Rare & Coloured Gemstones, Sourced to Order
We don't hold these in a display case. We source them.
Tinch Jewels is a fine jewellery house based in Mumbai, India, specialising in rare and coloured gemstones sourced to order and set into bespoke pieces. Every stone on this page is one we actively procure — from cutters and dealers in Sri Lanka, Mozambique, Brazil, Tanzania, Burma and Jaipur. You tell us the stone and the size. We source options, share certified stones with photographs and video, and set it into a piece designed around it at our Borivali studio.
This is how coloured stone buying works at the fine end of the market. There is no shelf inventory in rare gems worth having — good material moves fast and is bought to order. What matters is whether your dealer can reach it.
Jump to a stone:
Pink Sapphire · Padparadscha · Rainbow Sapphire · Spinel · Red Spinel · Paraíba Tourmaline · Pink Tourmaline · Indigolite · Chrome Tourmaline · Bi-Colour Tourmaline · Watermelon Tourmaline · Morganite · Aquamarine · Tsavorite Garnet · Rhodolite · Alexandrite · Tanzanite · Zircon · Imperial Topaz · Blue Topaz · Opal
How sourcing works
- Tell us the stone. WhatsApp or the enquiry form. A carat range is enough to start.
- We source options. Typically 3–7 days for common material, 2–4 weeks for genuinely rare stones. You see real photographs and video, not stock images.
- Certification before payment. Every stone we source comes with an independent lab report — GRS, GIA, IGI or Gübelin depending on the stone.
- Design and set. CAD design around your stone, approved by you before any metal is cut.
On certification
Coloured stones are graded differently from diamonds, and the report matters more, not less. For sapphire and ruby the critical disclosure is heat treatment — unheated stones sit in a different category entirely and only a lab can confirm it. For emerald it's the clarity enhancement grade. For Paraíba it's copper content, which determines whether the stone can legally carry the name at all. We do not sell a significant coloured stone without a report, and we'll explain what the report says rather than just handing it over.
Looking for the four classical stones? We've written separate guides for Yellow Sapphire (Pukhraj), Blue Sapphire (Neelam), Ruby (Manik) and Emerald (Panna).
Sapphire Family
Pink Sapphire
The same mineral as blue sapphire — corundum — coloured by trace chromium. Where chromium saturation is high enough the stone is classified as ruby instead, which makes pink sapphire the boundary stone of the corundum family and the reason grading opinions sometimes differ between labs.
It has become the most requested alternative to a diamond engagement stone across India, North America and Australia over the last few years, particularly in the 1–2 carat range. At Mohs 9 it takes daily wear as well as a diamond — a genuine advantage over morganite or tanzanite for a ring that never comes off.
Sources: Madagascar and Sri Lanka dominate. Madagascar material tends toward a more saturated hot pink; Ceylon stones lean softer and slightly lighter.
What to expect: Unheated Ceylon material in a clean 2ct+ size is a different proposition from heated commercial stones. Colour saturation drives desirability far more than clarity here.
Sets well as: Solitaire engagement rings, halo settings with a white diamond surround, three-stone with diamond sides.
Padparadscha Sapphire
The rarest commercially traded sapphire and one of the rarest gemstones on earth. The name is Sinhalese, from the lotus blossom, and the stone must show a simultaneous pink and orange — neither one alone qualifies. Labs disagree on the boundaries often enough that a stone can be padparadscha to one lab and pink-orange sapphire to another, and the gap between those two words is enormous.
Classical material comes from Sri Lanka. Madagascar produces stones that meet the colour definition and some labs certify them as padparadscha, though Ceylon origin still carries more weight among collectors.
What to expect: This is a stone where the certificate is the value. A GRS or Gübelin report naming it padparadscha, unheated, Ceylon origin, is a different asset from an uncertified stone of identical appearance. Expect a genuine wait.
Sets well as: Solitaire in rose or yellow gold, which amplifies the warm side of the colour. Avoid heavy diamond surrounds — they fight the stone.
Rainbow Sapphire & Fancy Sapphire Melee
Rainbow sapphire is not a single stone but a graduated set — small natural sapphires in every colour corundum produces, calibrated in size and laid out in spectrum order. Because sapphire occurs naturally in blue, pink, yellow, orange, green, violet, peach and near-colourless, a rainbow can be assembled entirely from untreated natural material, which no other single species allows.
These are sold as matched parcels rather than individual stones, and assembling one well is a sorting problem more than a sourcing problem. The colours must step evenly, the sizes must match to a tenth of a millimetre, and the tones must sit at similar saturation or the gradient reads as random rather than deliberate.
Also called: Party sapphire, fancy sapphire melee, ombré sapphire. Ombré usually refers to a graduated run within a single hue — pale to deep blue, for instance — rather than a full spectrum.
Sources: Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Montana and Umba Valley in Tanzania. Montana material is prized for its steel and teal tones, which fill the gap most Ceylon parcels leave.
What to expect: Parcels are quoted per set, not per stone, and lead time depends on how tightly you want the gradient matched. A loose seven-colour band comes together quickly; a twenty-stone eternity band with even steps takes weeks of sorting.
Sets well as: Eternity and half-eternity bands, ombré tennis bracelets, rainbow huggie hoops, and pavé accents along a shank. It is one of the few gemstone treatments that reads as playful without reading as cheap.
Spinel
Spinel
The gemstone historically mistaken for ruby — the Black Prince's Ruby in the British Imperial State Crown and the Timur Ruby are both spinel, misidentified for centuries until modern gemmology separated them. That history is now the stone's selling point rather than an embarrassment.
Spinel occurs in an unusually wide colour range: cobalt blue, grey, lavender, pink, and the mint and steel greys that have become fashionable in contemporary design. It is singly refractive and forms without the inclusions typical of ruby, which means clean spinel is genuinely clean.
Sources: Burma (Mogok) for the finest material, Tanzania, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. Cobalt-blue spinel from Vietnam is among the rarest coloured stones traded.
What to expect: Almost always untreated, which is rare among coloured stones and a real advantage. Grey and lavender material remains underappreciated relative to its beauty.
Sets well as: Everything. Mohs 8 and no cleavage makes it one of the most practical coloured stones for daily wear.
Red Spinel
The stone that fooled empires. Fine red spinel reads as ruby to the eye but is a distinct mineral, and it carries a real advantage over ruby: it is almost never heat-treated.
Burmese red spinel is the reference material — a slightly softer, more open red than ruby, without the blue undertone that fine Burmese ruby shows. Tanzanian material from Mahenge produced a famous find of vivid red-pink stones that reset the market's view of the species.
What to expect: Strongest in the 1–3ct range. Above 5ct, fine red spinel becomes genuinely scarce.
Sets well as: A ruby alternative in every context — engagement rings, men's rings, pendants. Yellow gold suits it particularly.
Tourmaline Family
Tourmaline spans a wider colour range than any other gemstone species — there is no colour it does not occur in, and several varieties carry their own trade names. It is also one of the few families where large clean stones remain genuinely obtainable, which makes it the natural choice for statement jewellery.
Paraíba Tourmaline
Discovered in Paraíba state, Brazil, in 1989, and unlike anything found before — a neon blue-green produced by copper, a colouring element previously unknown in tourmaline. The Brazilian deposit was small and is effectively exhausted. Later finds in Mozambique and Nigeria produce copper-bearing tourmaline that trades under the Paraíba name, though Brazilian origin stands apart.
The name is legally contested and lab-dependent. A stone can only be certified Paraíba if copper is confirmed present, which requires chemical analysis. Anyone selling "Paraíba tourmaline" without a report specifying copper content is selling something else.
What to expect: Among the rarest coloured stones traded. Brazilian material above 1ct is a collector purchase. Mozambican stones offer the same neon effect and are what most buyers actually end up with.
Sets well as: Small stones lose the neon effect — go as large as you can. Platinum or white gold, minimal surround.
Pink Tourmaline & Rubellite
Rubellite is the trade name for tourmaline at the saturated red-pink end — the distinction from ordinary pink tourmaline is that a true rubellite holds its colour under artificial light rather than shifting brown. The wider pink range runs from pale blush through raspberry, and is available in large clean sizes that would be impossible in sapphire.
Sources: Brazil, Nigeria, Mozambique, Afghanistan. Afghan material tends toward the cleaner pastel pinks; Brazilian rubellite toward the deep reds.
What to expect: Large clean stones are genuinely obtainable, which is the whole appeal. Rubellite frequently carries inclusions — the species forms that way, and eye-clean rubellite above 5ct is uncommon. Mohs 7–7.5 wants a protective setting for daily wear.
Sets well as: Cocktail rings, large pendants, statement earrings where size matters more than hardness.
Indigolite (Blue Tourmaline)
The blue variety, and the scarcest tourmaline colour after Paraíba. Fine indigolite shows a deep denim to teal blue with a slight green secondary that distinguishes it from sapphire — softer, more atmospheric, less electric.
Most material is heat-treated to lighten overly dark stones, which is standard and accepted. Strongly pleochroic, meaning it shows different colours along different crystal axes, so cutting orientation dramatically affects the finished stone.
What to expect: Clean stones above 3ct in strong blue are genuinely uncommon.
Sets well as: An alternative to blue sapphire where a softer, less formal blue is wanted. Rose gold creates a strong contrast.
Chrome Tourmaline
Green tourmaline coloured by chromium and vanadium rather than iron, which is the same chemistry that gives emerald and tsavorite their colour. The result is a vivid, slightly bluish grass green with far more life than ordinary green tourmaline, which tends toward olive.
Sources: Almost exclusively the Umba Valley in Tanzania, with some Kenyan material. The deposit is narrow, which caps supply.
What to expect: Rarely found above 3ct in fine colour. Frequently confused in the trade with ordinary green tourmaline, which is far more common and far less vivid — the separation requires spectroscopy, so a report matters. Untreated as a rule.
Sets well as: An emerald alternative alongside tsavorite, with no oiling to manage. Mohs 7–7.5, so a protective setting for rings.
Bi-Colour & Parti-Colour Tourmaline
Tourmaline crystals record changes in their growth chemistry as bands of colour along the crystal axis. Cut to display two or three zones in one stone, they produce combinations no other gemstone offers — blue into green, pink into champagne, green into gold.
Unlike watermelon tourmaline, which is cut as a slice across the crystal, bi-colour stones are usually faceted lengthwise so both colours read face-up through the table.
Sources: Brazil, Nigeria, Mozambique, Madagascar.
What to expect: Judged on the sharpness of the colour boundary and how evenly the zones divide the stone. No two are alike, which makes them impossible to match into pairs — a real constraint if you want earrings.
Sets well as: Solitaire pendants and single-stone rings where the stone is the whole point. Bezel settings protect the edges.
Watermelon Tourmaline
A single crystal with a pink core and green rim — the colour zoning happens naturally during formation as the chemistry of the growth environment shifts. Usually cut as a slice to display the full cross-section, which makes each stone genuinely unique and unrepeatable.
Sources: Brazil, Nigeria, and historically Maine and California.
What to expect: Judged on visual drama rather than standard grading — sharpness of the colour boundary and symmetry of the zoning are what matter. Slices are fragile and need bezel protection.
Sets well as: Pendants and bezel-set rings. Not suited to a ring worn daily without care.
Beryl Family
Morganite
Pink beryl — the same mineral family as emerald and aquamarine — coloured by manganese. Named after J.P. Morgan. It became the dominant alternative engagement stone in North America and Australia through the 2010s and demand in India has followed, driven by the rose gold pairing.
Nearly all commercial morganite is heat-treated to remove a yellow-orange component and produce the clean peachy pink the market wants. This is universal and stable.
Sources: Brazil, Madagascar, Mozambique, Afghanistan.
What to expect: Large clean stones are readily obtainable. The colour is naturally pale, so larger stones show it better. Mohs 7.5–8, acceptable for daily wear with a sensible setting.
Sets well as: Rose gold solitaires and halos. The metal-stone pairing is the entire appeal and it works.
Aquamarine
Blue beryl, coloured by iron. March birthstone. The market preference is for a pure, deeper blue — the Santa Maria designation, from the Brazilian mine, describes the most saturated material and is now used generically for top colour regardless of origin.
Routine heat treatment removes green undertones. Untreated stones with natural sea-green colour have a following among buyers who prefer the original character.
Sources: Brazil (Santa Maria, Espírito Santo), Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan.
What to expect: Large clean stones are obtainable — aquamarine forms in big crystals with few inclusions. Deep saturated blue in 5ct+ is where it gets difficult. Mohs 7.5–8.
Sets well as: Emerald-cut solitaires, cocktail rings, large pendants. White gold and platinum keep the blue cool; yellow gold warms it.
Garnet Family
Tsavorite Garnet
Green grossular garnet, found in 1967 near Tsavo in Kenya and named by Tiffany's. It competes directly with emerald and beats it on two counts: it is never treated or oiled, and it is substantially cleaner, because garnet doesn't form with emerald's characteristic fractures.
The colour is a vivid grass green with high brilliance — garnet's refractive index is higher than emerald's, so tsavorite has noticeably more life.
Sources: Kenya and Tanzania only. The deposit is geologically restricted, which caps supply permanently.
What to expect: Stones above 2ct are scarce; above 5ct, rare. Many buyers consider it the most compelling proposition in coloured stones.
Sets well as: An emerald alternative with no oiling to worry about. Mohs 7–7.5. Yellow gold is traditional; white metal makes the green read cooler.
Rhodolite Garnet
A natural blend of pyrope and almandine garnet producing a raspberry to purple-red — lighter and more purple than the dark red garnet most people picture. Never treated, consistently clean, and available in large sizes.
Sources: Tanzania, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, India.
What to expect: One of the most accessible stones on this page. Excellent for large statement pieces. Mohs 7–7.5.
Sets well as: Cocktail rings, drop earrings, layered pendants. Rose gold pushes the purple; yellow gold pushes the red.
Rare & Collector Stones
Alexandrite
The colour-change chrysoberyl — green in daylight, red to purple under incandescent light. Discovered in Russia's Urals in the 1830s and named for the Tsar. The Russian deposit is long exhausted; modern material comes from Brazil, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Madagascar.
Everything depends on the strength and completeness of the colour change. A stone that shifts fully from green to red is a different order of thing from one that shifts partially from grey-green to brownish purple. This must be seen in person or on properly lit video.
What to expect: Natural alexandrite above 1ct with strong change is a serious purchase. The market is heavily populated with synthetic material and with colour-change garnet and sapphire sold as alexandrite — certification is not optional here.
Sets well as: Solitaires that let both colours read. Mohs 8.5, excellent durability.
Tanzanite
Blue-violet zoisite, found in exactly one place on earth — a few square kilometres of the Merelani Hills in Tanzania, discovered in 1967. Supply is finite and the deposit is expected to be worked out within decades, which underpins the stone's collector case.
Almost all tanzanite is heated to remove brown tones and bring out the blue-violet; this is universal, permanent and accepted. Strongly trichroic, showing blue, violet and burgundy along different axes — cutters orient for blue, which costs weight.
What to expect: Deep saturated stones above 5ct are the sought material. Mohs 6–6.5 with distinct cleavage — this is a stone for pendants, earrings and occasional-wear rings, not a daily ring.
Sets well as: Protected settings. White gold and platinum emphasise the violet.
Zircon
A natural mineral with no relation to cubic zirconia, and the confusion has unfairly suppressed its reputation. Zircon has exceptional dispersion — the fire that makes diamond sparkle — and the highest refractive index of any common coloured stone besides diamond itself.
Blue zircon, produced by heating brown material from Cambodia, is the most sought colour. It also occurs naturally in white, golden, green and red.
Sources: Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Myanmar.
What to expect: Considerable visual impact for a widely available stone. Mohs 6–7.5 with brittle edges — facet junctions abrade over time, so protective settings matter.
Sets well as: Pendants and earrings where its fire shows without abrasion risk.
Imperial Topaz
The golden-orange to pinkish-orange topaz from Ouro Preto, Brazil — the only significant source. Distinct from the blue topaz that dominates commercial jewellery, and vastly rarer.
The finest material shows a peachy pink-orange sometimes described as sherry. Natural colour, untreated, which separates it from irradiated blue topaz.
What to expect: Genuinely rare in fine colour above 3ct. Mohs 8 but with perfect basal cleavage — hard, but it will split cleanly on a sharp knock. Setting design matters.
Sets well as: Yellow and rose gold, which reinforce the warm tone. Protected settings for rings.
Blue Topaz
Honest positioning: almost all blue topaz on the market is colourless topaz that has been irradiated and heated. The treatment is stable, permanent and industry-standard. We list it because it does a specific job well — large, clean, vivid blue stones for statement pieces.
Three commercial grades: Sky (palest), Swiss (medium bright), London (deepest, slightly grey-blue). London Blue is the most requested.
What to expect: The most accessible stone on this page. 10ct+ clean stones are routine. Mohs 8 with basal cleavage.
Sets well as: Large cocktail rings and pendants where scale is the point.
Opal
Not a crystal but hydrated silica spheres, arranged regularly enough to diffract light into play-of-colour. Every opal is unique in a way no faceted stone is — the pattern cannot be repeated.
Types: Black opal from Lightning Ridge, Australia is the most prized, with play-of-colour against a dark body. Boulder opal retains its ironstone host rock. Ethiopian Welo opal, on the market since 2008, offers strong play-of-colour but can absorb water and temporarily lose fire.
What to expect: Judged on body tone, brightness, pattern and the range of colours shown. Red-on-black is the summit. Mohs 5.5–6.5 with water content — the softest and most delicate stone here.
Sets well as: Bezel-set pendants and earrings. We advise against opal engagement rings and will say so.
About Tinch Jewels
Tinch Jewels is a fine jewellery house founded in 2024 and based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. We work in IGI-certified lab-grown and natural diamonds, natural coloured gemstones, and hallmarked 14K and 18K gold, across three labels: Tinch Jewels for fine and bridal jewellery, Tinch Nature Gems for coloured stones, and Mangalsutra House for modern and regional mangalsutra.
Our studio
Solitaire Business Centre, Gulmohar Road, Sundar Nagar, Borivali West, Mumbai 400092. Open Monday to Saturday 11:00–19:30 and Sunday 13:00–19:30. Visits are by appointment so we can have relevant stones on the table when you arrive.
Serving clients across India
We ship nationwide and work remotely with clients we have never met in person — design approval happens over video and CAD renders. Regular clientele across Maharashtra (Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik), Delhi NCR (New Delhi, Gurugram, Noida), Karnataka (Bengaluru, Mysuru), Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam), Tamil Nadu (Chennai, Coimbatore), Gujarat (Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara), West Bengal (Kolkata), Kerala (Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram), Rajasthan (Jaipur, Udaipur), Punjab (Chandigarh, Ludhiana) and Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Kanpur).
International clients
We ship worldwide with insured, tracked courier and full customs documentation. Established client base across:
- United States — New York, New Jersey, California, Texas, Illinois, Georgia, Washington
- Canada — Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Mississauga, Brampton
- United Kingdom — London, Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester
- Australia & New Zealand — Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Auckland
- UAE & Gulf — Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Doha, Muscat
- Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong
A large share of our international work is for NRI families commissioning bridal and engagement pieces — often with stones or heirloom gold sent to us, or collected in Mumbai during a visit home. Time zones are not an obstacle; we schedule calls to suit yours.
What we do
- Bespoke engagement rings in rare, antique and fancy-cut diamonds
- Natural coloured gemstone sourcing and setting
- Astrological gemstones — Pukhraj, Neelam, Manik, Panna — certified and correctly disclosed
- Modern and regional mangalsutra, including South Indian thaali and Kerala minnu
- Men's diamond jewellery and studs
- Heirloom redesign and resetting
Frequently asked questions
Do you ship gemstones and jewellery internationally?
Yes. We ship worldwide with insured, tracked courier and complete customs documentation, and we regularly serve clients in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, the UAE, Singapore and Hong Kong. Duties and import taxes are the recipient's responsibility and vary by country — we will tell you what to expect before you commit.
Can I commission a piece without visiting your Mumbai studio?
Yes, and a large share of our work is done this way. We share real photographs and video of sourced stones, produce CAD renders for your approval, and send progress images during manufacture. Nothing is cast until you have approved the design. We schedule calls to suit your time zone.
What is a rainbow sapphire?
A matched set of small natural sapphires in graduated colours — blue, pink, yellow, orange, green, violet and peach — laid out in spectrum order. Sapphire is the only species that occurs naturally across the full range, so a rainbow can be assembled entirely from untreated material. It is sold as a parcel rather than as individual stones, and is used for eternity bands, ombré bracelets and hoops.
What is the difference between the tourmaline varieties?
They are all the same mineral species with different colouring elements. Paraíba is copper-bearing and neon blue-green. Rubellite is saturated red-pink. Indigolite is blue. Chrome tourmaline is chromium-coloured vivid green. Bi-colour and watermelon stones show natural colour zoning within a single crystal. Only Paraíba requires laboratory chemical analysis to confirm its trade name.
Why don't you keep these gemstones in stock?
Fine coloured stones move quickly in the trade, and holding inventory means holding whatever did not sell. Sourcing to order means you get current material selected against your actual requirement rather than whatever happened to be sitting in a drawer. You see real photographs and video of each candidate before committing.
How long does sourcing a rare gemstone take?
Typically 3 to 7 days for widely available material such as aquamarine, morganite, pink tourmaline or blue topaz. Genuinely rare stones — padparadscha sapphire, Brazilian Paraíba tourmaline, strong-change alexandrite, chrome tourmaline — can take two to four weeks to find in the right size and quality. Matched rainbow sapphire parcels depend on how tightly you want the gradient stepped.
Which coloured gemstones are safe for a daily-wear engagement ring?
Pink sapphire and padparadscha at Mohs 9, and spinel at Mohs 8, handle daily wear as well as diamond. Morganite and aquamarine at Mohs 7.5 to 8 are fine with a protective setting. Tanzanite, opal and zircon are not suitable for daily-wear rings due to lower hardness or cleavage, and we will tell you so rather than take the order.
What makes a tourmaline a genuine Paraíba?
Copper content, confirmed by laboratory chemical analysis. The name is legally contested and lab-dependent — a stone cannot be certified as Paraíba without proven copper. Anyone selling Paraíba tourmaline without a report specifying copper content is selling ordinary tourmaline under a premium name.
Can you set a gemstone I already own?
Yes. We design and manufacture around customer-supplied stones, including heirloom pieces sent from abroad. We assess the stone first and advise on settings suited to its hardness and cut. If a stone carries real risk during setting — a fractured emerald, a glass-filled ruby, a fragile tourmaline slice — we will tell you before we start work.
Is alexandrite often faked?
Yes, more than almost any other stone. Synthetic alexandrite is common, and colour-change garnet and colour-change sapphire are frequently sold under the name. Value depends almost entirely on the strength and completeness of the green-to-red shift, so certification from a major laboratory is not optional here.
What is the difference between zircon and cubic zirconia?
They are unrelated. Zircon is a natural mineral with exceptional dispersion and a refractive index second only to diamond among common gemstones. Cubic zirconia is a laboratory-made diamond simulant. The similarity in name is coincidental and has unfairly damaged natural zircon's reputation.
Do rare gemstones come with certification?
Every stone we source comes with an independent laboratory report from GRS, GIA, IGI or Gübelin depending on the stone. For sapphire the report confirms heat treatment status; for Paraíba it confirms copper content; for alexandrite it confirms natural origin and colour change. We explain what the report says rather than just handing it over.
Enquire About a Stone
Tell us the stone and a carat range. We'll come back with sourced options, certification details and honest guidance — including when we think a different stone would serve you better. Wherever you are in the world.
Tinch Jewels · Solitaire Business Centre, Gulmohar Road, Borivali West, Mumbai 400092, India
Mon–Sat 11:00–19:30 · Sun 13:00–19:30 · Worldwide insured shipping
