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By Benji, Content ManagerThe term, sapphires, almost immediately brings up images of stunning blue stones, but the truth is, sapphires are found in a number of colors including yellow. In fact, yellow sapphires are often compared to yellow diamonds, one of the most popular types of fancy color diamonds. Let us take a look at these fascinating stones and what sets them apart from their blue counterparts as well as their diamond rivals.
A rough yellow Sapphire, before polishing - Courtesy of wikipedia | Sapphires
Value-Determining Properties
Like diamonds, yellow sapphires are assessed based on the 4 Cs; color, cut, clarity, and carat, and like color diamonds, yellow sapphires are mainly graded based on their color. All sapphires are a variety of the mineral corundum. Most sapphires are blue, but other colors including yellow, pink, white, green, orange, and purple exist. There are red sapphires too, but they are better known as rubies. While the presence of iron is the main cause for the blue coloring in blue sapphires, titanium is the leading cause for yellow sapphires, similar to the way in which nitrogen provides the yellow hue in fancy color yellow diamonds.
Leibish Sapphire Jewelry
Yellow sapphires, like all sapphires, rank 9 on the Mohs scale of hardness, putting these delightful stones right behind the diamond, “the hardest natural substance known to man,” which ranks 10 on the scale. This quality makes cutting sapphires less of a risk. A stone with a good cut will cost slightly more, however, this is much less significant than the impact a sapphire's color and carat size can have on its value. The clarity of a yellow sapphire is also important, but unless it is a serious flaw, the positive aspects, such as a phenomenal color and stone size, can outweigh any downside of the sapphire.
Yellow Sapphire Sources
Sapphires have been found in locations around the globe including Eastern Australia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, China, Madagascar, East Africa, and North America.
Famous Yellow Sapphires
Though several famous blue sapphires are known worldwide, yellow sapphires are less common, less popular, and therefore are not as famous as some other sapphires, diamonds, and additional stones.
Sapphires are stunning stones. Yellow sapphires are a terrific alternative to yellow diamonds if diamonds aren't your thing or if they aren't in your budget and you desire beautiful yellow stones. Yellow emeralds, yellow rubies, yellow alexandrite, yellow tanzanite, and yellow tourmaline are terrific options as well.
