Gems by Color

Many people purchase gems by type - for example, they want to buy asapphire,
a tourmaline or an amethyst. But one thing we've learned in thecolored gem business is
that most customers are concerned above all with color, and are less concerned with
gem variety, as long as the stone they buy is durable enough for their purpose.
Finding gems by color can often be difficult, since websites tend to organize their
inventory around gem varieties rather than colors. So for those who want to know what
their options are in particular colors, here is a list of gem types organized by color.
Since there are hundreds of color variations in colored gems, we have organized this list
around "base" colors or color families. A red-orange gem would fall in the "orange"
category and a blue-green stone would be in the "green" category.
Red
Red gemstones are actually quite rare, and mainly occur in ruby, spinel andgarnet.
There is some very fine red tourmaline (sometimes called rubellite), but it is not often
found.

Ruby
Spinel
Garnet
Tourmaline
Andesine
Zircon

Pink
The most popular pink gemstones are tourmaline and spinel. Pink sapphire is lovely but
rare. Rhodolite garnet tends to be purple-pink. For more about pink gemstones see
our feature article on the topic.

Sapphire
Tourmaline
Spinel
Rhodolite Garnet
Rose Quartz
Kunzite
Morganite

Blue
The classic blue gemstone is sapphire. Deeply saturated blue is also found
inspinel and kyanite. There are a number of choices in the lighter blues,

including topaz, zircon and aquamarine. Tanzanite and iolite are more of a violet blue,
while Paraiba tourmaline, apatite and fluorite tend to be blue-green.

Sapphire
Tanzanite
Topaz
Zircon
Spinel
Aquamarine
Apatite
Lapis Lazuli
Tourmaline
Paraiba Tourmaline
Rainbow Moonstone
Iolite
Kyanite
Agate
Fluorite

Green
The traditional green gem is emerald, but tsavorite garnet, chrome tourmaline and
chrome diopside are good alternatives. See our feature article on chrome diopside for
the recent history of the market for the finer green gemstones.Peridot, which tends to
be olive green, has become an important jewelry gemstone.

Emerald
Tourmaline
Paraiba Tourmaline
Chrome Tourmaline
Tsavorite Garnet
Demantoid Garnet
Chrome Diopside
Peridot
Jade
Apatite
Sapphire
Aventurine
Prehnite
Agate
Ruby-Zoisite

Yellow/Gold
Citrine is the most common yellow to gold gem, but yellow sapphire is highly sought

after. There are also good choices in harder gems such as beryl andchrysoberyl. Yellow
tourmaline from Malawi is very rare.

Sapphire
Citrine
Fire Opal
Tourmaline
Sphene
Zircon
Orthoclase
Chrysoberyl
Beryl
Spodumene
Quartz
Agate
Diamond

Violet/Purple
The list of violet and purple gemstones is quite short. Amethyst is the classic example,
though fluorite can also be found in an amethyst-like purple. There are wonderful violet
hues in spinel, tourmaline and sapphire. Chalcedony frequently occurs in a unique
lavender hue.

Amethyst
Fluorite
Spinel
Tourmaline
Sapphire
Chalcedony

Orange
Spessartite garnet is the most famous orange gem but there are a number of other
options as well. Orange sapphire is produced by heat treatment, while the finer fire opal
occurs in hues from yellow-orange to red-orange.

Spessartite Garnet
Zircon
Fire Opal
Sapphire
Tourmaline
Imperial Topaz
Moonstone
Star Moonstone

 Citrine
Andesine
White
This category includes both colorless gems, such as diamond, sapphire, zircon and
topaz, as well as white gemstones like fire opal and moonstone.

Diamond
Sapphire
Zircon
Moonstone
Topaz
Fire opal
Jade
Quartz
Agate

Brown/Bronze
It is fair to say that brown is not the most popular color in gemstones. But there are
some notable exceptions, such as the peach-orange-bronze of imperial topaz.

Smoky Quartz
Tiger's eye
Agate
Tourmaline
Imperial Topaz

Gray/Silver
There are very few gemstones which are predominantly gray or silver. In our
experience the most popular is spinel, whose brilliance and single refractionshow gray
and silver at its best.
Spinel
Tourmaline
Fluorite
Black
We occasionally stock black diamonds (produced by irradiation). But by far the most
popular black gemstone is tourmaline. The black star sapphires only found in
Chanthaburi, Thailand are also very popular.
Diamond
Tourmaline

Onyx
Agate
Sapphire
Star Sapphire

Multicolor
In the category of multicolor gemstones we list those gems which display multiple
colors in a single stone. Some of these gems, such as tourmaline, fluorite and ametrine,
have zones of different colors. Others, such as andalusite, are strongly pleochroic and
display different colors from different angles.

Tourmaline
Ametrine
Fluorite
Andalusite
Opal
Sphene
Sapphire
Mystic Topaz
Mystic Quartz