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Guide

Violet Gemstones: Which Purple Stone to Wear

Purple sapphire, purple spinel, amethyst, tanzanite and more: seven stones, sorted by how you will wear them.

By Ilyes MakriaUpdated Oct 10, 20264 min read
Natural lilac purple sapphire, radiant cut, from the Joalys collection
The short answer

Which violet gemstone can you actually live with? For every day, purple sapphire (9 on the Mohs scale) or purple spinel (8). Amethyst is the easy, affordable one. Tanzanite is the beauty you have to protect. Below: real stones from our collection, then every violet gemstone by how well it wears.

Hardest in this guide
Purple sapphire, 9 on the Mohs scale
Next
Purple spinel, 8
Most common
Amethyst, 7
Most delicate (cleavage)
Tanzanite and kunzite
Almost always heated
Tanzanite, about 95 percent of blue stones
Rarely or never treated
Spinel, iolite, garnet

Which violet gemstones can you wear every day?

Two of the seven: sapphire and spinel. A ring gets scratched, and it gets knocked. Hardness is how a stone takes scratches. Toughness is how it takes knocks: chips, breaks. A hard stone can still lose the second if it has cleavage, a direction along which it splits. Tell the grid how you will wear yours.

Which violet gemstone suits the way you will wear it?

Pick how you will wear it

How will you wear it?
Treatment

Seven violet gemstones, hardest first.

Sapphire and spinel are the safest choices for a ring worn every day.

Tanzanite, iolite and kunzite have cleavage. They suit earrings, pendants or a ring you take off.

Spinel and garnet are rarely treated. Iolite is not treated.

Sapphire and amethyst are often heated. Almost all blue tanzanite is.

7 stones

Source: Hardness and toughness are the published values for each species, not a test of one stone. The photos of amethyst, rhodolite, iolite, tanzanite and kunzite are credited photographs of stones we do not sell.

Tanzanite, iolite and kunzite all have cleavage, so give them earrings, a pendant or a ring you take off. Iolite is vulnerable in a setting exposed to rough daily wear.

Purple sapphire: the violet stone for every day

Same mineral as ruby, different color. Purple sapphire is corundum: 9 on the Mohs scale, toughness usually excellent. No violet stone in this guide copes better with a daily ring. Iron, titanium and chromium, in different amounts, make most fancy sapphire colors.

Violet, purple, lilac, lavender: where is the line?

Violet is the hue next to blue. Purple sits between violet and red. Lilac and lavender? Names sellers give, ours included. So we lined up seven of our sapphires in the order of their measured hue, each under the name we sell it by. Drag the marker and watch our names fall out of line.

Everything I used to see as blue, I now see as purple. A true blue, a really blue blue, was impressive. Since then I keep training my eye for it.

Slide across seven real sapphires

Drag the marker

Hue of seven sapphires, from the blue side to the red side
Sapphire sold as Bluish Violet, 2.01 caratsSold as Bluish Violet sapphire · 2.01 ct. View this stone

The closest to blue of the seven.

Sapphire sold as Purple, 1.75 caratsSold as Purple sapphire · 1.75 ct. View this stone

Sold as purple, yet it measures closer to blue than the stone we sell as violet.

Sapphire sold as Purple, 1.55 caratsSold as Purple sapphire · 1.55 ct. View this stone

Also sold as purple. Darker, and a step further from blue.

Sapphire sold as Lilac Purple, 1.25 caratsSold as Lilac Purple sapphire · 1.25 ct. View this stone

Lilac here names a softer color, not a different hue.

Sapphire sold as Lavender Purple, 1.41 caratsSold as Lavender Purple sapphire · 1.41 ct. View this stone

The palest of the seven. On our stones, lavender names the lightest one.

Sapphire sold as Violet, 1.14 caratsSold as Violet sapphire · 1.14 ct. View this stone

Sold as violet, yet it measures further from blue than four stones we sell as purple, lilac or lavender.

Sapphire sold as Purple, 1.59 caratsSold as Purple sapphire · 1.59 ct. View this stone

The furthest from blue: purple in name and in hue.

Towards blueViolet sideTowards redPurple side

The bluest of the seven. On the hue circle, violet is the hue that sits next to blue.

In this stretch the name tells you little. Violet, purple, lilac and lavender are sellers’ words, ours included, and they do not line up with the measured hue.

Further from blue, closer to red. On the hue circle, purple sits between violet and red.

The furthest from blue of the seven: purple in name and in hue.

Real sapphires from our catalogue, placed in the order of the hue we measured on our own studio photos, not on the stones. The color names are the ones we sell them by. Photos are not to scale. There is no fixed line between violet and purple.

Is purple sapphire heated?

Often, and the reason may surprise you: purple sapphires are heat treated to reach a more valuable pink or red. So ask: is this one heated, and does the report say so? Our guide to unheated and heated sapphire explains what heating changes.

Now turn one of ours.

Oval purple sapphire of 1.59 carats seen from above, on a white ground
Purple sapphireA 1.59 carat sapphire from our collection, sold as purple.

A real stone from the Joalys stock, photographed on a white ground. Snapshot of October 9, 2026. See this stone

Purple spinel: the quiet alternative

Most buyers walk straight past this one. Spinel is 8 on the Mohs scale with good toughness, and rarely treated. Yet violet, purple and lavender stones are less in demand than the rarer colors: purple and violet stones typically sell for around half the price of a pink spinel of similar quality. Purple is where spinel is easiest to reach.

A violet oval sapphire and a violet cushion spinel side by side on white stone paper
Illustration: a violet sapphire (left) and a violet spinel (right). Colour alone does not name the stone.

Two things to watch. Spinel colored by iron alone is a low-saturation violet or grayish violet: attractive, but rarely fine. And natural spinel is rare, synthetic spinel common, so ask for a lab report on any stone sold as a fine color. For figures, read our spinel price per carat guide, or the complete guide to spinel.

A 4.18 carat cushion cut spinel in a bluish purple, photographed on a pale ground

Amethyst, tanzanite and the other violet gemstones

Amethyst

Amethyst is the violet quartz, the purple everyone pictures. Its color comes from color centers that natural irradiation creates around traces of iron. It is 7 on the Mohs scale with good toughness, and the most commercially important gem-quality quartz. Your budget will like this: even top qualities cost little more than commercial ones. See our amethyst jewelry guide.

Tanzanite

One place on earth gives gem-quality tanzanite: the Merelani area of Tanzania. It is zoisite, violetish blue to violet, 6 to 7 on the Mohs scale, with cleavage. Read the tanzanite buying guide.

Iolite, rhodolite garnet and kunzite

Turn an iolite and its color changes strongly with the direction you look. It runs from violet to slightly violetish blue. Rhodolite is a garnet, 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale. Kunzite, the pink to bluish purple variety of spodumene, splits along cleavage: poor toughness.

Which of them are treated?

Not treated

  1. IoliteNot treated.

    Unlike tanzanite, iolite is not treated beyond cutting and polishing.

  2. Spinel and rhodolite garnetRarely treated.

    Garnet and spinel are rarely treated. Ask anyway, and expect a plain answer.

  3. Purple sapphireOften heated.

    Heating is by far the most common sapphire treatment. Purple sapphires are often heated to reach a more valuable pink or red, so ask whether a purple one is heated and whether the report says so.

  4. AmethystHeat is the usual treatment.

    Heat can lighten a very dark amethyst. It cannot deepen a pale one.

  5. TanzaniteAlmost always heated.

    Untreated, tanzanite is typically brownish. About 95 percent of the blue tanzanite for sale owes its color to heat.

Nearly always heated

How often, not how good. The order of sapphire and amethyst is our own reading, not a trade ranking.

Is a violet gemstone a precious stone?

A purple sapphire is a precious stone. An amethyst is not. Who decides? Trade custom: only diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald are called precious. It is a habit, not a gemological rule, and it tells you nothing about how beautiful, rare or durable a stone is.

France even banned the rest of that vocabulary: décret n° 2002-65 of 14 January 2002 forbids the words “semi-precious” and “semi-fine” for gemstones. Our guide to why “semi-precious” is a marketing myth tells the full story.

How do you choose a violet gemstone?

  1. Start with how you will wear it. On your hand every day? Sapphire or spinel. In your ears or on a chain? The whole list opens up.
  2. Look at the depth of color. A pale lavender and a deep violet of the same species are two very different stones. Trust the stone in daylight, not the label.
  3. Ask about treatment. Heated or not, the seller should tell you.
  4. Ask for the species on an independent lab report for any stone that matters. Color alone does not name a stone. Our guide to what a gemstone certificate proves explains what a report does and does not tell you.

Copy the questions below and send them to the seller.

One sapphire, two lights

Light
Cushion cut sapphire of 1.51 carats held in tweezers under cool white light: the stone looks deep blueThe same sapphire held in tweezers under warm lamp light: the stone looks purple, and the tweezers pick up an orange reflectionThe same sapphire lying on white paper under cool white light: the stone looks blueThe same sapphire lying on white paper under warm lamp light: the stone looks violet, and the paper glows orange around it

Under cool white light it looks blue.

Under warm lamp light the same stone looks violet to purple.

A 1.51 carat sapphire we sell as blue changing to violet. View this stone

Some sapphires change color with the light. Typically they run from blue to violet in daylight, and from violetish purple to reddish purple under an incandescent lamp. They are very rare.

Two photographs of the same stone, nothing retouched. A screen is not a stone: before you buy any violet gem, ask to see it in daylight and under a warm lamp.

Five questions to send the seller

Tick what you have an answer to, or copy the list and send it as it is.

5 points

A message ready to send to the seller, with all the questions.

See the message
Hello, before I decide on this stone, could you tell me:

1. Which species is it, and does an independent laboratory report say so?
2. Is it natural or synthetic?
3. Has it been heated or treated in any other way, and is that written on the report or the invoice?
4. Can you send a photo or a short video in daylight, and one under a warm lamp?
5. I plan to wear it as [a daily ring / an occasional ring / earrings / a pendant]. Is this stone suited to that?

Thank you.

Nothing is sent or stored: the ticks stay on this page.

Quick answers

What is the most durable violet gemstone?
Purple sapphire, of all the violet gemstones in this guide: 9 on the Mohs scale, with toughness that is usually excellent. Purple spinel is the runner-up, at 8 with good toughness.
What is the most expensive purple gemstone?
Look to diamond first: in pink to reddish purple colors it is extremely rare and highly valued. In this guide, amethyst is readily available and relatively inexpensive, purple spinel typically sells for around half the price of a pink spinel of similar quality, and the market for purple sapphire is not as strong as the one for pink sapphire.
Are violet gemstones treated?
Often, so ask before you buy. Heat is the usual treatment for amethyst and sapphire, and about 95 percent of blue tanzanites are heated. Spinel is rarely treated. Iolite is not treated.
What are the names of purple gemstones?
Seven are in this guide: purple sapphire, purple spinel, amethyst, rhodolite garnet, iolite, tanzanite and kunzite. Looking for the violet gem that starts with an A? Amethyst, the gem most commonly associated with the color purple. It is affordable too, which is why it fills so much mass-market jewelry.
What does a violet gemstone mean?
Legends give amethyst a clear head: early Greek ones linked it to Bacchus and wine, and others said it kept its wearer clear-headed. Calm or better sleep is a belief, not something a laboratory can certify, and we do not sell it. What a report can state: species, color, weight, treatment and origin.

What to Take Away

For every day, a purple sapphire or a purple spinel. For pieces that are not knocked, tanzanite, iolite and kunzite. Whatever you pick, look at the depth of color, ask about heat, and get the species on a lab report.

browse our purple sapphiresStart a bespoke request
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Written byIlyes Makria

Founder of Joalys. He sources coloured stones directly from miners and cutters in Sri Lanka, after years on the ground.