White Gemstones: 12 Types, What They Cost, and Which Ones Survive a Ring

The trade often says white for both. Your eye will not: one is a window, the other a screen.

• Colourless stones are transparent. Light passes through them with little or no distortion. In white sapphire, the closer to no colour, the more valuable: traces of grey, yellow, brown or blue are common, and they lower the value.
• White stones run from semitransparent to opaque. Light diffuses inside them, or does not pass at all, so you look at the surface: the sheen of a moonstone, the play-of-colour of an opal, the lustre of a pearl.

Ivory and champagne, just off white, are another family: see our guide to cream and beige gemstones.

Twelve white gemstone names worth knowing: six colourless, six white.

Two names catch people out. Zircon is not cubic zirconia: one is a natural gem, the other is man-made. And milky chalcedony is often sold as an alternative to moonstone.

You will also see them sold as white precious and semi-precious stones. Ignore the split: it is outdated and inaccurate, and it ranks stones without describing them. Read why semi-precious is a marketing myth.

A ring gets knocked, so hardness is only half the answer. Hardness resists scratches, toughness resists chips and breaks, and a hard stone is not always a tough one. Tap a stone on the map.

1. Every day. Diamond and white sapphire, at 10 and 9, and sapphire's toughness is usually excellent. White jade is softer but exceptionally tough. Rock crystal and milky chalcedony both have good toughness.
2. With a protective setting. White topaz is an 8, yet one hard blow can split it along its cleavage. Zircon can turn brittle after heating, and its facet edges abrade. Moonstone has cleavage in two directions.
3. Earrings and pendants. Opal runs from very poor to fair in toughness, and it can craze if it dries out. Pearl is very soft: perfume, cosmetics, hair spray and perspiration damage its nacre. Mother-of-pearl is 3.5.

My view: white topaz is sold on its 8, and the 8 is not the number that matters. For the one I would put on a ring, read our white sapphire guide.

Two different stones share the name. Tilt a moonstone and a sheen seems to roll across it: that is adularescence, light scattered by thin, flat layers inside the stone. The finest moonstones are colourless and nearly transparent, with a vivid blue sheen, and Sri Lanka is a major source of that top quality. In a ring, moonstone needs a protective setting.

Rainbow moonstone is a labradorite, another feldspar, with a multicoloured sheen on a light body. Rainbow moonstone is only its trade name. Watch the sheen cross one below.

From a few dollars a carat to more than a thousand. Here is what sellers asked on 7 October 2026, in US dollars per carat: asking prices, not sale prices.

• White sapphire, 1 to 3 carats: $58 to $1,500 across 59 listings at four sellers. 52 of the 59 sit between $500 and $1,300.
• Colourless zircon: $14 to $220 across 34 listings from 10 sellers on one marketplace. 30 of the 34 are at $60 or less.
• Moonstone and rainbow moonstone: $1 to $430 across 16 listings from 8 sellers. 14 of the 16 sit between $49 and $430.

White topaz we found at one dealer only, so we give no figure. Pearl has its own scale: seven factors set its value, from size and shape to lustre, surface and nacre.

For the wider picture, see our colored gemstone market statistics.

1. Colourless or white? They are two different purchases.
2. What is it for? A daily ring points to diamond or white sapphire. Earrings and pendants open up the rest.
3. Has it been treated? Ask, and get the answer in writing. Virtually all colourless zircon has been heated, and most akoya and Chinese freshwater pearls are bleached.
4. Is there a report? On any stone that matters, ask for one from an independent outside laboratory. Our guide explains what a gemstone certificate proves.

We sell loose stones, chosen one at a time. Browse our white sapphires, or choose the stone first and design the piece around it.