Journal

Understanding Padparadscha

Ask any gemologist to name the rarest sapphire in the world, and most will say the same word: Padparadscha.

Ask any gemologist to name the rarest sapphire in the world, and most will say the same word: Padparadscha.

Its name comes from the Sinhala and Sanskrit word for lotus blossom, chosen for a colour that has no simple description - somewhere between the pink of dawn and the orange of a low sun, shifting depending on the light around it.

What makes Padparadscha genuinely rare is not simply its colour, but the near impossibility of manufacturing it convincingly. Every attempt to imitate it in a laboratory falls slightly short - which is, perhaps, exactly why collectors continue to search for the real thing.