Find Your Perfect Diamond
Made to sit flush against the engagement ring it was designed for.
Every ring is made from start to finish in our Los Angeles atelier.
Diamonds are graded; colored gemstones are judged. The difference matters, because the rules you learned for diamonds will mislead you the moment color enters the picture. Eleven gems live in our atelier, each with a complete buying guide written by our gemological team. This page is the map, and the method.
The 4Cs still provide a useful basis for examining and comparing colored stones, but they are nowhere near as precisely measurable, and there is no uniform grading system for colored gemstones the way there is for diamond quality. A diamond grade is, in essence, a light performance rating: how much light returns to the eye, and how little tint interferes with it.
A colored gemstone is bought for the opposite reason. The color is the point, and everything else, clarity, cut, even carat weight, is judged by how well it serves the color. Learn to read color the way the trade does and the rest of this library falls into place.
Gem professionals evaluate color as the interaction of three factors. Hue is the basic color composition: a ruby is red with secondary pink or purple, a sapphire is blue with secondary violet or green, an emerald is green with secondary blue or yellow. Tone is the lightness or darkness of the stone, on a scale running from faint and washed out to nearly black; most desirable gems sit at a medium tone, with medium light and medium dark acceptable depending on the species. Saturation is the purity and vividness of the primary color.
As a stone carries more color suppressing gray or brown, its hue softens and loses drama, but that is not automatically a fault: gray can soften blue into a delicate pastel, and brown can deepen red into a rugged autumnal shade. The professional judgment is how the three factors interact to create a beautiful color. Rarity and the standards of each variety affect value, but color judgment in gems is, first and last, about beauty.
In the colored stone trade, place names work as quality grades. Kashmir describes the velvety, slightly sleepy blue considered the pinnacle of sapphire. Burma describes the pure, glowing red the old dealers called pigeon blood in ruby, and Ceylon the bright, lively blues of Sri Lankan sapphire. Colombia describes the warm, classic green that defines emerald. For important stones, major laboratories can issue an origin opinion alongside the identification report.
Two disciplines keep the names honest. First, the name only matters when the color earns it: a superb Ceylon sapphire outranks a mediocre Kashmir stone every time, and paying for a label instead of the color in front of you is the classic colored stone mistake. Second, treatment status weighs at least as heavily as geography. Heating is the accepted trade standard for sapphire and ruby, permanent and stable when disclosed; untreated stones of fine color are rarer and command significant premiums; emeralds are customarily improved with oil, and the degree should be stated plainly. We disclose both, on every stone, before you decide.
Hardness is the Mohs rating, and it is the fastest read on whether a gem suits an everyday ring or belongs in pendants, earrings, and occasional pieces. Each name links to the full buying guide.
| Gem | Character | Hardness (Mohs) |
|---|---|---|
| Sapphire | The September Blue | 9 |
| Pink Sapphire | The Romantic Corundum | 9 |
| Ruby | The King of Color | 9 |
| Emerald | The Garden Stone | 7.5 to 8 |
| Aquamarine | The Serene Beryl | 7.5 to 8 |
| Morganite | The Blush Beryl | 7.5 to 8 |
| Amethyst | The Regal Quartz | 7 |
| Citrine | The Sunlit Quartz | 7 |
| Peridot | The Evening Emerald | 6.5 to 7 |
| Red Garnet | The Ember | 6.5 to 7.5 |
| Blue Topaz | The Clear Sky | 8 |
Each card links to the complete buying guide for that gem, written by our gemologists. Every colored stone we set is made to order in Los Angeles.
Corundum in every blue from cornflower to midnight velvet. Heat treatment is standard and stable; unheated stones of fine color command a serious premium. The hardest gem after diamond, and the safest colored stone for a ring worn daily.
The same crystal as blue sapphire, blushed from soft pastel to hot magenta. It brings ruby adjacent color with sapphire pricing and sapphire durability, which is why it has become the quiet favorite for colored engagement rings.
Red corundum, and the most valuable colored gem per carat at the top of the market. The trade prizes a pure, glowing red the old dealers called pigeon blood. Expect heat treatment as the norm; expect to pay for its absence.
Beryl colored by chromium into the definitive green. Emeralds are Type III: visible inclusions are their nature, the trade calls them the garden, and clarity expectations must relax accordingly. Customarily improved with oil, and the degree of it must be disclosed.
The sea colored sister of emerald, usually eye clean and often available in impressive sizes. Because its blue runs pastel, cutting quality and tone decide everything: a well cut aquamarine glows, a poorly cut one washes out.
Pink to peach beryl with a warmth that flatters every skin tone, and the reason rose gold settings exist in such numbers. Typically eye clean, generously sized for the price, and at its best in soft, unhurried pastels.
The purple that once rode with royalty, from lilac to deep Siberian violet with flashes of red. Fine color is the entire game; size adds little cost, so buy the richest, most even purple the budget allows.
Quartz in honey, amber, and madeira tones. Almost always eye clean and kindly priced, which makes cut quality and richness of color the only two questions worth asking of it.
A gem that is always green, born that way rather than treated into it. Its signature is a warm, slightly golden green with a sleepy softness. Best in pendants and earrings, or in rings built to protect it.
The deep autumnal red that has anchored jewelry since antiquity, honest and untreated as a rule. Tone is the thing to watch: the finest stones stay lively and red in low light instead of going black.
Bright, clean blue in sky, Swiss, and London depths, nearly always eye clean and excellent value for the color delivered. Hard enough for regular wear, with cut quality deciding how much life the blue shows.
Color is personal in a way diamonds never are. A gemologist can put both stones on video with you, in comparable sizes and qualities, and walk the color, the treatment status, and the wear it will take.
Once the color has won you, three more questions decide whether the specific stone deserves the setting.
GIA sorts colored gems into three clarity types. Type I gems such as aquamarine should be eye clean. Type II gems, ruby, sapphire, garnet, amethyst, normally carry some inclusions. Type III gems, above all emerald, are almost never without them. One visible inclusion is not a reason to walk away; the wrong expectations are.
Diamond cutters chase instant light return; gem cutters hold the light longer so it picks up as much color as possible. A well cut gem glows evenly. A stone cut for bulk instead of beauty either windows, going glassy and pale through the middle, or extinguishes, trapping light in black zones. A touch of controlled extinction adds contrast; past that it is a blockade to color.
A gem cut for maximum color strength stuns with sizzle rather than size. Colored stones are not priced on razor exact weights the way diamonds are, so chasing weight buys you a heavier stone, not a better one. When the color is right, the carats take care of themselves.
Diamond accents on a gemstone piece are held to our diamond standard: every accent stone we recommend is evaluated by ROSI™, our gemological intelligence, built by our gemologists. Read the Diamond Education Library for that side of the story.
Buy the color in front of you, not the name on the label and not the number on the scale.
A gem with beautiful, even, saturated color will outshine a larger, duller stone and a famous name with mediocre color, every day it is worn. Read the guide for the gem you love, ask for the treatment status in writing, and judge the stone itself on video before it is set. That is the entire discipline, and it is exactly how our gemologists buy.
John Anderson, our Lead Gemologist, puts the actual stone on video with you: the color in different light, the clarity against its type, the cut, and the treatment disclosure. The consultation is complimentary and there is no obligation.
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