Sapphire Engagement Rings

In 1981, Princess Dianna purchased a £28,000 sapphire stone for her engagement ring. Twenty years later, Kate Middleton wore the same ring, whose value had now catapulted to £300,000. In the meantime, the ring has spawned a growing trend for getting engaged with sapphire. If you are considering purchasing a sapphire ring, keep several things in mind. While sapphires are traditionally blue, they do come in other colors as well including yellow, green, purple, red, and white. Nevertheless, blue sapphires are the most popular choice. The sapphire blue is best described as a type of velvety blue hue, not too dark and not too light. When evaluating a sapphire consider the following qualities: 1) Its hue may be described as strong purple, slight purple, strong green, slight green, or blue. The most prized sapphires are velvety blue to violet blue. 2) The stone's saturation describes its purity of color. Saturation ranges from weak, medium, fair, strong to vivid. Sapphires that command the highest prices have strong saturation without being so dark as to compromise brightness. 3) The sapphire's tone ranges from very light to dark with intermediate grades described as very light, light, medium dark, or very dark. Most people prefer a sapphire with medium tone. Unlike diamonds, sapphires don't have a standard cut. Jewelers shape the stone so as to enhance its characteristics. A dark stone may be cut shallower and a lighter blue stone may be cut deeper with the intent of adding to its saturation. Round sapphires require removing more of the raw stone and are therefore more expensive than other cuts. The unique qualities of a sapphire can be enhanced by the setting. If you're designing your own ring, you can work with the jeweler to figure out how you want the stone to appear. Do you want your stone to stand alone? Or would you prefer surrounding it with smaller diamonds or other cut stones? Your choice.