Sun, Sapphires, and a Stone So Rare It Doesn’t Even Have a Definitive Color

Volume 5 – Summer 2023

Summer is peak jewelry season — and this issue is packed with reasons why. We’re talking Padparadscha sapphires (the extraordinarily rare, salmon-peach stone that gemologists can’t quite agree on how to classify, and which you absolutely need to see in person), the summer birthstones that deserve more credit than they get, a rundown of what it actually means to consign a piece with us, and an introduction to Hulchi Belluni, the Italian collection handmade in Arezzo that has quietly become one of our favorites to style.

There’s also an honest answer to a question we get surprisingly often: what’s the actual difference between a yellow sapphire and a yellow diamond? (The answer involves hardness, color stability, and a refreshing amount of nuance.)

Read the Summer 2023 Illuminations and find out which stone has a 100-carat specimen at the Museum of Natural History in New York →