Sapphire Price and Quality Guide (Colour, Clarity & More!)

Why are some Sapphires worth millions of dollars, yet others less than $100?

That is exactly what I am going to break down in this guide by looking at all the factors that impact the price of the beautiful gemstones.

Sapphire Price Factors

Sapphire prices can vary massively from less than $20/carat to over $100,000/carat due to the large number of factors that affect the price of a Sapphire, including:

Colour
Clarity
Style of Cut & Cut Quality
Weight

The origin of the stone
Whether it has been treated
Whether it is natural or synthetic
If the stone comes with a lab report

This makes pricing Sapphires quite challenging, which is why this is done on a stone-by-stone basis by people who understand the Sapphire market and makes it nearly impossible to give any kind of guide to Sapphire prices online.

Let’s take a look at these factors in a bit more detail:

Colour

Let’s start with something that many people would argue is the most important quality factor, which is colour and when we are talking about colour in Sapphires, there are two different things to consider:

1: The Different Colours of Sapphire

The first is the actual colour of the stone and as you can see from the picture above, Sapphires come in a range of different colours (and sometimes colourless).

And when it comes to value, some colours are worth a lot more than others:

Blue Sapphires are the most valuable
Then it is Padparadscha Sapphires
Followed by Pink and Purple Sapphires
Then Green and Yellow Sapphires
With colourless Sapphires being the least valuable

This mainly applies to Western markets but in some markets, Green and Yellow Sapphires are much more in demand than Pink or Purple stones.

Colour Terminology

Blue Sapphires are generally just referred to as Sapphires, with other colours being referred to as Fancy Colour Sapphires.

2: Quality of the Colour

The second part is the quality of the colour as this has a big impact on the value of a Sapphire and applies to all body colours and when assessing the colour of a Sapphire, we look at three main factors:

Hue – this is the main body colour of the stone and ideally, the stone will possess a single colour (with Padparadscha & Parti Sapphires being the exception) but many stones will have secondary hues that make the stone less desireable
Tone – this is how light or dark the stone is and ideally stones should fall somewhere in the middle of the scale
Saturation – this is the intensity of the colour, with the finest stones having a vivid saturation that gives them that rich, vibrant colour

Colour distribution is also something that is considered, as the colour should be evenly distributed across the stone.

The image above demonstrates this perfectly as:

The stone on the left is very dark and appears black when looking down through the top of the stone, it also has an opaque appearance (no light passing through the stone)
The middle stone has good clarity and transparency but the stone is a pale blue colour, it is a much better quality stone than the one the left but still not the most desirable.
The final stone is a fine gem quality Sapphire, it has good clarity and transparency but also possesses a very desirable deep, rich blue colour.

One thing that can be quite commonly found in Sapphires is angular colour zoning as can be seen in one of my rings.

Colour zoning is bands of colour that range from blue to colourless in Blue Sapphires, these are visible in the stone and may only be visible from certain angles, depending on how they have been cut.

These are not as desirable as Sapphires that have an even colour distribution but it is an indication that the stone is natural and it does add character.

Clarity

Clarity is another important quality factor when it comes to a Sapphire’s price and when assessing the clarity of a stone, we look at a number of things, including:

Visibility – how easy/difficult is it to spot the inclusions and this is where you will hear terms like:
Eye Clean – meaning the inclusions are difficult to see with the naked eye
Loupe Clean – meaning that inclusions are difficult to spot with a 10x loupe
Nature – this is the type of inclusions, for example, a large fracture has a bigger impact than a small crystal inclusion
Transparency – is the stone transparent, translucent or opaque?

And while very clean stones are the most desirable, having inclusions in a Sapphire can be helpful as it allows gemmologists to identify if the stone has been treated or not and potentially the origin of the stone.

The Exception – Star Sapphires

On paper, these stones are not very appealing as they are heavily included and opaque stones but they show a phenomenon known as asterism, which you can clearly see in the GIA picture.

The Asterism is caused by lots of rutile needles within the stone that follow the growth structure of the natural crystal and when the stone is cut properly, the light reflects off these inclusions to cause the appearance of the star.

Star Sapphires with good colour, especially blue stones, are very desirable amongst collectors.

Sapphires Are NOT Clarity Graded

Unlike Diamonds, Sapphires are not clarity graded by gemmologists or gem labs, so be aware of anyone selling a Sapphire who is using Diamond clarity grades such as SI or VVS to describe the clarity of a Sapphire.

Cut

The next quality factor is cut and just like colour, this is broken down into two parts, which are the style of the cut and the quality of cut.

Style of Cut

The style of cut isn’t a quality factor but it can impact the price of a stone as some styles of cut are more popular and desirable than others and that is why you will find that larger stones are usually cut in one of the following 4 styles:

There are a few reasons why these are the most popular styles of cut:

They help to bring the best colour out of the stone
They are timeless and rarely go out of fashion
Produce the best yield from rough crystals

In smaller stones, you can also find square and baguette cuts but they aren’t commonly found in stones weighing more than 1ct.

They are also cut into other shapes such as Marquise, Heart and Triangle/Trillion but they aren’t common styles of cut.

Quality of Cut

Not all Sapphires are cut to the same quality, this usually isn’t an issue with more expensive Sapphires as the cutter takes more time to make sure the stone is cut and polished to a high standard as the stone will be worth more as a result.

But this can be an issue with lower-quality Sapphires and can result in:

Poor proportions such as the crown or pavilion being too deep or shallow
Facets not being aligned properly
Table being off-centre
Wonky girdle

This can make the gem not look as good as it could if it had been cut properly and it also makes setting the stone into a piece of jewellery more challenging for the setter.

Carat Weight

The weight of the stone does have an impact on the price as most Sapphires are sold on a price per carat basis.

And as larger stones with good colour and clarity are rarer, they will have a higher price per carat than a smaller stone of the same quality and you will also see significant jumps in the price per carat in stones that are above certain weight thresholds (I can’t think of a better word), such as:

1 Carat
2 Carat
5 Carat
10 Carat

This is because being above these weights not only makes them rarer but also more desirable, as many customers would prefer to have a 2.01ct stone than a 1.98ct, even though there will be no visible difference in size.

Treatments

Whether or not a Sapphire has been treated or not plays a big factor in the stone’s value.

This is because Sapphires with good colour and clarity are very rare in nature and there is nowhere near enough of these stones to satisfy the demand for them, which is why they attract a premium.

It is estimated that over 90% of Sapphires for sale at any one time have been treated in one way or another and there are a number of different ways that Sapphires can be treated, all of which have an impact on the value of the stone, these include:

Heat Treatment

A Selection of Heat Treated Blue Sapphires

By far the most common treatment method is heat treatment, the outcome of heat treatment depends on the stone but results can include:

Making stones lighter or darker
Altering the colour slightly
Removing undesirable hues or colour zoning
Improving clarity

Heat treatment replicates what happens to stones in nature and the results are permanent.

It is an industry-accepted treatment and is rarely disclosed, as it is assumed (especially for Blue Sapphires) that the stone has been heat-treated.

Sellers will explicitly state if a Sapphire hasn’t been heat-treated but should always have a report from a reputable lab to confirm this.

Heat-Treated Sapphires sell for less than their untreated counterparts and as the majority of Sapphires on the market have been heat-treated, a lot of pricing is based around heat-treated stones

Heat Treatment + Flux

A modification of the traditional heat treatment is to add a flux (usually borax) to the process.

The result of this treatment is that can help to partially ‘heal’ surface-reaching fractures by melting and recrystallizing the surface of the fracture, which makes them less noticeable.

As with standard heat treatment, the results are permanent but it should always be disclosed.

Heat + Flux Sapphires – these sell for less than Sapphires that have just been heat-treated due to the additional treatment that has taken place

Diffusion Treatment

A treatment that is becoming more common is diffusion, this is where they heat the Sapphire to a very high temperature in the presence of either Titanium or Beryllium to alter the colour of the stone:

Titanium Diffusion is used to give paler Blue Sapphires a deeper and more attractive colour, the problem is that it generally only penetrates a fraction of a millimeter into the stone and can easily be removed if a stone is repolished
Beryllium diffusion penetrates a lot deeper into the stone and is more difficult to identify. Originally used to turn Pink Sapphires into more desirable Padparadscha coloured stones, Beryllium diffusion has been found in all colours of Sapphire

Full disclosure is required for all diffusion-treated Sapphires.

Diffusion-Treated Sapphires sell for less than stones that have just been heat-treated

Glass Filling

Glass-filling is done to very low-quality material with the goal of filling the fractures with lead-glass (which has a similar RI to Sapphire), which reduces the appearance of fractures, making them more attractive to look at.

The process of glass-filling involves heating the stone in the presence of lead-glass powder, which melts and fills the fractures.

Glass filling isn’t a permanent treatment and can easily be removed from the stone (such as being exposed to the heat of a jeweller’s flame) and should always be disclosed.

Glass-filled Sapphires sell for less than $50/carat as they are very low-quality, in some cases they are more glass than Sapphire and should be avoided

Treated and Synthetic Blue Sapphires — Heavily Treated and Synthetic Blue Sapphire

Origin

Where a Sapphire comes from does have an impact on the price as some countries of origin are much more desirable than others, with some of the most desirable being:

Kashmir – the source of some of the finest and most desirable Blue Sapphires in the world, even though they haven’t been commercially mined in the area for over 100 years
Myanmar (Burma) – while famous for producing the best Rubies, it is also a very important location for high-quality Blue Sapphires, with many believing that the best examples are second only to Kashmir
Sri Lanka – one of the largest and most important locations for Sapphires of all colours, especially Blue (known as Ceylon Sapphires) and Padparadscha. Sri Lanka has also produced some of the largest Blue Sapphires ever found
Madagascar – a major source of Sapphires of all colours since the discovery of deposits in the 1990s
Tanzania – while best known for Tanzanite, Tanzania is also an important source of fancy colour Sapphires
Australia – another historically large producer of Sapphires, known for very dark blue and parti-coloured Sapphires, which has made it an important source in recent years due to the rise in popularity of parti-coloured Sapphires
Montana, USA – known for its “Yogo” Sapphires that possess a bright blue to teal colour, which have become popular in recent years
Thailand – important for two reasons, not only has it been an important source, especially of Blue Sapphires for over 100 years but it is an important cutting and trading centre, with a large percentage of the world’s Sapphire passing through the famous gem markets

Sapphires are found in many other countries but these are the most important locations, with the majority of the world’s Sapphires coming from these locations.

Natural vs Synthetic (Lab-Grown) Sapphires

Different colour synthetic sapphires — A selection of synthetic Sapphires of all colours

The nature of a Sapphire has a HUGE impact on the value as there is a huge price disparity between natural and synthetic Sapphires (not including glass-filled ones!).

For example, the synthetic Sapphire in the image above can be bought for less than $10/carat but a natural of the same size and quality would easily be over $1000/carat and could be over $10,000/carat if it hasn’t been treated.

If the stone is being sold as a Sapphire, then it is assumed that the stone is natural as all synthetic stones state that is synthetic, man-made or lab-created so that you as the buyer know that it isn’t a natural Sapphire.

Lab Reports

Lab Reports are an important document but not every Sapphire will be sold with a report as unlike Diamond reports, they don’t give any information about the quality of the stone but they do include some very useful information, which can include:

The stone, size, weight etc
The identity of the stone
Whether the stone is natural or synthetic
If the stone has been treated or not
The origin of the stone (it is not possible to do this on some stones)

And a report from a reputable gem lab, such as the GIA, Gubelin, SSEF, IGI or Anchorcert is essential if the seller is claiming that the Sapphire is untreated and from a specific location.

Reputable Gem Labs ONLY Produce Reports

And they explicitly state this on the document/card that accompanies the stone, if the document or card says ‘certificate’ or ‘certificate of authenticity’, run away from it as fast as you can as the stone might not even be a Sapphire.

Sapphire Gemstone FAQ

Yes, as Sapphires are very durable gemstones, they are ideal for everyday wear and a great option for rings but they still need to be treated with care as they aren’t indestructible.

Kashmir Blue Sapphires are the most expensive. Other shades of blue including Cornflower, Royal and Velvet are also very expensive. Outside of blue, the pinkish-orange colour of Padparadscha is also very rare and expensive.

The rarest colour of Sapphire is called Padparadscha, which ranges from pinkish-orange to orangish-pink colour and is only found in small quantities.

Yes, Sapphires are rarer than Diamonds, this is especially the case for fine gem-quality Sapphires.

Conclusion

I know that this is a bit of a long guide but I wanted to provide you with as much information as possible so that you can buy the perfect Sapphire for yourself or the person you plan on giving it to.

And by educating yourself around Sapphires, you can make a more informed buying decision that will hopefully result in you getting the perfect stone and not overpaying for it.