Thank you Nellie and PJ for the marvelous photos of Queen Victoria's sapphire jewels.
I have never been sure which of her sapphire brooches HM is depicted with on her pearls in PJ's post. I suspect not the brooch Prince Albert gave her as wedding present, as that always appears to have remained as a brooch. I feel that, in the portrait you posted PJ, the artist has employed some licence, and possibly this might be the second sapphire brooch Prince Albert gave Queen Victoria some years after their marriage.
Jinja, I think you may be correct in part of what you say; the sapphires and rubies are darker coloured jewels, and I have not found any reference to HM wearing her emeralds and we know that she gave her turquoise suite to Princess Helena as a wedding present. On the other hand, HM did continue to wear her opal parure. Most importantly, Victorian mourning convention only dictated specific apparel and jewels for a year for a widow. After that, it was up to the individual choice of a widow. Given what I am now finding in the papers, I feel that Queen Victoria chose to continue to wear black (relieved by white at times) but wore some coloured jewels after a few years.