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A yellow sapphire can look stunning as an engagement ring center stone, particularly when it’s surrounded by a halo of diamonds.
Yellow sapphires closely resemble yellow diamonds. However, their lower price makes them a good alternative if you’re looking for a beautiful yellow center stone but aren’t satisfied with the diamonds that are available in your price range.
As with all sapphires, color is the most important factor to look for when you’re comparing yellow sapphires. We recommend shopping from a trusted online vendor like James Allen, who stock a diverse range of high quality loose yellow sapphires and engagement ring settings.
Bright, eye-catching and impressive, a yellow sapphire can make a stunning engagement ring center stone.
Yellow sapphires aren’t as common as blue sapphires. In fact, many people aren’t even aware that yellow sapphires exist. Like other sapphires in colors other than blue (such as pink, green or white), yellow sapphires are commonly referred to as “fancy sapphires.”
Visually, yellow sapphires tend to resemble yellow diamonds. Despite this, they’re significantly less expensive, making a yellow sapphire a great alternative to a diamond if you’re looking for an elegant, impressive yellow center stone.
Like other colored sapphires, buying a yellow sapphire is a less technical process than buying a diamond. In general, you’ll want to spend less of your time focusing on the four Cs and more on the specific characteristics that make a sapphire beautiful, such as its color.
Below, we’ve covered everything you need to know about buying a yellow sapphire engagement ring, or other yellow sapphire jewelry. We’ve also included a range of tips and tactics to help you get the highest quality center stone and setting for your budget.
If you want to see some examples of what yellow sapphire engagement rings look like, have a look at recently purchased rings from out top-rated retailers.
Yellow Sapphire Meaning
Yellow sapphire is a gemstone that ranges from pale yellow to rich gold, is durable, and looks stunning in engagement rings and other fine jewelry. Like many other gemstones, yellow sapphire has been given a range of historical meanings. It’s closely associated with success and luck, making it a common gift for people seeking prosperity and material wealth.
How Are Yellow Sapphires Formed
Yellow sapphire comes from the corundum mineral and develops its unique color from the presence of iron during formation. Over the course of millions of years, traces of iron can color the corundum that makes up the sapphire, giving it a warm, yellow color.
Like other fancy sapphires, yellow sapphires can vary wildly in color. Some have a rich, golden yellow color, whereas others have a lighter, less saturated color.
Yellow sapphire is mined in a variety of countries. The highest quality yellow sapphires are usually sourced from Sri Lanka, although sapphires in this color also come from the USA, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand and Madagascar.
Yellow Sapphire: Hardness
All sapphires, including yellow sapphires, have a hardness rating of nine out of 10 on the Mohs scale. This puts them just one point behind a diamond, which has a 10 out of 10 score. Thanks to their hardness, sapphires are durable stones that are very difficult to scratch or damage.
Yellow Sapphire: Price
Yellow sapphires are not expensive, with the average price of a 1 Carat yellow sapphire being $420. The price of yellow sapphires depends on the carat weight, cut quality, and richness of color. For example, this 1.24 Carat oval yellow sapphire from James Allen costs $360 while this 1.23 Carat emerald cut yellow sapphire from James Allen costs $530. In general, sapphires that have a canary yellow color tone are most desired and fetch the highest prices.
Yellow Sapphire vs. Yellow Diamond
Yellow sapphires are a part of the corundum mineral family, while yellow diamonds are a fancy color diamond with traces of nitrogen in the composition. Yellow diamonds are far rarer and therefore much more expensive than yellow sapphires. For instance, this 1 Carat cushion cut yellow diamond from Leibish & Co. costs $8,050 while this 1 Carat cushion cut yellow sapphire from James Allen costs $500.
Yellow diamonds rank 10 on the Mohs scale of hardness while yellow sapphires are a 9, making diamonds more durable. Both the yellow sapphire and yellow diamond can range in color from a pale yellow hue to a rich gold. In general, yellow diamonds have a more vibrant color and offer more light reflection than yellow sapphires.
What to Look For in a Yellow Sapphire Engagement Ring
As we mentioned above, buying a sapphire is generally a less technical process than buying a diamond. Rather than a combination of the four Cs, the most important factor for a sapphire is its color, with cut and clarity less important than they are for a diamond.
Color
Like with fancy sapphires in other colors, the color of a yellow sapphire is usually the factor that has the largest impact on its beauty, as well as the price you’ll pay to purchase it.
Yellow sapphires come in a variety of tones, hues and saturation levels. For example, this 1.85 carat oval natural yellow sapphire from James Allen has a light yellow color, whereas this 2.93 carat oval natural yellow sapphire from James Allen has a much darker, orange/bronze color.
Because color can vary so much between different yellow sapphires, it’s important to pay close attention to photos before you choose a loose yellow sapphire to add to a setting or a pre-made yellow sapphire engagement ring.
Generally, sapphires with a canary yellow-like color tend to command the highest prices. When you’re comparing sapphires, you’ll want to pay attention to three key factors that affect the color and appearance of a stone.
The vast majority of yellow sapphires are heat treated for enhanced color and clarity. This is a common process that’s also used for other fancy sapphires. Sapphires that haven’t been heat treated are very rare and sell at a significant premium.
Hue
Hue refers to how a sapphire’s color compares to neighboring colors on the color wheel. The two colors that neighbor yellow – orange and green — can both be identified in certain yellow sapphires.
Tone and Saturation
Tone refers to how light or dark a sapphire’s color is. Yellow sapphires with a light tone can be bright and eye-catching, whereas darker sapphires can have an orangey-yellow color that can make the stone appear less transparent.
Saturation refers to how intense, vibrant and vivid a sapphire’s color is. Sapphires with a vivid, medium tone color tend to be the most attractive and desirable, especially if they’re a relatively pure yellow.
Unlike with diamonds, there’s no standardized color grading system for sapphires. Because of this, it’s much more important for you to look at a sapphire’s physical color than to rely on color grades to get an idea of its appearance.
Vendors like James Allen make this easy, since they have large, color accurate photos of their entire loose sapphire and pre-made yellow sapphire ring inventory.
Clarity
It’s common for sapphires of all colors to feature inclusions, particularly rutile needles. When a sapphire has no inclusions, it’s quite unusual — in general, a sapphire with flawless clarity will usually be looked at with a certain amount of suspicion by a gemologist.
Interestingly, yellow sapphires usually have fewer inclusions than blue, green, pink and other fancy sapphires.
Unlike with diamonds, where it’s important to pay attention to the clarity grade, with sapphires, the best approach is to check that the stone is “eye-clean.” This simply means that the stone is free of inclusions when viewed with the naked eye.
Any yellow sapphire that’s eye-clean and free of obvious, visible inclusions will look more than acceptable once it’s set into a ring.
Cut
Yellow sapphires come in a wide variety of different cuts. Unlike with a diamond, there are no standardized cuts that are used for sapphires. Instead, the gem cutter will pick an appropriate cut that maximizes the stone’s color, light return and other factors.
The most common cuts for yellow sapphires include oval, round, cushion and emerald. Other cuts, such as princess, heart and pear are also occasionally used for certain stones.
Carat Weight
Yellow diamonds are available in a range of carat weights, with pricing rising exponentially as carat weight increases.
Sapphires, whether yellow or in any other color, are slightly more dense than diamonds. This means that a three carat sapphire, for example, will have smaller dimensions than a diamond with an equal carat weight.
To account for this, vendors that sell sapphires typically provide measurements for their loose stones. For example, this 1.74 carat oval natural yellow sapphire from James Allen measures 7.60×5.70mm.
How can I tell if my yellow sapphire is real?
You can tell if a yellow sapphire is real by looking for scratches and tiny bubbles, and verifying the gemstone’s certificate. Yellow sapphires are extremely durable as they rank 9 on the Mohs scale of hardness. Imitation stones, often made with glass, only rank a 6. That’s why fake yellow sapphires often have scratches on the surface that you can see.
While almost all yellow sapphires have inclusions, high-quality yellow sapphires won’t have blemishes that can be seen by the naked eye. Fake yellow sapphires often have small visible bubbles in the composition. Look closely at the stone to ensure there are no bubbles or scratches (a good indication that it’s a fake yellow sapphire).
Which Color yellow sapphire is best?
The richer and deeper the color, the more desirable a yellow sapphire usually is. But the color you choose should be based on your personal preference. You might prefer a lighter yellow tone or a gemstone with a secondary hue like orange or red. That’s why it’s best to look at a variety of yellow sapphires like these on James Allen to find one that catches your attention.
Where to Buy a Yellow Sapphire Engagement Ring
Although yellow sapphires aren’t as common as blue sapphires, they’re easy to buy online as either loose gemstones or with an engagement ring setting.
The best place to buy a yellow sapphire engagement ring is James Allen. They maintain a large selection of loose yellow sapphires in a diverse range of colors and carat weights, as well as an even larger selection of high-quality engagement ring settings.
One of the reasons James Allen are particularly good for fancy sapphires is their high-resolution photography. Since all of the sapphires are photographed from 360 degrees in identical lighting conditions, it’s easy to compare one yellow sapphire’s hue, tone and saturation to another’s
Beyond this, the prices are great and the customer service is impeccable, as we’ve covered in our James Allen review.
Tips for Choosing the Best Yellow Sapphire Engagement Ring
From choosing the right metal to pairing your sapphire with a beautiful setting design, there are a variety of tactics you can use to make sure you get the highest quality yellow sapphire ring for your budget:
- Look for a medium, vibrant, canary yellow color. This is generally the most desirable color for a yellow sapphire. Sapphires with this color command a slight premium, but are still significantly more affordable than diamonds and other fancy sapphires.
- Consider a halo or pavé setting. Yellow sapphires and other fancy sapphires can look especially elegant in a halo setting, where a halo of small diamonds surrounds the large center stone.
Settings such as this 14k yellow gold cushion outline pavé ring from James Allen can emphasize the gorgeous color of a yellow sapphire, all while giving the center stone the appearance of a larger size. - Choose a metal that complements the color of the sapphire. Yellow sapphires look amazing with in a variety of metals, including white gold. They’re particularly impressive in yellow gold settings, especially with halo diamonds to emphasize the sapphire’s color.
For example, this gorgeous 2.09 carat engagement ring from James Allen features halo diamonds and two rows of pavé-set diamonds, both of which help to create visual contrast between the rich yellow of the sapphire and the warm 14k yellow gold of the ring. - Remember that heat treatment is common. Like many other colored gemstones, it’s very common for sapphires to be heat-treated for improved color and clarity. As such, it isn’t a good practice to avoid stones simply because they’re been heat-treated.
- Check a sapphire’s measurements before purchasing. As we mentioned earlier, the density of a sapphire is higher than that of a diamond. This makes it important to check the stone’s measurements, not just its carat weight, to get an idea of its size.
Shop for yellow sapphire engagement rings here.
Need an expert opinion before you buy an engagement ring? Contact us and our experts will help you choose the best yellow sapphire engagement ring or other jewelry for your budget.
What we love about them:
- No questions asked returns within 30 days of shipment. James Allen will send you a paid shipping label to return the ring.
- Lifetime Warranty
- Free International Shipping
- Free prong tightening, repolishing, rhodium plating and cleaning every 6 months
- Provide insurance appraisals
- One free resizing within 60 days of purchase
- Free ring inscriptions
- Best-in-class high quality imagery of all diamonds in stock
- 24/7 Customer Service
- Best-in-class packaging
What we love about them:
- No questions asked returns within 30 days of shipment. Blue Nile will send you a paid shipping label to return the ring.
- Lifetime Warranty
- Free Shipping
- Free prong tightening, repolishing, rhodium plating and cleaning every 6 months
- Provide insurance appraisal
- One free resizing within the first year of purchase
- High quality images of about half of their diamonds
- 24/7 Customer Service
- 100% credit towards future upgrades (must be at least double in value)
- Best in class fulfillment
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