Gems by Color
Many people purchase gems by type - for example, they want to buy a sapphire, a tourmaline or an amethyst. But one thing we've learned in the colored gem business is that most customers are concerned above all with color, and are less concerned with gem variety, as long as the stone they buy is durable enough for their purpose. Since color is indeed the most important factor for most people when it comes to buying loose gemstones, it only makes sense to start your search by shopping for gemstones by color.
Finding gems by color can often be difficult; since websites tend to organize their inventory around gem varieties rather than colors. So for those who want to know what their options are in particular colors, here is a list of gem types organized by color.
Since there are hundreds of color variations in colored gems, we have organized this list around "base" colors or color families. This means that a red-orange gem can fall into the "orange" or "red" category and a blue-green stone would be in the "green" or "blue" category.
Red GemsRed gemstones are actually quite rare, and mainly occur in ruby, spinel and garnet. There is some very fine red tourmaline (sometimes called rubellite), but it is not often found.
• Almandine Garnet
• Andesine Labradorite
• Carnelian
• Coral
• Fire Opal
• Pyrope Garnet
• Rhodolite Garnet
• Rubellite Tourmaline
• Ruby
• Star Garnet
• Star Ruby
• Spinel
• Tourmaline
• Zircon
More information on red gemstones for jewelry.
Pink Gems
The most popular pink gemstones are tourmaline and spinel. Pink sapphire is lovely but rare, especially in gems weighing over 1 carat. Rhodolite garnet tends to be purple-pink. Compared to other colors, the list of pink gemstones is quite short.
• Coral
• Kunzite
• Malaya Garnet
• Morganite
• Opal
• Pearl
• Rhodochrosite
• Rhodolite Garnet
• Rose Quartz
• Sapphire
• Smithsonite
• Spinel
• Star Rose Quartz
• Tourmaline
• Topaz
• Zircon
More information on pink gemstones for jewelry.
Blue Gems
The classic blue gemstone is sapphire. Deeply saturated blue is also found in spinel and kyanite. There are a number of choices in the lighter blues, including topaz, zircon and aquamarine. Tanzanite and iolite are more of a violet blue, while Paraiba tourmaline, apatite and fluorite tend to be blue-green.
• Agate
• Amazonite
• Apatite
• Aquamarine
• Azurite
• Azurite Drusy
• Cat's Eye Aquamarine
• Chalcedony
• Chrysocolla
• Color Change Fluorite
• Color Change Garnet
• Diamond
• Dumortierite Quartz
• Fluorite
• Gem Silica
• Grandidierite
• Hawk's Eye
• Hemimorphite
• Iolite
• Jadeite
• Kyanite
• Labradorite
• Lapis Lazuli
• Larimar
• Moonstone
• Paraiba Tourmaline
• Pietersite
• Rainbow Moonstone
• Sapphire
• Spinel
• Sodalite
• Star Sapphire
• Tanzanite
• Topaz
• Tourmaline
• Turquoise
• Zircon
More information on blue gemstones for jewelry.
Green Gems
The traditional green gem is emerald, but tsavorite garnet, chrome tourmaline and chrome diopside are also good alternatives. See our feature article on chrome diopside for the recent history of the market for the finer green gemstones. Peridot, which tends to be olive green, has become an important jewelry gemstone.
• Agate
• Actinolite Cat's Eye
• Alexandrite
• Amazonite
• Ammolite
• Apatite
• Aquamarine
• Aventurine
• Bloodstone
• Cat's Eye Apatite
• Cat's Eye Aquamarine
• Cat's Eye Chrysoberyl
• Chrome Diopside
• Chrome Tourmaline
• Chrysoberyl
• Chrysocolla
• Chrysoprase
• Color Change Diaspore
• Color Change Garnet
• Color Change Sapphire
• Demantoid Garnet
• Emerald
• Enstatite
• Epidote
• Gaspeite
• Grossularite Garnet
• Idocrase
• Jadeite
• Jade Omphacite
• Kornerupine
• Labradorite
• Larimar
• Malachite
• Mali Garnet
• Maw-sit-sit
• Moldavite
• Nephrite Jade
• Opal
• Paraiba Tourmaline
• Peridot
• Prehnite
• Ruby in Fuchsite
• Sapphire
• Seraphinite
• Serpentine
• Smithsonite
• Sphene
• Tashmarine Diopside
• Tourmaline
• Tsavorite Garnet
• Turquoise
• Uvarovite Garnet Drusy
• Variscite
More information on green gemstones for jewelry.
Yellow / Gold Gems
Citrine is the most common yellow to gold gem, but yellow sapphire is highly sought after. There are also good choices in harder gems such as beryl and chrysoberyl. Canary yellow tourmaline from Malawi is very rare.
• Agate
• Amber
• Beryl
• Chrysoberyl
• Citrine
• Citrine Geode
• Diamond
• Fire Opal
• Imperial Topaz
• Mali Garnet
• Orthoclase
• Quartz
• Rainbow Pyrite
• Sapphire
• Sphene
• Sphalerite
• Spodumene
• Star Lemon Quartz
• Tourmaline
• Topaz
• Zircon
More information on yellow gemstones for jewelry.
Violet / Purple Gems
The list of violet and purple gemstones is quite short. Amethyst is the classic example, though fluorite can also be found in an amethyst-like purple. There are wonderful violet hues in spinel, tourmaline and sapphire. Chalcedony frequently occurs in a unique lavender hue.
• Amethyst
• Amethyst Geode
• Chalcedony
• Charoite
• Color Change Fluorite
• Fluorite
• Hackmanite
• Iolite
• Jadeite
• Kunzite
• Lepidolite
• Rhodolite Garnet
• Rubellite Tourmaline
• Sapphire
• Spinel
• Sugilite
• Tanzanite
• Tourmaline
More information on violet and purple gemstones for jewelry.
Orange Gems
Spessartite garnet is the most famous orange gem but there are a number of other options as well. Orange sapphire is produced by heat treatment, while the finer fire opal occurs in hues from yellow-orange to red-orange.
• Andesine
• Amber
• Calcite
• Citrine
• Citrine Geode
• Fire Opal
• Hessonite Garnet
• Imperial Topaz
• Moonstone
• Spessartite Garnet
• Sphene
• Sphalerite
• Sapphire
• Star Moonstone
• Tourmaline
• Zircon
White Gems
This category includes both colorless gems, such as diamond, sapphire, zircon and topaz, as well as white gemstones like opal and moonstone.
• Agate
• Cat's Eye Quartz
• Coral
• Danburite
• Diamond
• Dendritic Chalcedony
• Howlite
• Jadeite Jade
• Goshenite
• Moonstone
• Nephrite Jade
• Opal
• Quartz
• Rainbow Moonstone
• Sapphire
• Selenite
• Scolecite
• Sodalite
• Topaz
• Zircon
More information on white gemstones for jewelry.
Brown / Bronze Gems
It is fair to say that brown is not the most popular color in gemstones. But there are some notable exceptions, such as the peach-orange-bronze of imperial topaz.
• Agate
• Andalusite
• Axinite
• Boulder Opal
• Cat's Eye Apatite
• Cat's Eye Sillimanite
• Chocolate Opal
• Citrine
• Citrine Geode
• Color Change Garnet
• Enstatite
• Diamond
• Fire Agate
• Hessonite Garnet
• Imperial Topaz
• Mali Garnet
• Moonstone
• Obsidian
• Sillimanite
• Smoky Quartz
• Tiger's Eye
• Tiger's Eye Matrix
• Tourmaline
• Zircon
Gray / Silver Gems
There are very few gemstones which are predominantly gray or silver. In our experience the most popular is spinel, whose brilliance and single refraction show gray and silver at its best.
• Fluorite
• Hematite
• Moonstone
• Mother of Pearl
• Pearl
• Spinel
• Star Moonstone
• Tourmaline
Black Gems
We occasionally stock black diamonds (produced by irradiation). But by far the most popular black gemstone is tourmaline. The black star sapphires only found in Chanthaburi, Thailand are also very popular.
• Agate
• Cat's Eye Scapolite
• Diamond
• Jade
• Jet
• Melanite
• Obsidian
• Onyx
• Pearl
• Psilomelane
• Rutile Quartz
• Sapphire
• Spinel
• Star Diopside
• Star Garnet
• Star Sapphire
• Tourmaline
More information on black gemstones for jewelry.
Multicolor Gems
In the category of multicolor gemstones we list those gems which display multiple colors in a single stone. Some of these gems, such as tourmaline, fluorite and ametrine, have zones of different colors. Others, such as andalusite, are strongly pleochroic and display different colors from different angles.
• Agate
• Alexandrite
• Ametrine
• Ammolite
• Andalusite
• Black Opal
• Boulder Opal
• Opal
• Charoite
• Chocolate Opal
• Color Change Diaspore
• Color Change Garnet
• Color Change Fluorite
• Color Change Sapphire
• Coral
• Chrysocolla
• Dendritic Chalcedony
• Fire Agate
• Fluorite
• Fossil Coral
• Hawk's Eye
• Jasper
• Labradorite
• Maw-sit-sit
• Moonstone
• Mystic Quartz
• Mystic Topaz
• Opal
• Opal Doublet
• Opal in Matrix
• Pietersite
• Rainbow Moonstone
• Rainbow Pyrite
• Rhodochrosite
• Ruby in Fuchsite
• Ruby Zoisite
• Rutile Quartz
• Rutilated topaz
• Scapolite
• Spectrolite Labradorite
• Sphene
• Sugilite
• Tiger's Eye
• Tourmaline
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