Colored gems rise and shine
Colored gemstones other than the “Big Four” of diamond, emerald, sapphire and ruby are more and more prominent, bringing their beauty, astonishing colors and incomparable brilliance to high jewelry creations. The rarest specimens command prices equal to those for diamond.
Transparent gemstones that are not one of the four precious stones—diamond, sapphire, ruby, emerald—have never been out of style. They adorned the most exuberant Art Deco creations; their vivid shades complemented the candy-bright fashions of the 1960s; they were there in the 1990s when couturiers-joailliers Chanel and Dior invented a new style of jewelry, turning the spotlight onto enormous, ultrapure aquamarines, citrines or beryls for cocktail rings at Dior, or the fiery shades of garnets and spinels at Chanel. Also at Dior, the artistic director for the House’s jewelry, Victoire de Castellane, reinstated the opal in honor of the first “precious” stone given to her by Karl Lagerfeld, during his tenure at Chanel. /public-objects/5e9aec0f-9c5e-4045-9e9e-394f5cd8566c-135a53c6-4398-469f-8852-672c4e6158bb-1.webp Image sélectionnée /public-objects/cfd95866-6098-4f5f-a06a-67db9c433563-0f8197c0-b497-4ad6-9392-cb36abcc2b78-2.webp Image sélectionnée A fabulous palette of shades A more recent-comer to French jewelry, Louis Vuitton is known for its standout selection of gemstones. The Virtuosity high jewelry collection headlines the most gorgeous bluegreen tourmalines. “It’s often the new names that are behind these explosions of creativity,” notes Emmanuel Piat, the third generation of a family of lapidaries who supply Place Vendôme’s foremost jewelers. Because of their vibrant and intense hue, brilliance, purity and fabulous range of shades—more than ten nuances for the tourmaline alone—interest in colored gemstones has taken off. While their infinite palette of colors opens up vast creative possibilities, with hundreds of different types they are not as rare as the four precious stones, as well as more affordable. /public-objects/a8448cf3-f4fe-4f80-8ff6-6f7129c04381-db59b956-f63b-4637-8845-7b48d3c8fc12-3.webp Image sélectionnée “IT’S OFTEN THE NEW NAMES THAT ARE BEHIND THESE EXPLOSIONS OF CREATIVITY.” More valuable than diamond Or are they? Prices for the finest natural gemstones—ones whose color hasn’t been treated—have soared and can surpass the price of diamonds. At a Christie’s sale in December 2025, a Paraíba tourmaline fetched €825,000, ten times its estimate, while an indicolite tourmaline achieved €241,300—more than twenty times its €10,000 to €15,000 estimate. Also estimated at €10,000 to €15,000, two Paraíba tourmalines changed hands for €139,700. “The rarest gemstones are veritable collector’s items,” adds Emmanuel Piat. “Gems such as cobalt blue spinel, pink zoisite and morganites whose peachy-pink shade is close to that of pink sapphire. Originally sought-after for its resemblance to ruby, red spinel is now in demand in exclusive shades that will actually distinguish it from ruby.” Non-precious gemstones have conquered their own market and won respect in their own right. /public-objects/e2d19768-8f4a-4071-8fca-c2efa271ecec-1c529a75-f734-4939-8346-e19b3f99f7c4-5.webp Image sélectionnée A longstanding favorite of Italians Bulgari and Pomellato, who let loose with impressive gems in the most creative cuts, they also find their place at Van Cleef & Arpels as well as Cartier, where their pure brilliance has long made a perfect match for the understated elegance of hardstones such as turquoise, lapis lazuli, malachite and onyx. In fact we can expect an upward trend for hardstones in the future. Some, such as a perfect sky-blue turquoise, are already impossible to find.