Fine Green Sapphire

Sapphire, a variety of the mineral corundum, is usually considered to be blue, but in fact it occurs in a wide range of colors except for red. That's because the gem industry uses the name ruby for red corundum; the hardest of all red gemstones.

Fine Green Sapphire at GemSelect

Blue is such an important color for sapphire that the term sapphire in the gem trade usually refers to blue sapphire. Other colors of sapphire are called fancy sapphire, the colors of which include pink, yellow, orange, green, violet and white. The wide range of colors in corundum are caused by different impurities such as chromium, titanium and iron.

Among the fancy sapphires, yellow has been especially valued, largely because of its place as one of the nine planetary gems of the Vedic astrological tradition. Green sapphire was once thought of as one of the less desirable colors, but has now become increasingly popular, though no one is quite sure why. Perhaps it is because green has always been an important gemstone color (emerald, tourmaline and tsavorite garnet are a few of the important green gemstones) and green sapphire is fairly rare.

Green sapphire can occur in colors ranging from light mint green to dark forest green. The finest green sapphire is thought to come from Sri Lanka, but it is very rare indeed. Most of the green sapphire you will see on the market is from Thailand or Australia. These gemstones tend to be darker green and are often blue-green or yellow-green. Green sapphire may also be found from Burma and Madagascar.

Green sapphire is colored by traces of iron. In some cases the green color is due to the presence of both blue and yellow bands, which make the gem appear green. This color zoning is obvious under magnification and can sometimes be seen with the naked eye.

Though there are many choices of green gemstone, the excellent gemstone characteristics of corundum make green sapphire a popular choice, especially for rings. Beautiful green sapphire gemstones are available in both faceted and cabochon styles. Green sapphire, like sapphire of other colors, is typically heat treated.