The Ceylon gem guide
What the island produces, what the trade terms actually mean, and what to look at before you spend money.
What Sri Lanka produces
Blue Sapphire
The stone Ceylon is famous for. Sri Lankan blue sapphire runs from pale cornflower to deep royal blue, with a luminous quality that comes from the island's characteristically lighter tone. "Royal blue" and "cornflower" are trade descriptions, not grades — judge the stone, not the adjective.
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Padparadscha Sapphire
The most contested name in the trade: a delicate blend of pink and orange, named after the lotus blossom. True padparadscha is found almost exclusively in Sri Lanka and commands prices far above other fancy sapphires. Certification from a top laboratory matters enormously here.
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Yellow Sapphire
From soft lemon to deep golden. Sri Lanka is the classic source, and yellow sapphire carries real astrological significance in South Asia, which supports demand for clean, well-cut stones in larger sizes.
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Cat's Eye Chrysoberyl
A sharp, mobile silver band across a honey or apple-green body. The best examples show a knife-edge eye that opens and closes cleanly under a single light. Fine cat's eye can out-price sapphire of comparable size.
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Star Sapphire & Star Ruby
Cabochon-cut stones displaying a six-rayed star from needle-like inclusions. Value depends on how straight, centred and mobile the star is, and on the body colour behind it.
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Ruby
Sri Lankan ruby tends toward pinkish to purplish red and is typically lighter than Burmese material. Clean, well-saturated Ceylon rubies above two carats are genuinely scarce.
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Alexandrite
Green in daylight, raspberry-red under incandescent light. Sri Lankan alexandrite is among the world's finest and the colour change should always be assessed on video under two light sources before purchase.
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Spinel
For centuries mistaken for ruby, now valued in its own right. Sri Lanka produces vivid reds, hot pinks, cobalt blues and remarkable lavenders. Almost always untreated, which is a large part of its appeal.
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Moonstone
The blue-sheen moonstone of Meetiyagoda is the world benchmark. Value follows the strength and evenness of the adularescence — that floating blue light — and the transparency of the body.
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Zircon, Topaz & Tourmaline
Sri Lanka's supporting cast, and often the best value on the island. Blue zircon has extraordinary fire, and Ceylon tourmaline appears in chrome greens and vivid pinks at a fraction of sapphire prices.
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1 · Colour
Hue, tone and saturation together drive most of the value. Vivid, evenly distributed colour with no extinction beats a large stone with a washed-out centre every time.
2 · Clarity
Coloured stones are not diamonds — inclusions are expected. What matters is whether they are visible to the unaided eye and whether they threaten the stone's durability.
3 · Cut & weight
Price per carat rises sharply with size, but a deep "native cut" that hides weight in the pavilion, or a window you can read newsprint through, will pull the price straight back down.
4 · Treatment & origin
An unheated stone with a Ceylon origin report can be worth several times an identical-looking heated stone. This is exactly where independent certification earns its fee.
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