At the other end of the price scale are commercial-grade sapphires with greenish blue color or strong greenish blue pleochroism. Pleochroism is different colors seen in different crystal directions. Less valuable blue sapphires might be grayish, too light, or too dark.
The major fancy sapphire color categories are padparadscha, pink and purple, orange and yellow, green, and colorless and black. Each category has its own color range, causes of color, and market.
The fancy sapphires that people in the trade call padparadscha are very beautiful. They typically have a high per-carat value, too—much higher than other types of fancy sapphires.
Their color can be hard to describe. Some people say padparadscha sapphire colors should be called salmon or sunset. Others compare the color to the flesh of a ripe guava.
In spite of these differing color descriptions, people in the industry usually agree that padparadscha sapphire colors are intensely saturated and range from light to medium pinkish orange to orange-pink.