Padparadscha (Corundum)

Sinhalese for “lotus flower”, padparadscha is a beautiful sapphire that symbolizes the divinity of enlightenment, purity, and wisdom. A gem from the Corundum family, it gets it romantic, sunset tones from iron, chromium, and sometimes color centers (when a missing anion or resulting extra electron absorbs a certain wavelength of light). Padparadscha’s color ranges from pinkish-orange to orange-pink, with light to medium tones and intense saturation. Finding a top color padparadscha in its natural form is incredibly difficult and rare, so heat treatment is applied to most stones to improve the color and clarity. Mainly an export of Sri Lanka, East Africa has also emerged to become a producer of padparadscha.