Zambian or Colombian Emerald?
Bonnot Paris22/9/2026
Sapphire Colours: The Complete Colour Chart
François Deprez
August 5, 2026
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5 min read
Bonnot Paris · The Precious Stone Journal 2026
The colours of sapphire
All of them, except red. Nine families, thirty-six shades recorded from our actual stones, the price per carat of each — and the point beyond which it is no longer a sapphire.
Sapphire has no colour. Pure corundum is colourless — everything you see in this colour chart comes from a few foreign atoms per million.
In brief
Sapphire comes in every colour except red, notes Bonnot Paris, a sapphire dealer in Paris: nine families and thirty-six shades, recorded from stones actually in stock in September 2026, from blue to teal, green, yellow, pink, violet, orange and padparadscha. Price does not follow rarity: at Bonnot Paris, violet costs €1,150 per carat compared with €1,780 for blue, €990 for yellow, and only padparadscha plays in another league at €2,850 per carat. Beyond a certain saturation of red, the stone is no longer a sapphire but a ruby.
This colour chart is not a theoretical chart. Each colour code was recorded from the photograph of a stone actually in stock, in September 2026, together with its weight and price. Two families are deliberately absent, and we explain why.
One point that applies to everything that follows: a screen never renders a gemstone faithfully. These codes give a direction, not a truth — a stone should be judged in daylight, then in low light, and never otherwise.
01
The chemistry
A colourless
stone
| Element | What it produces | Families concerned |
|---|---|---|
| Iron + titanium | A charge transfer between the two atoms, highly effective at absorbing light. | Blue, teal |
| Iron alone | Depending on its proportion, from pale lemon to forest green. | Yellow, green |
| Chromium | Pink — and, when associated with orange centres, padparadscha. | Pink, padparadscha, orange |
| Vanadium | Violet, sometimes accompanied by a change depending on the lighting. | Violet |
Two consequences follow, and they explain everything else. No shade can be reproduced : impurities are distributed at random, so no two sapphires from the same deposit ever look exactly alike. And colour is never perfectly uniform — which creates, in certain stones, two distinct zones within the same crystal.
02
The overview
The spectrum
Thirty-six shades, from the coolest to the warmest. Each comes from a stone we have on display.
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Codes extracted from photographs of our stones in stock, September 2026. They indicate a direction, not a certified colour value.
What this spectrum shows better than words: there is no break between the families. Blue shifts towards teal, teal towards green, green towards yellow. The names are conventions applied to a continuum — and that is precisely why border stones are the most interesting to look at.
03
The colour chart
Nine families, thirty-six shades
Each shade below was taken from the photograph of a stone actually on display. Nothing is selected from a palette: these are the colours of our gemstones, extracted one by one.
Shades recorded among our in-stock stones, September 2026. Prices include VAT. Per-carat averages apply to stones from 0.9 to 2.5 ct across the entire stock; the number of stones shown corresponds to the ring sizes available on the date of recording.
What a swatch does not say
Each swatch is an average. It works for a clear, uniform colour; it fails for a very pale shade or a crystal containing two. And above all: a screen cannot convey a gemstone. These colours offer a direction, not a promise.
04
Reading
What this colour chart reveals
Three lessons can be read directly from the bands above.
There is no break between the families. Blue flows into teal, teal into green, green into yellow. Names are conventions placed upon a continuum — and the stones at the boundaries, those that resist being named, are often the most interesting to look at.
The price gap does not follow geological rarity. Violet is rarer than blue and costs €1,150/ct versus €1,780. At €990/ct, yellow is the most accessible family on the chart without being any less hard or beautiful. What you pay extra for in blue is reputation.
One family alone plays in another league : padparadscha, at €2,850/ct, nearly three times the price of teal. As its designation is controlled by an independent laboratory, an appealing orangey-pink stone without this mention in its report remains a pink sapphire — which mechanically limits supply.
For a sapphire engagement ring, this difference is a freedom: with the same budget, teal or violet offers a larger stone than blue, with the same hardness and durability over time.
| Family | Median price per carat | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Padparadscha | €2,850/ct | Controlled designation: limited supply |
| Blue | €1,780/ct | Demand, more than rarity |
| Pink | €1,500/ct | Chromium, as in ruby |
| Green | €1,200/ct | Back in fashion |
| Violet | €1,150/ct | Rarer than blue, half the price |
| Teal | €1,010/ct | The most abundant family |
| Yellow | €990/ct | The most accessible on the colour chart |
Medians recorded across 262 stones weighing 0.9 to 2.5 ct, Bonnot Paris stock, September 2026. Orange and bicolour stones are not included in this ranking: their samples are too limited to produce a reliable median.
07
The boundary
The boundary red
There is only one clear boundary across this entire colour chart: the one that changes the stone’s name. When chromium becomes concentrated enough to shift the colour into red, sapphire becomes a ruby.
What makes this boundary fascinating is that it is not clear-cut. The tipping point is debated between laboratories : the GIA places it earlier than the SSEF. Two reports may therefore reach different conclusions on the same gemstone — “pink sapphire” for one, “ruby” for the other — with a considerable price difference at stake.
A very practical consequence, and one that works in your favour: at comparable quality, a pink sapphire remains significantly more accessible than a ruby. It is the most elegant alternative for those who love red without having the budget for it. If it is true, pure red that you are looking for, however, only a ruby engagement ring will provide it — no pink sapphire, however saturated it may be, will cross the line.
The only test that matters
Look at the stone in daylight, then in the evening in a lit room. If the colour collapses when the light fades, it will not come out of the drawer — whatever its code on this colour chart.
08
Frequently Asked Questions
Sapphire colours, your questions
How many colours can sapphire take on?
All of them, except red. We work with ten families: blue, teal, pink, padparadscha, violet, yellow, green, orange, peach and bi-colour. When the concentration of chromium becomes high enough to shift the stone into red, it changes name and becomes a ruby.
Which colour is the most expensive?
Padparadscha, by a clear margin: around €2,850/ct as a median value across our stock, compared with €1,780 for blue and €1,010 for teal. Its designation is controlled by laboratories, which mechanically limits supply.
Which colour is the most accessible?
Yellow and teal, at around €1,000/ct in median value, followed by violet and green. These families are less sought-after than blue without being any less beautiful or less resilient: the same hardness of 9 out of 10.
What is a padparadscha?
A sapphire combining pink and orange in roughly equal proportions. It is the only sapphire to bear its own name, derived from the Sinhalese padmaraga meaning the lotus flower, and the only one whose designation is controlled by laboratories. Without mention in the report, a pink-orange stone remains a pink sapphire.
What is a teal sapphire?
A stone whose colour lies between blue and green, without clearly belonging to either. Its appearance changes with the lighting: bluer in a display case, greener by the window. It is the most plentiful family in our stock.
Why does colour change with the light?
Because a stone does not produce light: it reflects what it is given. A warm source pulls tones towards red, daylight towards blue. No screen can replace holding the stone in your hand.
Where does pink end and red begin?
At the concentration of chromium, and nothing else: it is the same mineral. The tipping point is debated between laboratories — the GIA places it earlier than the SSEF — and two reports may reach different conclusions on the same gem.
Ten colours, one light
Tell us your budget: we will bring out several families at that price point, side by side under the same light, then in low light. No colour chart can replace those three minutes.
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François Deprez
Founder of Bonnot Paris
