S Croissant Padparadscha Sapphire Ring

Padparadscha is sapphire in a narrow band of colour between pink and orange, holding both at once without settling into either. It is the only sapphire colour with a name of its own. The pink comes from chromium, and the orange from iron and from small defects in the crystal, so the balance is easily lost; a stone that keeps it is among the rarest sapphires of all.

The name comes from the Sinhalese for lotus blossom, and was given in Sri Lanka, where the stones were first found. For most of the twentieth century padparadscha was a Sri Lankan rarity known mainly to the trade, which still argues over exactly where pink-orange ends and a plain pink or orange sapphire begins.

Padparadscha comes from Sri Lanka, where it was first found, from Madagascar since the late 1990s, and in small numbers from Tanzania's Umba valley.

Ceylon, the island's name until 1972, is still the trade's word for Sri Lanka's stones. Most come from the gem gravels around Ratnapura, whose name means city of gems, in the wet south-west of the island. The sapphires weathered out of ancient rock and settled in old riverbeds, where they are still dug from small pits and washed from the gravel in baskets. Ceylon blues are known for being lighter and brighter than most, cornflower rather than ink, and the island gives almost every other colour too, padparadscha included.

AusPost Express in Australia, DHL abroad, signed for and insured. Returns within the terms of the returns policy.

Take it off for the gym, the sea and the garden. Warm water, a drop of soap and a soft brush; dry with a soft cloth.