Sapphire & Baguette Cut Emerald Ring

Dedicated to the design of sophisticated jewellery that tells a personal story for the wearer, Hattie Rickards Jewellery produces distinctly creative engagement rings, bespoke commissions and other personalised pieces with outstanding quality craftsmanship.

Most commonly found in shades of blue, sapphires are also available in pretty much every other colour you can think of, with pink, yellow, peach and green being the most popular after blue. Sapphires are also very hard, with their rating on the Moh’s Scale falling just under diamonds, so they make great gemstones for daily wear on the hand.

The quality and therefore price of sapphires is based on their colour, cut and clarity, and large stones can be GIA certified as diamonds are.

The colour of the sapphire is by far the most important of all these. The shade, the tone and the depth of colour, as well as the uniformity of the colour - how well the shade is spread over the stone evenly - make a huge difference to price. Deep, dark coloured tend to hide the sparkle of the stone, so become less desirable, and sapphires that show a pure, even colour and brightness will be more expensive.

You may see sapphires where there are two different shades of colour in the stone. This is called a bi-colour sapphire, and is very common. Pure coloured sapphires with a rich, even tone in a single hue are the most conventionally desirable varieties, and therefore the most expensive. Common ‘cheaper’ sapphire rings found online will often feature lesser quality gemstones and the images may have been digitally altered, so make sure you always see a coloured gemstone in real life before buying.

Depending on the size requirements sapphires make a beautiful alternative to coloured diamonds. Yellow sapphires, white diamonds and yellow gold are currently a popular choice, but our favourite sapphire shade is a murky olive green.

Sapphires are traditionally the birthstone of September. See all Sapphire rings here.

Round brilliant cut diamonds are the most popular diamond shape. From round old-mine and European cuts, to the high-sparkle of the modern 'Brilliant' cut, round diamonds are the most enduring and popular shape throughout the centuries of diamond cutting history.

The modern 'brilliant' round cut is cut for maximum sparkle, or as its name suggests, brilliance. Each of the 57or 58 facets cut into the stone have been meticulously measured and maximised to allow the optimum reflection or light to bounce around inside the diamond, reflecting out a brilliant sparkle. The ubiquitous sparkle of the brilliant cut round diamond makes it an extremely versatile choice, easy to wear, and a good level of sparkle even with inclusions.

See all round cut diamond rings here.