Top Sources Of Natural Yellow Sapphire Gemstone

When we generally think of sapphire, we picture a blue-colored enticing gem belonging to royalty. But not all sapphires are blue; those that aren’t blue are fancy sapphires. Never heard of them before? Well, sapphire and ruby, two of the most prominent color gemstones (the third one being emerald, of course), belong to the corundum mineral family. While red corundum is known as ruby, the others are known as sapphires, even the colorless ones.

Fancy Sapphires

Although blue sapphire is, as we all know, the most well-known sapphire, there are fancy sapphires too. Fancy sapphires include pink, green, orange, purple, yellow and violet sapphires. One of the fancy sapphires is yellow sapphire, a gem that people misleadingly, sporadically refer to as “King Topaz” or “Oriental Topaz”. The gem comes in light to dark tones and offers a variety of color variations from yellow to orangy yellow.

Learning About The Yellow Sapphire Gem

Before coming to the bottom line - the top sources of natural yellow sapphire gemstone - let’s learn a bit about the gem. While yellow to orangy yellow sapphires with vivid saturation are the finest, yellow sapphires can range from light to dark greenish yellow to orangy yellow. Yellow sapphire also exhibits either medium yellow or pale yellow pleochroism. Pleochroism is an optical phenomenon found in certain gems. It makes them display different colors when viewed at different angles and in different lighting conditions.

As regards hardness, yellow sapphire scores 9 on the 10-point Mohs scale of hardness. The hardness of gems is measured based on their ranking on the Mohs scale. Yellow sapphire, with such a terrific ranking on the Mohs scale, can surely withstand the wear and tear of average everyday life. Yellow sapphire’s stupendous ability to withstand the rigors of daily life is something that makes the gemstone one of the most coveted color gemstones.

While sapphires can be found abundantly all around the world, gem-quality sapphires are rarer to find. Therefore, among the fewer locations in which they occur, let’s talk about the prime ones.

Sri Lanka

One of the most prominent sources of sapphires, Sri Lanka, produces sapphires of all colors, including yellow sapphires. Sapphire mines in Sri Lanka are among some of the oldest knowns.

Montana

Montana, also known as the Treasure State, produces all fancy sapphires and almost all of the sapphires in the United States. Sapphire has been mined in Montana for more than a century. Most of the sapphires from Montana undergo heat treatment in order to give color to colorless stones or deepen the pale color of gems.

Thailand

The Chanthaburi town in Thailand commonly produces yellow sapphires. The surrounding area of the town has several active mines. Miners and farmers of this town frequently band together to mine farmlands and rehabilitate them later.

Australia

While the vast majority of gem-quality sapphires found in Australia are blue sapphires, the country also produces yellow sapphires. Yellow sapphires from Australia range from intense yellow to strong gold.

The Bottom Line

While there are some other countries that produce natural yellow sapphires, these were some of their major sources. Yellow sapphires are beautiful gems, and considering their hardness, they can be unequivocally worn in any jewelry piece of your choice. If you’re thinking of getting a yellow sapphire, make sure you get one that’s certified by a renowned laboratory.