5 Most Popular Grey Coloured Gemstones Used in Jewellery

Jaycille Pe
The Creative Blogger Community
5 min readNov 23, 2021
Grey Spinel Art Deco Ring

Grey coloured gemstones have gotten a lot of attention recently.

While grey is a rare colour in gemstones, it’s unusual to see it associated with jewellery. On the other hand, Grey gemstones are fascinating when made into jewellery. Their extreme rarity and certain elegance are difficult to forget.

Grey is a sophisticated colour that can match almost any outfit.

Considering their understated beauty, grey coloured gems create feelings of serenity and peace. It’s enticing and fascinating in its own way, especially when complemented with rose, champagne and yellow gold colours.

If you are looking for grey coloured gemstones to mix and match your outfit, here is a list of the most popular greyish toned gems by professional jewellery designers worldwide.

5 Most Commonly Used Grey Coloured Gemstones in Jewellery

1. Grey Spinels

Grey Spinels — 3.94cts, pair, trillion cuts.
Grey Spinel Set in white and natural white gold as a 2 piece set — studs and earring jackets. Inspired by constellations the studs are sprinkled with diamonds like stars in the sky. The earring jacket has an avant-garde and abstract design.

Spinels, sometimes mistaken for Sapphires since they’re in the same deposits, have become increasingly fashionable. Grey Spinels come in a variety of colours, ranging from “gunmetal” to pastel shades.

Gunmetal, in other words, is a cutting-edge colour that screams elegance, style, and sophistication. Jewellery designer in Singapore “Emily Tan” enjoys blending this colour with champagne gold. It suits perfectly either in a vintage or dramatic architectural style.

More pastel colours bring out the gem’s sharpness. High-quality pastels in colours like lilac and mauve have an alluring lustre and can create feminine and elegant designs.

2. Grey Tanzanites

Unheated Tanzanites — 3.39cts, cushion cut.
Grey Tanzanite Ring setting in rose gold. A clean, unique design for this engagement ring. The main gem is set in a kite orientation to elongate the finger.

This is a non-heated variant of the popular purplish-blue gemstone that can only find in Tanzania. Grey is the primary overtone, with blue-lilac undertones and yellow to green tints.

Heat treatment is used to bring out the blues and purples in Tanzanites. On the other hand, Untreated Tanzanites are in higher demand due to a fostered love for the flawed beauty inherent in grey stones. With the flashes of colours that push through and appear to vary under different types of light, we can compare grey tanzanites to wearing a mermaid scale on your hand.

Due to dynamic variations of colour under different lighting, no two unheated Tanzanites are the same. Even a pair in similar cuts and dimensions will seem different from each other.

3. Grey Tourmaline

Grey Tourmaline
Quartz with tourmaline necklace and bracelet beads background isolated on white background

Though tourmaline is a valuable stone that you can find everywhere, it is relatively affordable in jewellery. Grey tourmaline is a gem that may dazzle due to its brilliance and clarity, despite the fact that grey is not its most popular colour. Grey tourmaline has a vitreous shine, which is often enhanced by facets.

Tourmalines usually are rugged and durable, with a Mohs scale value of 7 to 7.5. They are also resistant to fracture. Grey tourmaline is typically free of noticeable inclusions and has excellent clarity. Traditional shapes, like the famous emerald, pear, marquise, and dazzling shapes, as well as other unique fancy cuts, can produce out of them.

4. Grey Diamond

Grey Diamond Ring
3d rendering of a grey diamond ring

While it may appear impressive, this is one of the lesser-known grey gemstones, and because of their colour, we may believe they do not exist. It’s a diamond with a grey colour due to the presence of hydrogen in its composition. As a result, several hues of grey diamonds would be available, depending on the situation. It comes in a broad spectrum of shades, ranging from light grey to dark grey. To distinguish these tones in the world of jewellery, particularly in the diamond sector, nicknames such as charcoal grey, dove, and silver were assigned.

A grey diamond’s beauty isn’t quite as striking as that of a colourless diamond or as radical as that of a black diamond. Grey diamonds have just the right amount of opacity and mystery. The best thing about them is that they’re a lot less expensive than most diamonds, yet they still have the same features as diamonds. It’s ideal for usage in non-traditional jewellery creations.

5. Grey Moon Stone

Grey Moonstones
Studio shot of moonstone. Moonstone is categorized as a semi-precious gemstone, which is used mainly as a birthstone, for gem therapy and in the jewellery industry.

It is the most well-known of the grey gemstones. It is translucent and comes in a variety of colours ranging from colourless to dark grey.

The moonstone is not a particularly hard stone, with a Mohs hardness of 6 to 6.5. It’s perfect for more protected pendants, earrings, bracelets, combs, and other sorts of jewellery. However, experts don’t recommend moonstone rings because of the stone’s fragility. They can, however, endure an extended period if adequately cared for. The most common cut for this stone is cabochon, which emphasizes the stone’s brilliance and perfect lustre; however, faceted cuts are also possible. The rustic beauty of rough grey moonstone is remarkable, primarily when used in skillfully created jewellery.

To sum up

When compared to bright reds and blues, finding grey gemstones is quite rare. Add a dash of flair and sophistication to any dress or occasion by acquiring one. Grey gemstones, on the other hand, are expected to continue to climb in popularity as neutral hues continue to surge in favour.

Traditional jewellers may not always have a large supply of grey gemstones on hand. Buying gems online is a great way to get a wide range of options and locate exactly what you’re looking for.

--

--

Jaycille Pe
The Creative Blogger Community

I am a fan of design and web development. I’m also interested in entrepreneurship and writing.