13 Reminders that Sapphire is a Many-Splendored Thing

Original article written for The Zing Report

It’s September’s birthstone, but most jewelry lovers happily claim an affinity for sapphire. After all, few things are as breathtaking as, say, the electric blue of an exceptional Burmese sapphire, or the luminous periwinkle blue of a star sapphire (or 45 of them if you’re Oscar Heyman—see below).

Certainly, it’s a stone most consumers recognize and appreciate. Can anyone think of sapphires without recalling the late Princess Diana’s 12 ct. oval sapphire engagement ring (which now belongs to Duchess Kate)? The savviest retailers know this, and assort their collections (and gild their Instagram feeds) with remarkable blue beauties hailing from Montana to Madagascar.

Like the first colorful crocuses pushing out of the wintry ground at the start of spring, sapphire jewelry can energize a display case filled with icy white diamonds to dramatic effect.

Top designers, indie and otherwise, tend to seek out the full spectrum of sapphire shades, from the duskiest grays to the loveliest lilac-pinks. They jumble them, color-order them into painterly ombré concepts, or prioritize the oddballs—bicolors, fantasy cuts—to give them pride of place in an engagement ring.

Meanwhile, rainbow sapphire jewelry is still in demand, shows no signs of fading, and is now widely available in every imaginable price point. As for the jewels below? From out-of-this-world opulent to everyday elegant, they take the conventional sapphire palette and rather spectacularly crank up the volume. Feel free to sing along.