About Yogo + Montana Sapphires

Montana, known as “The Treasure State”, is celebrated for its rich sapphire deposits of both Yogo sapphires and Fancy sapphires.

The Yogo Sapphire is the most precious sapphire in North America, and is considered among the finest sapphires in the world.

The only source of Yogo Sapphires in the world is the Yogo Gulch, a volcanic dike approximately five miles long and eight feet wide, located in the Little Belt Mountains of Montana. The formation of Yogo sapphires requires intense heat and pressure in an extremely rare coincidence of time, location, availability of, as well as lack of, certain elements, and volcanic activity. Because of its unique formation, Yogo sapphire is extremely rare compared to all other sapphires. Yogos come out of the ground nearly perfect; unlike other sapphires which require heat treatment to attain clarity and beauty, Yogo Sapphires are never heat treated; and the color range is very narrow: about 98% of Yogos are “Cornflower Blue”, and only 2% are Plum purple.

Montana Fancy sapphires are found in three major areas of Montana, mostly in the Western part of the state, and are Montana’s official gemstone! Montana’s Fancy sapphires can be found in an incredible array of captivating colors — light to deep blues and teals, vibrant oranges and yellows, soft pinks, lush greens, stunning violet; some stones are even bi-color or color changing!

Sugar Plum Fine Jewelry offers a wide selection of Yogo and Fancy Montana Sapphires in finished jewelry pieces as well as an impressive collection of these stones for use in custom pieces.