Sapphire Engagement Rings

Sapphires are a fabulous classic choice for engagement rings. Anyone growing up in the 1980s will remember the huge ceylon sapphire and diamond engagement ring that Prince Charles gave to Lady Diane Spencer; and more recently it was presented by his son William, to Kate Middleton as an engagement ring. Still as classic now as it was in 1981, 32 years ago.

Because sapphires are hard stones (almost as hard as diamonds at 9 on Moh's scale) they have been used since antiquity for carving and mounting in jewellery. Interestingly both rubies and sapphires are the same stone, both belonging to the "corundum" family – the only difference is that traces of different elements in both stones give them their distinctive colours. Sapphire contains tiny traces of titanium, ruby contains tiny traces of chromium.

Blue sapphire engagement rings or pink sapphire engagement rings?

If you've looked at sapphire jewellery and engagement rings then you are probably more familiar with the dark blue sapphires that are commonly seen in jewellery; but this is not the only colour for sapphires. Whilst sapphires are traditionally thought of as blue, they can also be green, orange, yellow, purple and pink, though technically a pink sapphire is a ruby and of course pink sapphires make great engagement rings too - but best to see our ruby engagement rings page for these.

Within the spectrum of blue, sapphires can be the dark inky blue most commonly seen, but can also be found as pale sky blue and duck egg blue. One of the most desirable sapphire colours is that of the Ceylon Sapphire, as seen in Kate Middleton's engagement ring. This fabulous intense blue colour also doubtless inspired James Cameron's "Heart Of The Ocean" in James Cameron's film Titanic; though in the film the jewel as meant to be a blue diamond, a sapphire was in fact used for the jewel. Be prepared to dig deep into your pocket if you would like a Ceylon sapphire as their colour and quality makes them expensive and uncommon.

Star Sapphires

If you would like something more subtle then why not chose a cabochon sapphire for your engagement ring? You can also find stones called "star sapphires". Star stones literally have a star shape that glides across the stone. This is caused by the presence of "rutile" which means that it causes an optical phenomenon called "asterism" when the light reflects on the rutile in the form of a star.

All the natural sapphire colours can have stars - black, white, pink, purple and blue star sapphires can be used in engagement rings. Blue star sapphires come in varying shades of blue and grey-blue that are often distinctly different to colours found in faceted stones, and these colours, along with the stars lend an unusual charm to the stones that offer an unusual choice for sapphire engagement rings.

Do take care when choosing one of these stones however as stars can be "induced" into stones. This technique began in 1940 after a company called Linde, who were a part of Union Carbide, developed a way to manufacture synthetic star sapphires. A good natural star sapphire can be easily told from a synthetic by a gemmological lab, or indeed a good jeweller. Often, the legs of the star in an induced star sapphire will be very straight and absolutely regular. Get to know your jeweller or a trustworthy gemmologist who can help to show you the differences in real and induced stars as this is vitally important in ensuring you buy the right stone.

What sort of setting looks best for a sapphire engagement ring?

Traditional cluster settings where diamonds surround a sapphire always look good, or a sapphire on its own will always look stunning. A band with stones set flush into the band (gypsy set) is a lovely choice, particularly if you opt for several different colours of sapphires around the band. If you have children you may want to commemorate their birth by having a pink sapphire engagement ring (for a girl), or a blue sapphire (for a boy).

What metal looks best with sapphires?

This depends on the colour of the sapphire to some extent. Darker blue sapphires look good in white metal such as white gold, platinum or palladium. Pale blue sapphires tend to look good with richer matt 18ct yellow gold, but ultimately the choice of metal will be down to you.

Whatever you choose, its your engagement ring and you will need to be happy with it for the rest of your life so take your time and choose your sapphire with care.