In the world of blue gems we all know sapphire is the one name to remember, but for those who prefer the lighter pastel shades of blue, it might have dawned on you that not all sapphires can achieve this look well.

Enter the most famous sky blue gemstone traded today; aquamarine. It's a chemical cousin of emerald, belonging to the same gem species known as beryl. The gem's name is a direct reference to the greenish blues of crystal clear ocean water. It's been prized by nations as the second most expensive beryl species used for jewelry in modern times.



Aquamarine (pictured above), though beautiful in its own 'natural-color' state, is often heated to remove any yellowish modifying colors in order to portray a more pure blue body. This is most often undetectable even by many gemological instruments, and is commonly practiced by a vast majority of gem dealers today. Despite this treatment's presence, it does not mean that aquamarine's colors have no hierarchy. The treatment removes yellow colors, but a gem's star-quality potential still has to be present in its original crystal. Some aquamarine specimens will look dull and grayish no matter what degree of heat is applied to it. This fact means the variety's top colors can hold high values due to rarity, demand and exclusivity.



Darker toned aquamarines with higher saturations are much rarer and much more valuable than lighter ones, even with both having been heat treated. The gemstone's finest locality source is the Santa Maria area of Minas Gerais in Brazil, which is famous for producing many of the world's top quality blue beryls.

On the other side of the fence, another popular sky blue gem has been making waves for the past several decades. Blue topaz can come in an entire range of tones and saturations due to advancements in irradiation and annealing treatments. Topaz typically comes out of the ground in warmer or grayish colors, but the most popular trade varieties today are 'London Blue', 'Swiss Blue' and 'Sky Blue', all priced affordably in most countries.



Depicted in the picture above is the 'Ostro Stone' topaz, the biggest of its kind- weighing in at around 9,381 carats. As you can see, due to the industry being able to mine topaz specimens in large sizes, candidates for heating are not in low supply. Add to this the possibility of high-saturation color treatments and you acquire marvels like this specimen.

The difference between aquamarine and topaz (aside from obvious chemistry), is that blue topaz' colors don't have much of a hierarchy. Yes, topaz is a natural gem mined from the earth, but its bluish hue is completely re-creatable even in near-colorless parcels. This is very different from aquamarine's limited supply of high-saturation stones (especially in smaller carat sizes).



The supply of blue topaz has quenched the increasing demand for pastel blue hues, bringing it to be one of the most popular gems for the color palette used today. The question is, who wins? Aquamarine with more rarity and monetary value, or blue topaz with more affordability and diversity of color tone?

Its elegant name comes from the latin words 'aqua' and 'mare', which respectively mean water and ocean. It's no surprise why these two terms were used to describe the cascading blues of beautiful aquamarine. The modern jewellery industry places the finest colors of aquamarine at very high prices, rivaling even the 'big three' colored stones at some levels. These hues are usually devoid of any greenish or grayish cast and display a pure blue facade with medium dark tone. Saturation of course is of utmost importance, as the most vivid aquamarines incur the highest trade demand for both traditional and contemporary jewellers.


Aquamarine often comes in a greenish blue, or seafoam blue color. Its hue is caused by the presence of iron ions in the crystal composition. Heating some aquamarine can remove the greenish cast and leave the blue color to look more prominent, but this does not always apply to every stone. Some stones have resulted in a worse color after temperature heating, so gem dealers will still set high prices for beautiful heated gems.

It's become familiar in the marketplace to call fine aquamarine 'Santa Maria' blue, named after a mining locale with the same name in Brazilian territories. Many fine specimens of aquamarine crystals have come out of this area, so naturally some people adapted the name reference when trading fine stones of similar color.

Aquamarine (Light Blue Beryl) Can Be Found in Some of the Highest Clarity Levels of Any Precious Gemstone Variety.

It's been said that aquamarine has been a recent favorite of modern gem cutters, especially those who experiment with freeform shapes and designer cuts. The crystal's tendency to be more eye-clean than other colored stones (Type - I Clarity), gives manufacturers a chance to play around with how light travels in and out of the material. Aquamarine's brilliant blues and superior transparency make it an ideal candidate for abstract gem sculptures and faceted artworks.

This pastel blue beryl, while not usually as expensive as its green cousin; the emerald, has garnered a widespread popularity as one of the finest blue stones on the market. It ranks among the top choices, along with blue sapphire, blue diamond, and Paraiba tourmaline as current trade favorites.



Be sure to use gemological knowledge in separating your aquamarine gems from another very similar stone; irradiated blue topaz. The two are very similar in outward appearance, but topaz' blue color is artificially produced in all saturations. Because it doesn't have a hierarchy in color rarity, blue topaz today is actually much cheaper than aquamarine of the same likeness. Being able to tell the difference between these two popular gemstones, will surely help you master the trade and prevent any costly buying mistakes in the years to come.

Noting their differences in optic character /sign is one way of easily separating these two gem identities using a simple gemological polariscope and conosphere (Aquamarine is uniaxial, while topaz is biaxial).

Photography credits - Gemological Institute of America, irocks.com / The Arkenstone