Coloured Gemstones: A World Beyond Diamonds

While diamonds hold a special place in jewellery culture, the world of coloured gemstones is arguably richer, more varied, and even more extraordinary. From the deep red of a Burmese ruby to the shifting colours of an Australian opal, coloured stones offer something diamonds simply cannot mimic.

Rubies: The King of Coloured Stones

A fine ruby is among the most valuable gemstones in the world more expensive per carat than a diamond of comparable quality. The defining characteristic of a great ruby is its colour: a vivid, intense red with a slightly bluish undertone often called pigeon's blood. This quality of red is found primarily in stones from Burma (now Myanmar), though fine rubies also come from Mozambique, Madagascar, and other sources. Rubies are a 9 on the Mohs scale extremely hard and well-suited to everyday jewellery.

Sapphires: More Than Blue

Most people think of sapphire as blue and the classic cornflower to royal blue of a fine sapphire is one of the most beautiful colours in gemology. But sapphire is corundum in any colour except red (which is ruby), meaning sapphires come in yellow, orange, purple, green, and the remarkable colour-change varieties that shift between hues in different lighting. Padparadscha sapphires, a delicate pink-orange, are among the rarest and most prized of all coloured stones.

Emeralds: The Imperfect Beauty

Emeralds are beloved precisely because of their imperfections. The inclusions inside most emeralds called a jardin are part of their character and identity. A fine emerald has a vivid, slightly bluish-green colour of extraordinary saturation and depth. Colombian emeralds are considered the benchmark for quality, though significant stones also come from Zambia, Brazil, and Zimbabwe. The most important thing when buying an emerald is the colour: a stone with good colour and moderate inclusions will almost always be more beautiful than a pale, inclusion-free stone.

Opals: Australia's Gift to the World

Australia produces around 95 percent of the world's opals, making this stone genuinely our own. No two opals are alike, each shows a different pattern of spectral colour known as play-of-colour, caused by the diffraction of light through tiny silica spheres arranged within the stone. Black opals from Lightning Ridge are among the most valuable opals in the world. Opals are relatively soft and require careful handling, but their unique beauty is found nowhere else in the gemstone kingdom.

Buying Coloured Stones Well

The most important principle when buying a coloured gemstone is to trust your eyes. Unlike diamonds, where laboratory grades can guide your decision precisely, coloured stone quality is ultimately visual colour is the dominant factor, and colour is best judged in person, in good lighting, by someone with experience. Ask about treatment history, ask for any available certification, and take the time to view several stones side by side. The right stone will be obvious.