Blue Semi-Precious Stone - A guide to Colored Gemstones

Colour reigns supreme when it comes to coloured gemstones. Today, many buyers place a higher value on colour than on gemstone diversity, as long as the stone is durable enough for their needs.

One of the rarest and most valuable colours in the gemstone world is a pure saturated blue. Though several gemstones are blue, only sapphire is pure saturated blue. Tanzanite comes near on occasion, although even the best tanzanite has a touch of violet.

Most blue gemstones are found in milder tints of blue, such as aquamarine's sea blue. Zircon and tourmaline have deeper blues, but the hue is rarely pure. Some blue gems, such as blue topaz, have undergone extensive treatment to achieve their blue body colour.

Here's a quick tour of the world of blue gemstones, which is also available on the website of Iris Gems, a color gemstone wholesaler Toronto.

Tanzanite: Tanzanite is one of the most popular gemstones in the world today. It's a deep violet-blue gemstone form of zoisite that can only be found in Tanzania's Merelani District, near Mount Kilimanjaro. Tanzanite's vibrant and unusual violet-blue colour is unlike any other gemstone colour, although like many blue gemstones, tanzanite's dazzling colour is achieved with regular heat treatment. Tanzanite is slightly softer than many other gemstones for jewellery (6 to 7 on the Mohs scale). However, it is still suitable for jewellery, and you can order it from the website of Iris Gems, a color gemstone wholesaler Toronto.

Spinel: Although spinel is most recognised for its vibrant reds and pinks, it also comes blue. Blue and red spinel have been mistaken for blue sapphire and red ruby. It has gemological qualities comparable to sapphire and ruby. Some spinel colours are regarded as more expensive and rare than others and Iris Gems - a color gemstone wholesaler Toronto, is the best site to buy Spinel. Fine red spinel is often considered the most valuable, followed by a rare blue spinel. Blue spinel in the colour cobalt-blue is the most popular. Spinel is like a diamond with a single refractive index, giving it an extremely pure hue. Blue spinel, unlike sapphire, is rarely treated in any form. Sapphire is slightly softer than spinel.

Zircon: It has a high refractive index than other stones like sapphires and tanzanite. As a result, it has a high level of dispersion, and excellent fire makes it valuable. The hardness of Zircon is 7 - 7.5 on Moh’s Scale, which is reasonably hard. However, zircon is a natural earth element, but Blue zircon is produced by heating brown zircon found in Cambodia and Burma.

Tourmaline: Indicolite is another name for blue tourmaline. It is usually a greenish-blue and is one of the rarest colours in the tourmaline. On the other hand, the uncommon paraiba tourmaline comes in a stunning neon blue colour. Blue Tourmaline refers to two unusual tourmaline varieties: paraiba tourmaline and indicolite tourmaline. Because most blue tourmaline has a prominent secondary green hue, pure blue tourmaline is extremely rare. The most precious kind of tourmaline is the Paraiba tourmaline. Copper traces in Paraiba tourmaline give it its brilliant green-blue colour. 

Benitoite: Benitoite is a rare barium titanium silicate initially discovered in the California town of San Benito. Only gem-quality material has been found in the original location, and this unique stone has been designated as California's official state gem. Benitoite is a Mohs scale hardness of 6 to 6.5.

Topaz: Topaz is rarely found in blue in nature, and almost all blue topaz on the market was created via irradiation and then heating. Blue topaz is widely available and affordable on the website of Iris Gems, a color gemstone wholesaler Toronto. 

Kyanite: Although kyanite can be found in sapphire-like blues, colour constancy is usually poor, with blotches or streaks common in most specimens. The hardness of kyanite varies, ranging from 4 to 4.5 along the long axis to 6.5 at right angles to the long axis.

Blue Chrysocolla Gemstones: Chrysocolla is a hydrous copper silicate of gem quality. It resembles both azurite and malachite in appearance. Although chrysocolla is most known for its vibrant blue to cyan green colour, it also comes in a wide range of uncommon and distinctive blue and green colour combinations. Copper colours chrysocolla are often mistaken for turquoise due to their similar colour and appearance. Because chrysocolla lacks a defined chemical makeup, identifying it by composition can be challenging. Any blue to green copper-bearing silicate that cannot be identified as anything else might be called chrysocolla. Most gem labs will not confidently offer chrysocolla identification reports for the reasons stated.

To buy high quality, authentic blue semi-precious stones, you can contact Iris Gems- color gemstone wholesaler Toronto.