The main sources of teal sapphires are Montana, Australia,
Madagascar, Ethiopia and Nigeria, all equally important with
differences in tone, intensity and brightnessThe USA is amongst teal
sapphire’s most ardent
consumers, followed by
Australia, France, UK, and Asia.
Public awareness regarding teal
sapphires has grown in the last five
years and will continue to grow, says
Navneet Agarwal, Marketing Manager
of Navneet Gems & Minerals Limited
Co., a gem manufacturer based in
Bangkok.
Like a Mermaid
Bold flashes of soft green mixed with a
kiss of blue, teal sapphires have earned
various trade names like “Mermaid”
sapphire. “Mermaid sapphires are a
subset of teal sapphires which have a
specific color ratio of 50% blue and
50% green. Mermaid sapphires are
the top color of teal sapphires,” says
Agarwal. He speculates that this 50-50
colour ratio of blue and green may have the potential to scale up in prices like
a perfect padparadscha colour. “Like
padparadscha, each teal sapphire
appears to have a unique personality
reflected in its color variations.”
The main sources of teal sapphires
are Montana, Australia, Madagascar,
Ethiopia and Nigeria, all equally
important with differences in tone,
intensity and brightness. Teal
sapphires have been actively mined
for more than 100 years in Montana’s
Rock Creek and Potentate Mining is
among the industry’s premier local
producers. “Montana’s teal sapphires
have sporadically been on the
market since the late 1990s. When
we tested the market in 2014-2015,
there was general ambivalence and
dismissiveness about these unique
colors from the Rock Creek Sapphires
but we have seen a paradigm shift,”
says Warren Boyd of Potentate Mining.
He adds, “We could accredit this surge
in interest to the discovery of the first
teal sapphires in Montana.” According
to Agarwal, “the interest also piqued
when Australian teal sapphires were
discovered with their unique coloring. yielding both teal and only a few rare
mermaid sapphires of excellent quality.
The challenge lies in finding rare topgrade
teal or “Mermaid” sapphires of
superior clarity and cut. “We source
our teal sapphires from well-known
mines all over the world. The choice of
source depends on the quality and their
ethical sourcing.”