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Know More
 Gemstone
Color
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While there is no standardized system for
judging the color of gemstones, many jewelers consider it to be the
most important criterion for evaluating gemstones. Color that is
vivid, even and saturated throughout the entire stone makes a gem
more valuable. When describing gemstone color, jewelers speak in
terms of three characteristics:
hue, saturation and tone.
Hue refers to a
gemstone's basic color. Those with purer hues are generally considered more
valuable; for example, green for emeralds, blue for sapphires and red for
rubies. Sometimes there is a hint of another color. Emeralds may range from
yellowish green to bluish green, sapphires from purplish blue to greenish blue
and rubies from orangey red to purplish red.
Saturation is a measure of
the color’s intensity or purity. It is determined by the degree to which the
stone is free from muting gray or brown hues. The most desirable gemstones, with
saturation described as "vivid" or "strong," show little gray or brown. Since
value increases with saturation, a fully saturated bluish green emerald may very
well be more expensive than a muted pure green one.
Tone represents the
depth of color and is a measurement of the color’s lightness or darkness,
ranging from colorless to black. Jewelers describe tone as either light,
medium-light, medium, medium-dark or dark.
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