About the Padparadscha Sapphire

As you know, sapphires come in all shades of the rainbow except for red which is ruby.  Padparadscha sapphire range in color from light to medium pinkish orange to orange pink and should be light in saturation.  It’s easier to imagine the color as being a beautiful sunset or a ripe guava. Iron, titanium or chromium causes its unique color hue.  Untreated padparadscha sapphires are beautiful and very rare. Because padparadscha are not highly saturated with color, when selecting a piece of estate jewelry with this gem stone, look for a stone that is eye clean, with no inclusions to the naked eye.  Any inclusion will be highly visible in a fine padparadscha sapphire.

Sapphire Shape

The best cut for a padparadscha sapphire is round but you can find padparadscha estate jewelry in a variety of other shapes including oval and cushion cut, which are most common.

Padparadscha Sapphire Prices

Prices for padparadscha gem stones range in price from a few dollars per carat for a low quality gem with inclusions to the naked eye, to high quality gems which could cost $30,000 per carat. Any untreated padparadscha sapphire over two carats would be considered rare.  The New York American Museum of Natural History holds the largest known padparadscha sapphire which is a 100.18 carat oval. Padparadscha means “lotus flower” in Sinhalesue, the language of Sri Lanka.  These gemstones are found in the Sri Lankan river gravel and is the color linked to its country.