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The Best and Most Comprehensive Guide to Sapphires in Los Angeles and on the Web!
Copyright © 2006 INTA GEMS, Inc. All rights reserved.
Yellow Sapphires
Yellow sapphires come in a wide range of tones and saturations from very light canary to deep gold. The most valued specimens are medium vibrant canary yellow stones that exhibit a pure hue, excellent saturation, and brilliant sparkle. Though it is also found in various places around the world such as Australia, Thailand, Burma, and Madagascar, the vast majority of fine quality yellow sapphires come from the mines of Sri Lanka (Ceylon).
Yellow sapphires usually have very clean and bright crystals, which are attractive in a wide variety of lighting conditions ranging from strong sunlight to artificial indoor lights. The recent surge of demand for canary yellow diamonds have also fueled the popularity of fine quality yellow sapphires because of their visual resemblance and as a more affordable alternative.
Unheated fine quality yellow sapphires are very rare and command far higher prices than their heated counterparts. Nonetheless, the vast majority of stones on the market are heated and they should not be considered in any way "inferior."
Besides heating, yellow sapphires can be enhanced by the artificial process of irradiation. The enhancement of color brought upon by irradiation is in no way permanent and the color of an irradiated stone will fade substantially over a period of time. At INTA Gems & Diamonds we do not recognize irradiation to be a process that truly brings forth and perpetuates the fine qualities of a stone and we therefore do not stock any irradiated stones.
When purchasing a yellow sapphire, we at INTA Gems & Diamonds recommend clean and well cut stones with a medium canary yellow color. These medium bright stones are still far less expensive than a comparable blue or pink sapphire and are great values that also serve as safe investments.