Purple sapphire engagement rings are unique in that they appear to change color depending on the lighting, and may look like two different rings under various lighting conditions.
Purple sapphires look blue in the daylight and have more of a violet hue under incandescent lights.
The more dramatic the color change, the more valuable the sapphire is considered to be.
If you like sapphires, you're not alone.
Sapphires continue to be the best selling gem in the U.
S.
When people think about sapphires, they usually think of blue sapphires.
However, natural sapphire comes in a variety of colors.
Sapphires that are not blue are referred to collectively as fancy sapphires.
Purple sapphires as well as other colored sapphires can be found in Madagascar, Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, and Australia to name a few regions.
Heating sapphires may add to their value by enhancing color and clarity.
It is estimated that over 90-95% of the sapphires in the market today are heat-treated.
Purple sapphires are a good choice for engagement rings because sapphires as a whole, are extremely durable gems.
In fact, sapphires are the hardest gemstone except for diamonds.
Thus, your ring can withstand all the elements and rigors of daily wearing, without you having to think twice.
In addition, purple sapphires are a good deal, often costing less than blue sapphires.
As with diamonds, sapphires increase disproportionately in cost as their carat weight increases.
i.
e.
A three carat sapphire might cost a lot more than three separate sapphires adding up to three carats in weight.
This is due in part to the fact that large carat sapphires are relatively rare.
The kind of sapphire cut also impacts cost, with round sapphires costing slightly more than marquis or pear cuts.
Blue sapphire engagement rings have been known to be preferred by royalty because the blue sapphire stone is even more rare than a diamond and is almost as hard.
This is a nice factoid to share with your number one queen as you slip a blue sapphire engagement ring on her ring finger.
Blue sapphires come in a range of shades from a light to deep blue.
The blue color is due to the level of titanium in the stone: the more titanium, the richer the color.
However, too much color can actually create a dull black effect, reducing the price of the stone.
Most blue sapphires are found in Sri Lanka, Burma, and Madagascar.
Burmese sapphires tend to cost more than those from Sri Lanka and Madagascar due to their brilliant color.
Kashmir blue sapphires are the most rare and expensive of all as the supply found in a remote region of India was exhausted around a 100 years ago, thus escalating price and demand.
Prices for blue sapphires depend on whether or not they've been treated (with untreated costing much more) as well as color, cut, tone (lightness or darkness of stone), saturation (degree to which hue is hidden by other shades), and clarity.
One carat blue sapphires can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand.
Rainbow sapphire engagement rings seem to be increasing in popularity these days.
There are a number of websites devoted solely to selling rainbow sapphire jewelry.
Quite a few websites also offer rainbow sapphire wedding lines.
Check out these websites offering a variety of rainbow sapphire engagement rings http://www.
rainbowsapphire.
com This website is pretty awesome if you love rainbow sapphire jewelry! It has two separate collections for rainbow sapphires with intense hues and those with medium color saturation.
Unfortunately, they don't sell directly to customers.
However, you can send them an email to find out where an authorized retailer is located nearby to you http://www.
titanium-jewelry.
com This website offers several really cool looking syles for rainbow sapphire rings.
The rings are solid titanium with rainbow sapphire chips.
Very stylish and unique without looking gawdy.
http://www.
amazon.
com Go to this power-house and type in "rainbow sapphire rings" and a bevy of colorful results will appear.