Stunning in Sapphire: Your Guide to Sapphire Jewellery

Beautiful and precious, richly saturated and impossibly deep in colour, sapphires have adorned crowns, ceremonial robes, and engagement rings for thousands of years, treasured as much for what they represent as for how they look. The appeal of sapphire jewellery has endured for centuries, and this versatile gemstone is an essential in every collection: hard-wearing enough for daily life, generous enough in colour to suit all complexions and metals, and imbued with a storied legacy of symbolism and cultural significance. 

Whether you are searching for an engagement ring with a story behind it, a birthstone gift for someone born in September, or a matching set to mark a forty-fifth anniversary, there is a sapphire to suit every occasion. In this guide, we explore what makes this gemstone so enduringly loved, the precious sentiment it carries, and the pieces from our sapphire jewellery collection that show it at its most beautiful.

Beyond its glittering blue beauty, there are myriad reasons why you should consider a piece of sapphire jewellery for the latest addition to your collection. Whether as a gift for yourself or a loved one, the allure of sapphires surpasses the mere superficial: 

• Incredible durability: As a part of the corundum mineral family, sapphires are one of the hardest natural gemstones on Earth, registering a 9 on the Mohs scale – just below diamond. This makes sapphire jewellery a wonderful choice for everyday wear, as its tough exterior will survive extended daily use. 
• A variety of different shades: Although they are famed for their traditional rich blue hue, sapphires can appear in almost any colour. Known as ‘fancy sapphires’, these stones can range from limpid whites and pale pinks and oranges to deep purples and bottle greens, and even present with two or more distinct shades in one. The only colour a sapphire cannot be is red, as these are classed as rubies – another member of the corundum family. Read our journal entry to learn more about the fascinating variety of shades found in sapphire gemstones. 
• Complements all metals and skin tones: The wide variety of colour options means that sapphires complement practically all skin tones and metal settings, from warm, lustrous yellow golds and deeper undertones to the cool brilliance of platinum and paler, lighter skin. 
• Wonderful beside diamonds: Sapphires and diamonds are natural companions. Sitting so closely together on the Mohs scale, the two stones wear at a similar rate, which makes them a practical pairing for pieces intended to last a lifetime. Visually, they flatter one another: the white fire of a diamond lifts and brightens the colour of a sapphire, while the depth of the sapphire gives the diamonds around it something to shine against.
• Sentimental value: As one of humankind’s most ancient and deeply prized gemstones, sapphire jewellery has been worn and loved across cultures for millennia. With this history follows a deluge of spiritual significance and sentimental depth, making sapphire a wonderfully thoughtful gift for someone truly special.

As with all gifts – whether for a family member, close friend, or even yourself – true beauty comes from the underlying meaning, and sapphire is no exception. This gemstone has been celebrated across cultures and time periods for both its striking appearance and the supposed mystical, spiritual, and intellectual properties that its lustrous hue belies. 

Sapphire held particular weight within the Queen’s own collection, as her beloved Prince Albert presented her with a stunning sapphire and diamond brooch on the eve of their wedding and later designed a bespoke coronet for her using the same special stones.

A Deeper Meaning

Strip away the royal glamour, and the sapphire still carries a remarkable weight of symbolism, which is precisely what makes it such a considered gift: 

• Loyalty, fidelity, and sincerity: Above all, sapphire is the stone of faithfulness. For centuries, it has been associated with honesty of feeling and promises kept, which is why it appears so often in engagement and wedding jewellery. It is also the gemstone of the forty-fifth wedding anniversary, making a sapphire ring, pendant, or set a fitting way to mark four and a half decades together. For couples who wish to celebrate a shorter milestone in the same spirit, the sentiment holds just as well.
• Wisdom, clarity, and sound judgement: Sapphire has long been linked with clear thinking and truth, and was once believed to sharpen the mind and reveal what was hidden. That association makes a piece of sapphire jewellery a graceful way to honour an achievement of the intellect: a graduation, a doctorate, a qualification hard won over years, or a promotion that has been a long time coming.
• Protection and peace: Travellers in the ancient world carried sapphires as talismans, trusting the stone to guard them on the road and to bring calm to the journey. The sentiment translates beautifully to modern life. A sapphire birthstone pendant is a thoughtful gift for a child leaving home for university, a friend moving abroad, or anyone setting out on something daunting, offering a small reminder that they are held in mind.
• September birthstone: Sapphire is also the birthstone for September, which gives the stone an additional layer of personal significance for anyone born under it, and makes a sapphire pendant or pair of studs a natural choice for an autumn birthday.

Something Blue: A Traditional Sapphire Engagement Ring

For the bride who wants her something blue to last well beyond the wedding day, this trilogy ring is perhaps the quintessentially classic expression of sapphire ring jewellery. The three-stone design is one of the oldest in the jeweller's repertoire, and also one of the most romantic: the stones are traditionally read as past, present, and future, a promise that comes to represent the possibilities of married life. 

Set in majority 18ct yellow gold with white gold claws to hold the twin diamonds, the ring balances warmth against brilliance. The yellow gold lends the sapphire a deep, antique richness, while the white gold lifts the diamonds beside it and adds to the stone’s inherent brightness. The result is a ring that would have looked at home on the hand of Queen Victoria herself and yet looks entirely natural on a modern one also, which is precisely the point of a piece intended to be worn for fifty years.

Contemporary Couture: A Modern Sapphire Engagement Ring

Here we have featured the same three-stone architecture, but rendered in an altogether cooler register. Here the setting is platinum, the most enduring of the precious metals and the one that shows a blue sapphire at its truest. Where yellow gold warms a stone, platinum sharpens it, letting the colour read as clean and saturated rather than mellow.

With a total weight of 1.50ct across the three stones, this is a ring with genuine presence, and it suits the wearer who prefers her jewellery to be architectural rather than ornate. There is no filigree and no flourish in the oval-cut sapphire and brilliant-cut diamonds, simply a strong line of stones held in a setting that lets the sparkles take centre stage. For couples drawn to modern design who still want the symbolism of a trilogy behind the ring, it is an elegant compromise.

Shades of Love: A Purple Sapphire Engagement Ring

Not every love story suits a traditional diamond or a blue sapphire, and this is where the extraordinary colour range of the corundum family becomes such a gift. Purple sapphires occupy the ground between violet and plum, shifting with the light from something almost lavender to a deep, wine-dark saturation. They remain comparatively rare, which makes a purple sapphire engagement ring an unusual choice in the best sense.

Set in platinum alongside diamonds, the colour is given room to do the talking. This is the ring for someone who wants the meaning and the durability of a sapphire without the expectation that comes with a conventional blue stone, and who would rather her ring act as a conversation piece. 

Timeless Romance: Sapphire Anniversary Ring

An eternity ring is the natural companion to a sapphire anniversary, and this half eternity design carries 0.60ct of alternating sapphires and diamonds across the front of the band. The half setting is the practical choice as well as the graceful one: the smooth reverse sits comfortably against the finger and against neighbouring rings, and the band can be resized in a way a full eternity ring cannot.

The design is offered in two metals, and the difference between them is worth considering. In 18ct yellow gold, the sapphires read as warm and deep, and the ring stacks beautifully with gold wedding and engagement bands. In platinum, the same stones look brighter and more contemporary, and the metal sits seamlessly beside a platinum engagement ring. Whether you are marking forty-five years or simply want to add to a ring stack that has grown with your marriage, either version makes a lovely statement.

This is a sapphire jewellery set that was designed to be noticed. Built loosely around a star motif, the collection takes the sapphire out of its formal setting and gives it something freer and more expressive: a shape where movement is inherent, scattered across the ear, the neck, and the hand. It suits the wearer who dresses with stylish intent, who enjoys the maximalist celebration of abstract and interesting designs, and who has never seen the appeal of understatement. 

The ring undoubtedly constitutes the showpiece, around which this entire sapphire jewellery edit faithfully revolves. A 1.20ct cluster of sapphire and diamonds in platinum, this ring gives the star concept its fullest and grandest expression, a central stone haloed by brilliance so that the entire piece catches light from every angle. It works as a dress ring, an anniversary gift, or an unconventional engagement ring for someone who loves a sense of scale.

Where the star set is exuberant, the oblong set is composed. Every piece here is built on the same elongated rectangular geometry, and the effect is calm, linear, and deeply elegant. There is a satisfying logic to it, where clean edges, even proportions, and a considered design language reign supreme, bringing a sense of order and symmetry to its wearer. This is the sapphire jewellery set for the individual who values precision, and who would rather her jewellery complement an outfit than interrupt it.

The thin, angular band of gemstones and precious metals that is this sapphire tennis bracelet completes the set, wrapping a continuous line of sapphires and diamonds around the circumference of the wrist. A tennis bracelet is one of the great milestone gifts, and in sapphire and diamond it carries both the sparkle of the occasion and the symbolism of the stone in equal measure. 

A sapphire is a gemstone you choose once and wear for a lifetime, so it is worth taking the time to find the right one. Whether you are drawn to the deep blue of a traditional engagement ring, the rarity of a purple sapphire, or the symmetry of a matching set, every piece of sapphire jewellery in our collection has been selected by our experts for the quality of its colour and the care of its craftsmanship.

Browse our full range of sapphire jewellery online, or visit one of our showrooms to see the stones in person. Our friendly team of experts would be delighted to talk you through the collection, discuss a bespoke or sentimental commission, or simply help you work out which shade suits you best.