The short story is that the most prized of the non blue sapphires or the “fancy” sapphires is called the Padparadscha which gets its name form the lotus flower. Its colouring is a blend of pink and orange. These stones are rare and have a distinct even arrangement of the colours throughout. The colours are evenly spread throughout the stone but if you view it from the side and the tones are be separated then this is just a fancy sapphire rather than a true padparadscha.

The longer story is more complex and the colour identity is not as easy as most writers discuss. It seems that people who research this thoroughly suggest that the colouring is also like a tropical sunset.

Experts suggest that even the term padparadscha is misunderstood and perhaps should not be used for what is now commonly understood by the term.

The bottom line for consumer is simply how to tell a padparadscha from a pink sapphire. If experts seem to have so much trouble in deciding what it is exactly and what it should be called then what hope has a consumer got? The answer is to trust your eyes and trust your vendor after taking the steps to make sure that you actually can trust him or her.

The gem experts suggest that a high quality Padparadscha will be untreated, eye clean, that is having no inclusions visible to the naked eye, will have a blend of pink and orange, and will be best cut as a round stone. They will come from Ceylon.

They are best viewed in daylight or fluorescent light rather than incandescent. The lesser quality stones will most likely be heat treated to improve their overall quality as only the very best are untreated. They may also come from other countries such as Vietnam and Africa and even Australia. There are also synthetic padparadscha stones.