Fancy sapphire
Fancy sapphire is the name given to all sapphires with color different then blue. When one hears sapphire, the first color that comes to mind is blue. Blue sapphires are definitely the most famous from the family. The family is surprisingly big however. The gem variety of corundum is represented by ruby and sapphire and while ruby is always and only red, sapphire is the name for all the other colors of corundum. Sometimes a saturated pink sapphires are often on the border of being a ruby, and so are some deep orange varieties. The colors of fancy sapphires are really covering most of the colors but not all the hues. This is why it is not possible to substitute any gemstone with matching color sapphire. Green sapphire for example most of the time comes with plenty of overtones. I have never seen a green sapphire even close to emerald or tsavorite pure green. The cleanest (free of grey and brown overtone) colors of fancy sapphire are the most prized ones.
Pink – from pale to very saturated close to ruby reddish pink. When well-cut pale pink sapphire is a good substitute for the extremely expensive pink diamond.
Yellow – From pale yellow, often used to substitute yellow diamond to saturated deep golden yellow color.
Orange – pale orange sapphires are sometime called padparadsha. Because it is difficult to describe a color the saturation and hue from which a sapphire stops being padparadsha and becomes orange sapphire is blurry.
Purple – The purple color is either towards the red or towards the blue, similar to the purple in amethyst but with far more depth and fair amount of dispersion. The pure purple color free of brown, yellow or grey overtone is the most desired one.
Green – As described above green in sapphire is soft and muted. When well cut the yellowish green sapphires make attractive stones and combined with some ruby red and diamonds create very classy color combination. I have few very good greens, but I prefer to show these stones life rather than uploading images.
Fancy sapphires are always combined with diamonds – as frame or side stones. The neutral glitter of the diamond outlines the color of the fancy sapphire and amplifies its effect. For more styles look at our blue sapphire engagement rings and ruby engagement rings pages. In most of the models the main stone is interchangeable.