Colored Gemstones

To satisfy our love for color in our jewelry, nature produces an abundance of magnificent colored gemstones. Many of these gorgeous stones are used in creating fine jewelry, including the three most popular: ruby, emerald and sapphire.

Color is the primary characteristic used to determine the quality of a colored gemstone, though clarity, brilliance and fire are all important to the stone's beauty and value.

Gemologists divide color in a gemstone into three parts: hue, tone and intensity. Modern textbooks and many jewelers now substitute the word saturation for intensity. Many gemstones are enhanced, or treated, to improve their color to the naked eye. Some of these treatments are permanent and undetectable, while others can be identified and may cause the color of the gem to change over time. Such enhancements must always be disclosed to the customer so that he or she can make an informed buying decision.

As an example of how gemologists evaluate color, look at the September birthstone, sapphire. In its blue variety (sapphire forms in nature in all colors but red), sapphire varies from pale watery gray-blue to deep greenish-blackish-blue, and all shades of blue in between. Sapphire can be extremely common and inexpensive, or rare and pricey, as with certain pure "electric" blue colors of sapphire or the very soft and extremely rare deep cornflower blue Kashmir stones. Diamonds Direct Southpark procures sapphires from many sources in a variety of ranges of price, rarity and beauty.