Color Change Sapphire Earrings
Early 20th Century Art Deco Clip-on Earrings
Sapphire, 14k Gold
2010s African Modern Dangle Earrings
Pink Sapphire, Platinum
Mid-20th Century Stud Earrings
Diamond, Sapphire, Gold, 14k Gold, Yellow Gold
2010s Northern Irish Contemporary Dangle Earrings
Diamond, Sapphire, Spinel, 18k Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Armenian Egyptian Revival Drop Earrings
Sapphire, Garnet, Spinel, Yellow Gold, 14k Gold, Gold, White Gold, Rose ...
2010s Unknown Modern Dangle Earrings
Diamond, White Diamond, Ruby, Sapphire, Pink Sapphire, 18k Gold, White Gold
2010s American Contemporary Dangle Earrings
Sapphire, Topaz, 14k Gold
2010s Unknown Contemporary Drop Earrings
Blue Sapphire, Purple Sapphire, Diamond, White Diamond, Sapphire, Platinum
21st Century and Contemporary American Contemporary Stud Earrings
Diamond, Sapphire, Blue Sapphire, 14k Gold, White Gold, Yellow Gold
20th Century Dangle Earrings
Sapphire, 18k Gold, White Gold
2010s American Hoop Earrings
Sapphire, 18k Gold
Color Change Sapphire Earrings For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much are Color Change Sapphire Earrings?
The Legacy of Sapphire in Jewelry Design
On 1stDibs, shop the bright blue gems that star in sapphire rings, sapphire necklaces and other vintage and antique sapphire jewelry.
Sapphires — the stone of choice for Napoleon, Princess Diana and Elizabeth Taylor — have been a favorite of aristocrats and the well-to-do since the time of the Ancient Greeks.
Picture a sapphire. If the stone you conjure is a deep cornflower blue, you’re seeing only part of the picture. Although blue Kashmirs are considered the most valuable, sapphires come in every color except red. No matter the hue, this very special gem is rich in history and beloved by royals (FYI, Princess Diana and Kate Middleton share an 11-carat sapphire engagement ring), so September babies are in very noble company.
America’s version of royalty — old money and celebrities — have also shown a predilection for the blue stones. In 1940, John D. Rockefeller Jr. had Cartier mount a 62-carat sapphire he had bought from an Indian maharajah in a brooch for his first wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller; in 2001, the piece sold for a then-record of $3,031,000 at Christie’s New York.
The grand dame of jewelry, Elizabeth Taylor had a passion for the gems that her lovers were happy to indulge. Second husband Michael Wilding gave her an engagement ring set with a cabochon sapphire, while Richard Burton famously presented her with a BVLGARI sautoir set with diamonds and sapphires, including at its center a cabochon Burmese weighing 52.72 carats. One of the star lots in the sale of Taylor’s jewels at the Christie’s New York in 2011, it sold for $5,906,500.
You don’t have to have blue blood or a bulging bank account, however, to get an eyeful of this much-coveted gem. A number of outstanding examples reside in public collections.
The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History owns the 423-carat Logan sapphire, a gift from the Guggenheim family, and the Hall sapphire and diamond necklace, designed by Harry Winston and featuring 36 fine, well-matched cushion-cut Sri Lankan sapphires weighing a combined 195 carats. Also in the collection is the Bismarck sapphire necklace, designed by Cartier and sporting a central sapphire weighing 98.6 carats, which Mona Von Bismarck donated to the museum.
Sapphires are composed of corundum. Their color derives from trace elements, such as iron, titanium, chromium, copper or magnesium. When the trace element produces a ruby hue, the stone is called, what else, a ruby. (which is, as mentioned above, why sapphires cannot be red by definition).
The allure of large gemstones endures throughout the periods characterized as vintage, and sapphire features frequently in vintage engagement rings. (On 1stDibs, a range of buying guides can be found for those in the market for antique engagement rings, vintage engagement rings or Art Deco engagement rings.)
Find an exquisite collection of vintage and antique sapphire jewelry on 1stDibs.
Finding the Right Earrings for You
In the United States, ear piercing didn’t really become popular until the 1950s and ‘60s, but our desire for a dazzling pair of vintage earrings has deeper roots than that. In fact, wearing earrings actually goes back thousands of years, and you can find many tangible connections between now and then in how we continue to talk about these treasured accessories.
Women wore ornamental earrings — studs and hoops at the very least — in Ancient Egypt, which is home to mines that are among the earliest sources of emeralds in the world. Emerald earrings are highly prized today, and their quality lies in their rich, saturated color. The highest-quality emeralds are green or bluish-green. Earrings worn by the affluent in early Roman civilizations were set with precious stones such as diamonds and pearls, and a clean-looking pop of pearl on the front of the lobe is as timeless as ever. Hoop earrings are imbued with symbolism and cultural significance for many, and on view in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Ancient Near Eastern Art Gallery is a pair of simple gold hoops from Mesopotamia dating to between 2600 and 2500 B.C.
Today, ear piercing is very popular all over the world, and, as a result, it is difficult to overstate how much everyone pines for a good pair of earrings — modernist drop earrings, glamorous Victorian hoops, geometrically complex chandelier earrings, you name it. Sure, jewelry trends and the fashion darlings of social media come and go, but earrings have a staying power that seems impenetrable: The still-strong love affair between British royals and Cartier earrings is more than a century old, glossy 1970s hoops from legacy houses such as Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels remain the statement makers they’ve always been and although people have been stacking earrings for many moons, the allure of an expertly mismatched stack of charms and studs still feels fresh and new.
While there is no shortage of modern earring designs to choose from, the classics, like coral earrings, Art Deco–style earrings and diamond drop earrings are still heavy hitters. On 1stDibs, find a wide range of antique, new and vintage earrings today.
- What is a color-change sapphire?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertOctober 19, 2021A color-change sapphire is a type of sapphire that can change colors under different sources of light. The strength of this gemstone’s color change affects its value. Under incandescent light, the color of a color-change sapphire may range from a very violet-purple to a strongly reddish purple. Find antique and vintage sapphire jewelry on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertOctober 12, 2021Color change sapphires are extremely rare gemstones that change colors under different lighting. When under daylight or its equivalent, the stone exhibits colors ranging from blue to violet — whereas, under incandescent light, the colors range from a purple we associate with violet to strongly reddish-purple. Find a collection of vintage sapphire jewelry on 1stDibs today.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022A synthetic color-change sapphire is a lab-grown sapphire with color shifting abilities. Color-changing sapphires generally change from a blue-purple hue to a deeper true violet shade. Shop a collection of synthetic and natural sapphire jewelry on 1stDibs.
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