For over 100 years, reference has been made to a unique sapphire, the color of a lotus blossom, the padparadscha. Yet the precise hue represented by this rare stone has been a subject of discussion, ...

36–43. Photo courtesy of Vincent Pardieu. In the early 2000s, the sapphire market was flooded with a supply of pink-orange padparadscha sapphires of unusually rich color. Upon testing, the new stones ...