Purple Gemstones?

[Nsmike]

If seen a lot of positive comments on purple stones, but purple sapphires and spinels, seem to sell at a substantial discount. Is it because amethyst is so common? I'm more puzzled than anything else, purple is considered the color of royalty, but when it comes to gemstones, not so much.

 

[DDOC]

In Spinel purple is one of the more common colours and often tends to be dark, or grey toned.
These are usaully quite cheap, are fairly abundant in supply, and are available in good sizes.
Lavender coloured Spinel starts to get pricey, especially for clean, brightly cut material in good sizes over 2 cts.
Purple Sapphire can still command good prices if it is clean and bright, but the traditional royal colours were Red and Blue and these command the prices.
The loose stones below are all Spinel, with approximate prices on the trilliants to show the difference colour/quality makes.
2.43 cts lavender trilliant cut would be around Au$ 750 per carat
2.10 cts dark purple trialiant would be around Au$ 120 per carat

 

[NKOTB]

"Discount" is relative, and it depends what shade of purple you're looking for, and how much grey you'll put up with, and how dark, and whether you want pinkish purple or bluish purple. I spent a good three years looking for a bluish purple or purplish blue sapphire or spinel that was medium toned and well saturated, and it was HARD.

 

[Nsmike]

This talks about purple in cloth. The color purple has been associated with royalty, power and wealth for centuries. In fact, Queen Elizabeth I forbad anyone except close members of the royal family to wear it. Purple's elite status stems from the rarity and cost of the dye originally used to produce it.(the full article http://www.livescience.com/33324-purple-royal-color.html) Which is different from gemstones where true primary colors are rare. it appears that the pure primary colors red, blue, yellow are preferred. Mixtures like purple, green , and orange are less so, add in gray overtones with the cool colors, brown with the warm colors, there starts to be a pattern. Then you consider the expanded color palette you get a wide range of possible hues and saturation and pricing can be all over the map. In the end I think it's boils down to the general preference for primary colors.