds.
Moonstone is a niche we’ve developed and cultivated, and it’s worked out well for us.
It’s attractive to those who already have diamond, ruby and emerald and are looking for something more unusual. But it’s easier to find an internally flawless diamond than a
50-carat African moonstone — there is very little African or Indian moonstone coming
out of the ground.
Green and blue tourmalines are received well by retailers. Tourmaline comes in almost as many colors as sapphire. It’s available in slices or beautiful long crystals and you can have so many different varieties, colors and forms.
Garnets are popular for their price advantages. A magnificent large garnet can be made into a sizable piece of jewelry without taking a large chunk out of your budget. The price for stones larger than 10 carats to 12 carats has doubled or tripled in the past three to four years.
Blue sapphire in medium to stronger colors is popular. Sizes that consistently sell are in the 1-carat to 4-carat range; sizes larger than 10 carats or 12 carats are also strong, but those have become extremely expensive. We buy blue sapphire from Sri Lanka or Madagascar. The Madagascar material is much more consistent and available; even Sri Lankan cutters are buying Madagascar stones and cutting them.
Pink sapphire is in demand in medium to stronger colors. A couple of years ago, the lighter pastel colors were popular for us — there was a time when we were selling more pinks than blues. It’s a beautiful stone. Heated sapphires are selling better than natural sapphires because they’re more affordable.
Aquamarine has been consistently popular. It’s probably one of the more consistent reorder products that we get because it is affordable.
Blue sapphire All colors of sapphire are in demand, but blues, from Sri Lanka and Thailand, are always consistent. Cushion cuts have remained very popular. On the whole,
I sell more blue sapphire for rings than anything else. Because of Kate Middleton’s blue sapphire engagement ring, a lot of women are choosing the stone for their rings.
Fancy sapphire has had a huge resurgence. The pastel shades in particular are in demand — light yellow, light pink and pastel purple and green. They go with everything, making them easy for daily wear, and they work well as alternative bridal choices. With the economy, a lot of women who can’t afford a big diamond realize they can get more size for their money and the same brilliance with a sapphire.
Spinel is crazy hot, in both red and fancy colors. The durability of the stone — it’s a 9 on the hardness scale — lets it work as cufflinks and as a great men’s ring; my dad has spinel in his wedding ring.
Unheated yellow sapphire is our number-one stone. As with all sapphires, prices have gone up a bit in the past year or two, but the yellows are still undervalued and you can get a pretty-good-sized natural stone for not too much money, relative to the other colors. Colors range from very pale to the deepest golden. In the U.S., the lighter colors — lemon yellow or light lemon — are the most popular because they can look a lot like diamonds, depending on the cut. There’s a huge demand worldwide for yellow sapphire, especially in India, because of its astrological association with wealth and prosperity.
Star sapphires come in a variety of different colors. Everyone knows what a star sapphire is, so there’s very little educating a jeweler has to do with the customer. In the past ten years, star sapphires have become very rare; it’s very difficult to get rough star sapphires that have not been heated to traditional blue sapphire. Cutting star sapphire is always a gamble; you never know how it’s going to lay out. Fine blue star sapphires are one of the great treasures — their prices have more than doubled.
Spinel is also popular for us. The most popular color of spinel by far is red — red Burmese and Tanzanian are the main ones. In the past five years, the price for red stones has become very strong. If you’re looking for a ruby, it’s going to be expensive. On the other hand, spinel is very similar in appearance — it is chemically similar to ruby— and, most of the time, more beautiful, in addition to being considerably less expensive. Spinel is available in light colors, too, including pastels and grays. There’s huge demand for gray in lighter, brighter shades, a “platinum spinel.”
Blue sapphires are the most sought after and they come from either Madagascar or
Sri Lanka. In the high-end stones, there’s a lot of demand and not a lot of supply. High-end Kashmir sapphire stones have gone up 400 percent in price in five years.
Yellow sapphire has become very fashionable because it is a more affordable option to a yellow diamond and the color is almost identical. Some consider yellow sapphire a healing stone that helps eliminate impurities from the body.
Pink sapphire from Madagascar and Sri Lanka had a great momentum for a couple of years, but its popularity has fallen in the past year and a half. Some people like a lighter pink sapphire that mimics pink diamond; others prefer very vivid pink.
Ruby is very popular in China. There’s still a commercial quality of ruby seen in the market, mostly from Thailand, Madagascar, Tanzania and Mozambique. High-end Burmese rubies, 3 carats and above, have gone up 200 percent to 300 percent in price.
Pink tourmaline and rubellite tourmaline are selling through the roof. Part of those sales are to the domestic market in China; they’re buying pink colors like crazy. In China, they love the color red, which attracts buyers to rubellite, or even pink tourmaline from Brazil and Madagascar. Article from the Rapaport Magazine - December 2012. To subscribe click here.
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