List of the Top 10 Most Popular Yellow Gemstones (2024 Review)

In case you are looking for a list of the top yellow gemstones, you’ve landed on the right page!

In this article, we’ve prepared the answers to the most common questions like:

  • What are Yellow Gemstones?
  • Where can I Buy Yellow Gemstones?
  • What are the Types of Yellow Gemstones?

What are Yellow Gemstones?

Yellow gemstones are getting more and more popular as people are exploring colored gemstone jewelry.

Typically associated with good luck and wealth, yellow has long reigned as the fancy and elegant tone you can easily match with virtually every other color.

Combine the color with gemstone jewelry, and you get a truly stunning piece for everyday wear. In this article, we’ll go over some of the best types of yellow gemstones for jewelry.

Here’s an informative video going over some of the most popular yellow gemstones today:

What do Yellow Gemstones Symbolize?

Yellow gemstones symbolize wisdom, joy, happiness, and intellectual energy and are thought to bring clarity and awareness.

Where Can I find Yellow Gemstones to Buy?

Some types of yellow gemstones like citrine or topaz are readily available in retail stores, but when you are looking for the more expensive, rarer specimens, you have to go to the web. There are several online stores, mainly James Allen or Blue Nile, selling yellow gemstones and jewelry at a fraction of the inflated store price.

What are the Types of Yellow Gemstones?

With over 100 different types of yellow gemstones, it can be difficult to parse through them all, so we’ve brought to you our top picks for yellow gemstones to add to your collection.

  1. Yellow Diamond
  2. Yellow Sapphire
  3. Amber
  4. Citrine
  5. Yellow Topaz
  6. Yellow Tourmaline
  7. Yellow Garnet
  8. Yellow Jade
  9. Golden Beryl (Heliodor)
  10. Yellow Chrysoberyl

Yellow Diamond

yellow diamonds

  • Mohs 10
  • Range from $750 – $75,000
  • Extremely rare
  • Mostly sourced from South Africa

Yellow diamonds are the most commonly known naturally colored diamond (even beating out stunners like green and blue), and they get their color from excess nitrogen, which absorbs blue light.

This same impurity also gives orange diamonds their hue, just to a deeper effect.

Natural colored diamonds are extremely rare, and yellow diamonds are no exception.

Out of 10,000 carats, only one is a natural colored diamond and of those, you will find blues, pinks, purples, oranges, and of course, my favorite, the shiny yellow.

Yellow diamonds are estimated to make up to 60% of all colored diamonds, which means roughly 1 in 16,500 carats turns out to be a yellow diamond.

So, how does their price compare to “normal,” colorless diamonds?

Well, it depends, but on average the price of a good quality white diamond is similar to that of a fancy yellow diamond. In short, for the value of yellow diamonds, we look at the color, and the darker the hue, the more expensive it is.

Diamond Color 0.50ct Price 1.00ct Price 2.00ct Price 3.00ct Price
Fancy Light Yellow Diamond $750 – $1,000 $2,500 – $4,000 $5,500 – $8,000 $12,500 – $17,500
Fancy Yellow Diamond $1,000 – $1,250 $3,000 – $4,000 $8,000 – $10,000 $18,000 – $25,000
Fancy Intense Yellow Diamond $1,500 – $2,000 $3,500 – $5,000 $15,000 – $20,000 $25,000 – $40,000
Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamond $2,000 – $3,000 $8,500 – $12,500 $30,000 – $40,000 $55,000 – $75,000
White – G Color $1,000 $4,500 $15,000 $40,000

 

Yellow Sapphire

yellow sapphire

  • Mohs 9
  • Less costly than alternate sapphire colors
  • Wide range of yellows
  • Mostly sourced from Sri Lanka
  • $600-$5,000

When we think of sapphires, we typically think of the iconic blue sapphire, but what you might not know is that there is a sapphire color for virtually every color on the rainbow.

Yellow sapphires span a range of hues from natural pastel light yellow to a deep golden, or orangey-yellow. The most sought-after, however, type of yellow stone is the vibrant canary. Typically, when it comes to yellow sapphires, the brighter and more consistent the yellow color, the more expensive.

The source of the yellow hue is due to iron, which produces a higher color saturation. You can also enhance the color of a yellow sapphire through natural radiation or lab-induced irradiation.

In general, we highly recommend yellow sapphires for your outfit as they are quite hard to damage, but you do still need to take care of them to prevent clouding.

Ultimately, yellow sapphires are a great alternative to yellow diamonds if you are dead set on getting a fancy color gemstone.

did you know yellow sapphires

Amber

amber

  • Mohs 2-2.5
  • $1-$5
  • Sourced from the Baltic

Contrary to popular belief, amber is not technically a gemstone because it is actually made from the hardened resin of a few types of ancient trees that have been fossilized over the millennia.

However, it is considered a gem because it glows and shines when polished.

Amber gemstones are typically mine from the Baltic region, which is where most amber deposits happen to be found, and it’s estimated that there are over 105 tons of amber in the forests in Northern Europe.

With amber, the number of inclusions actually brings the price higher. Another factor in its price is the tint of the hue. With a deeper, more orangey hue, the more valuable amber becomes.

As for being a jewelry piece, you’ve got to be careful with amber, since it’s pretty to easy to scratch or break with its Mohs hardness of roughly 2.

Citrine

citrine

  • Mohs 7
  • Widely available
  • $50-$100
  • Sourced from Brazil and Uruguay

Along with topaz, citrine is the birthstone for November and remains one of the better-known yellow gemstones. Before gemology came into fruition, citrine was often confused with topaz due to its tawny color. In modern times, its warm, attractive color and affordability allow it to climb the ranks as one of the most widely sold yellow-orange gemstones.

Citrine is actually a type of quartz, making it readily available and inexpensive, though it is difficult to find a naturally colored citrine straight from the ground.

Oftentimes, heating is used on amethyst and smoky quartz to turn them into citrine. In fact, the “Madeira” citrine with red strikes is the product of heat treatments

There’s no excessive increase in price per carat, and like other gemstones, inclusions will decrease their value

Overall, citrine has good toughness, so it’s good for most types of jewelry. It’s especially popular on rings.

Yellow Topaz

yellow topaz

  • Mohs 8
  • Stunning and durable
  • $10-$40
  • Sourced in Brazil and United States

The word topaz comes from the ancient Sanskrit language and means “fire.” Truly, it is no surprise as yellow topaz is well known for its golden hue and its stunning clarity.

However, there is no one gem that encapsulates the yellow topaz. They range from a dark orange-yellow to a sunny yellow, though it is much easier to find the latter. The darker variety, particularly the Imperial Topaz, is quite rare and expensive.

Moreover, topaz in its natural state is actually a golden brown to yellow, so the yellow topaz is closest to its natural color. To get the other topaz colors, a number of treatments can make them gray to pink.

With an 8 on the Mohs hardness scale and a vitreous sheen, yellow topaz makes for a great centerpiece on your jewelry.

Yellow Tourmaline

yellow tourmaline

  • One of the rarest of all tourmaline colors
  •  Mohs 7-7.5
  •  $100-$500
  •  Deposits in Sri Lanka, US, Madagascar, Tanzania

Also called the Rainbow Gemstone, tourmaline can be found in virtually every color, but yellow does happen to be one of its more rare varieties.

Their yellow color can be attributed to manganese as well as excess iron, producing vivid color and unmatched brilliance. A lot of yellow tourmalines have visible inclusions, so faceting is a popular method to really bring out the brilliance of the gemstone.

With a hardness rating of 7-7.5 on the Mohs hardness scale, yellow tourmaline is sure to last you generations with a bit of regular maintenance.

Yellow Garnet

yellow garnet

  • Mohs 6.5-7
  • Few inclusions
  • $200-$2,500
  • Sourced from Australia, US, India

Although garnets are typically associated with dark red, which is the most popular variety, yellow garnets are not far behind them. There are a few different kinds of yellow garnets, including topazolite, Mali garnet, and andradite.

You can expect yellow garnets to be eye-clean gemstones, with stunning clarity, and they come in all different shapes and sizes to allow for a budget of any size.

Garnets rank a 6.5-7 on Mohs scale, and you can also expect to have them high dispersion rates when compared to diamonds.

Garnet can also be worn as a talisman for good luck, as they are thought to bring high energy, confidence, and clarity. Additionally, they are the birthstone of January and, therefore, make great gifts to January babies!

Yellow Jade

yellow jade

  • Mohs 6-7
  • $250-$950
  • Sourced from Myanmar, Guatemala, Japan, USA, China
  • Quite rare

You’re probably familiar with the famous green jade. Yellow jade isn’t as popular, but it is still quite rare and can actually rival a green jade in price if the quality is there.

There are two types of yellow jade – jadeite and nephrite, both of which span a range of yellow hues. Jadeite does take the trophy of being more expensive than nephrite though, with its higher translucence as well as the fact that the top color for jade, imperial green, only occurs in jadeite. In addition, while both forms are vulnerable to scratching and damage, jadeite has a slight edge over nephrite with a Mohs hardness of 6.5-7 compared to nephrite’s 6-6.5.

It ranges from translucent to opaque and has a smooth texture with colors from a pale yellow to a darkish gold.

Oftentimes, the color of a yellow jade is enhanced with dyes and heat treatment. The golden jade, however, is left as is.

Golden Beryl (Heliodor)

golden beryl

  • Mohs 7.5-8
  • Sourced from Brazil and Madagascar
  • $50-$250

Like many other gemstones of yellow hue, golden beryl also gets its yellow coloring from deposits of iron. It was first discovered in Namibia in 1913 in a pegmatite, but today’s supply mostly comes from Brazil and Madagascar. The beryl family also includes some other well-known stones like emeralds, and some other rare stones, like red beryls.

Golden Beryl’s warm and bright yellow matched with its hardness of 7.5-8 make it a great stone for everyday wear. Plus, this stone is very transparent and generally has very few mineral inclusions, making it a great diamond or sapphire alternative.

As for price, a golden beryl’s value depends on its hue and size. Pale yellows and more greenish-yellows don’t see much movement in the market. Meanwhile, golden beryls up to 10 carats and a deeper hue and go for $150 per carat, while even larger ones can fetch $265 per carat.

These stones are also pretty easy to cut and polish, so maintenance won’t be too much for an issue. For a safe cleaning, you can simply wash the pieces in a solution of dish soap and warm water.

Yellow Chrysoberyl

Yellow Chrysoberyl

  • Mohs 8.5
  • $200-$700
  • Sourced from Russia, Brazil, China, India
  • Great for engagement rings

The yellow chrysoberyl is quite a rare gemstone with yellow highlights from light to vivid. It’s also a very tough and durable gemstone, ranking at 8.5 on the Mohs hardness scale and making it a perfect centerstone for your engagement ring.

Though alexandrite and cat’s-eye chrysoberyl are also chrysoberyls and extremely rare and valuable, the yellow chrysoberyl doesn’t share the same attributes, as they are quite commonly found and not too expensive.

However, these stones lack enough fire to disperse light into colors, despite showing sufficient brilliance. Even then, we think that this stone goes a bit under the radar (not being as popular as diamonds as sapphires).

Our Top Picks!

Leave a Comment