For the longest time, girls believed that their sole best friends were diamonds. But times have changed, and diamonds aren’t the only best friend a girl can have because other precious stones have entered the picture, one of which is sapphire.

While sapphire stones only come second to diamonds, they are equally beautiful and precious. And before investing in sapphire, you must be sure of the integrity of all your transactions. So, to help you source the most reliable online sapphire jewelry merchants around, we have curated the top 10 best places to buy sapphire jewelry online 2022.

10 Best Places to Buy Sapphire Jewelry Online 2022

September is the start of our favorite autumn season, and this month’s birthstone is as beautiful as the season—sapphire. When we see sapphire stones or jewelry, they remind us of royalty, romance, loyalty, and high society. And if you’re the kind of collector who’s tempted to buy one when you see one, this article is for you. 

So, read further and take notes! 

What Is A Sapphire Stone? 

Sapphire is a desirable gemstone because of its color, luster, hardness, and durability. It has a hexagonal crystal system, and its transparency varies from transparent to opaque. The gem has a vitreous to adamantine luster with a hardness of 9 in the Mohs scale. 

Many of us imagine this beautiful stone in a rich blue hue. However, sapphire comes in different colors too, such as pink, yellow, green, orange, brown, white, gray, black, purple, colorless, and multicolored. But what color sapphire is most valuable? The cornflower blue sapphire, also known as Kashmir Sapphire, is the most valuable of all the gem colors.  

How Do You Buy A High-Quality Sapphire?

Before identifying how to buy high-quality sapphire, you may want to know which sapphire is the best quality. The answer? Blue sapphires. It is imperative for buyers to be well-informed before purchasing this gemstone. Allow us to be of help and take note of these different factors to consider:  

Assess Your Sapphire Gemstone

Even if you’re planning to purchase the most valuable blue sapphire, you must be careful to assess the stone before bringing it home. Every blue sapphire is unique, so you’d have to judge your sapphire through the 4 C’s. 

• Color – the primary factor in choosing the right color is to look at the stone’s saturation. Saturation refers to the intensity of the color. Consumers and collectors prefer blue sapphires with a higher level of saturation. 
• Cut – refers to what makes a gemstone sparkle. It shows how a stone is faceted and polished off its rough state. Sapphires have cut grades, and it factors in brilliance, windowing, symmetry, and extinction. 
• Clarity – regardless of quality, most sapphires come with inclusions. Sapphires with zero inclusions are most probably synthetic. However, you want to source for sapphires with inclusions not visible to the untrained eye. Experts are the only people cut out for the task of looking at sapphires with the right amount of almost invisible inclusions. Remember that the lesser the visibility of the inclusions, the higher the gemstone’s grade. 
• Carat – similar to diamond, a sapphire’s weight is measured in carats. The larger stones are hard to get as opposed to the smaller ones; hence they are valued higher. 

Pick Out the Best Shade of Blue

The most coveted sapphire has a rich, velvety blue shade in medium to medium-dark tones. However, a blue sapphire’s color is generally evaluated for the following characteristics:

• Hue. The gemstone’s hue refers to its overall color, including primary colors and any other overtones it possesses. The best quality blue sapphires have similar hues with little to no zoning. Jewelers often hyphenated color words such as blue-violet or bluish-green in describing a blue sapphire’s hues. In writing these color words, the gem’s overtones are written first, followed by its primary color.
• Tone. The gemstone’s tone refers to its color’s depth. To further understand this, take a cornflower blue sapphire and dark blue sapphire. Both sapphires possess the same color but have very different tones. The former possesses a light-medium tone, while the latter has a dark one. Blue sapphires with medium and medium-dark tones, in general, have the highest value. 
• Saturation. The gemstone’s saturation refers to the purity of its color. Many jewelers believe that sapphire gemstones with overtones of brown and gray have poor saturation, while those with a vivid blue color have good saturation. 

Know The Origin of Your Blue Sapphire

Knowing where your sapphire comes from is crucial if you want to get high-valued, blue sapphires. Miners mine blue sapphires from various locations around the world. Every location that produces blue sapphires does not produce identical stone quality and quantity. 

Currently, the three most famous mining locations are Madagascar, Burma, and Sri Lanka, but the best country to buy sapphires is Kashmir, India. The blue sapphires in Kashmir are known as some of the best, although they are extremely rare, given that the mines there have stopped producing sapphire. You can also find a good production of dark-blue sapphires in Australia. 

Gather Facts

Like every other purchase you’d make, you have to get the basic facts about sapphire before actually buying one. This part is where a gem identification report, also known as a lab report, comes in handy. 

A gem’s lab report shows every detail about the gemstone to ascertain its quality and authenticity. A gemologist is licensed to make such a report. 

Ask Significant Questions

There’s no shame in asking questions if there are things that you do not know about the gemstone. You can always count on an expert if there’s something you want to understand. 

There are several teams of GIA-trained professionals who are always available to assist you in the process of accumulating your precious jewel. 

What Are The Best Places to Buy Sapphire Jewelry Online 2022?

 

Buying jewelry online is, to a certain degree, risky. Thus, you are responsible for conducting thorough research on the most reliable sapphire jewelry online merchant. Lucky for you, you don’t have to look further because we have come up with this list of the 10 best places to buy sapphire jewelry online 2022. 

Brilliant Earth

If you are ethically conscious, want to give back to different causes, and purchase from a shop that shares the same value, then Brilliant Earth is for you. 

The store offers a wide selection of loose sapphire stones and sapphires in a jewelry set. It also permits buyers to customize their own engagement rings. Brilliant Earth sells lab-created and natural sapphires. If a buyer opts for the natural-made sapphire, they will disclose the origin of that particular stone. 

Zales 

While Zales was initially a brick-and-mortar store, it has now added an online jewelry store. Zale’s ultimate goal was to sell jewelry at the lowest price, giving birth to the mass marketing of jewelry pieces in the United States. 

Zales is known to focus on selling diamond jewelry and diamond engagement rings. However, it also sells sapphire jewelry, although it doesn’t sell these stones in a loose setting. The shop’s inventory is also huge, so there are numerous options to choose from. 

Blue Nile

The famous Blue Nile offers an outstanding collection of excellent-quality sapphire jewelry, including bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces. While it only has a relatively small collection, its rings are undeniably beautiful and of high quality. Blue Nile does not offer loose sapphire stones. All their sapphires are mounted on a setting. 

Additionally, the shop offers installment plans and financing options based on buyers’ budgets. Its rings also come at different prices, so you are sure to secure something that suits your wallet.

Jared Jewelry

Jared Jewelry initially specialized in diamonds. However, it now has sapphire jewelry, too. Its diamonds are GIA-certified, so we can be secure in knowing that its other jewelry pieces are also genuine. 

The shop offers a lifetime guarantee on its jewelry, so long as the buyer meets its rule of six-month inspections. It also guarantees that its items qualify for unpaid returns within 30 days. 

Check out this JARED review of a natural sapphire ring with diamonds in 10k gold.

James Allen

This online jewelry giant is known for focusing on diamonds, but it has recently expanded to the sapphire market. James Allen is eminent for its dedication to providing excellent customer service and quality jewelry. 

It has engagement rings found in blue, pink, and yellow sapphires. But in the sapphire market, it is mostly known for its wide range of blue sapphire engagement rings and loose stones. It has over a thousand engagement rings to choose from and 2,500 loose stones. 

Mappin & Webb

Mappin & Webb, a luxury British jewelry retailer, specializes in watches and diamonds. In an attempt to stand out from its competitors, the brand created an exclusive diamond of its own. The Mappin & Webb diamond is GIA certified. However, diamonds aren’t all that it offers. 

Today, the British jewelry brand offers sapphire jewelry pieces. It has sapphire stones set in yellow, rose, and white gold rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. While most of its sapphires are blue, the shop also has a few selections of sapphires in other colors.

Take a closer look at this 0.73ct platinum diamond and sapphire half eternity ring in our Mappin & Webb review.

GLAMIRA

GLAMIRA is one of the most reliable online jewelry retailers. The brand has over 650 people working behind it, with offices in nine countries, brick-and-mortar stores in 65 countries, and 76 online stores. 

The brand isn’t solely focused on one gemstone. Instead, it sells varying stones, such as diamonds, precious and semi-precious stones, and pearls. And to further cater to a wide range of consumers, it also sells colliers, brooches, knuckle rings, anklets, and nose pins. Plus, it has a separate collection for men and kids. 

Leibish

Leibish is hailed as one of the most prominent shops in gemstone commerce. It is renowned for producing a flawless quality of untreated and unenhanced gemstones and their elegant settings. Leibish is also rigorous in its selection process of sapphire stones. Hence, you can be sure to get sapphire jewelry of exceptional quality at Leibish.  

Unfortunately, the shop has a small inventory of sapphires. Thus, the turnover can be quite speedy and you might lose your sapphire of choice if you don’t purchase it right away. 

Ice Carats

Ice Carats is another exceptional online retailer that boasts of 100% ethical sourcing. The retailer guarantees that all its gemstones and diamonds are conflict-free. Furthermore, it provides E-certificates of Authenticity for every piece of jewelry purchased and a lifetime warranty. Hence, giving its buyers more peace of mind. 

Ice Carats don’t just focus on diamonds and sapphires, but you can also buy semi-precious gems from the shop. It sets its sapphire stones in both sterling silver and gold metals. 

The Natural Gem

The Natural Gem is an online jewelry retail shop that uses recycled gold in producing its jewelry. According to the vendor, it doesn’t use freshly-mined metals because circulated gold ensures that no cyanide or mercury is present in the metal. 

Most of what it’s selling are precious and semi-precious stones. It also produces sapphire jewelry in different sapphire colors. And the photo catalog on its website contains the exact customized orders of their buyers. 

Are The Best Places to Buy Sapphire Jewelry Online 2022 Reliable?

 

Is sapphire worth buying? Sapphires are undeniably gorgeous and extravagant precious gemstones. We find them in the hands of royalty, such as Duchess Kate Middleton’s iconic blue sapphire engagement ring. Sapphires are more affordable, and they’re as durable as diamonds. Most importantly, they are rising in value. Hence, if you have the budget for sapphire jewelry, then invest in one! But remember to purchase in any of the jewelry shops listed here as they have already proven their integrity through hundreds of different customer reviews and testimonials.  

If you want to know more about sapphire and the role it plays in engagement rings, read this article on “Best and Worst Stones for Engagement Rings You Should Know About.”