Ceylon sapphire help

[michela002]

I am an extreme newbie to coloured stones, looking for some help. I passed a jewellery store and saw (and tried on) the most beautiful ring, that I am considering as an e-ring. (Well, not the one I saw because it was $18,000, but getting something custom made to look similar to it.)

It was an emerald cut (square-ish emerald cut) ceylon sapphire, a beautiful medium icy blue, with two tapered baguette diamonds on the sides (as depicted in the sketch below.)

The centre stone (the ceylon sapphire) was 2.75 carats (I understand though that sapphires as heavier than diamonds, so that makes 2.75 in sapphire smaller than 2.75 would be in diamond?) and the side stones were a total weight of 0.73 carats.

I would LOVE something like this for my engagement ring. But I have been researching diamonds, and the idea of now having to research sapphires is giving me a headache!

Can anyone recommend an online jeweller/coloured stone site I could trust to source the type of diamond I want? I want to say to someone, "I want an emerald cut ceylon sapphire, this type of colour, but not dull and lifeless like coloured glass, but one that flashes blue and sparkles, of weight in this range ..." etc and have them source one for me, and say here''s your stone.

Any recommendations? Am I dreaming to think that''s how it works?

Or a site recommended to look at?

Also, any ideas of what the centre sapphire would run (approximately)?

 

[michela002]

This is *similar* to the colour I saw

Medium ... icy blue, not dark navy-ish blue.

 

[valeria101]

It''s just a bad case of discrimination that lighter color sapphire is not priced as high as the deeper tone. Aren''t they just great !

The brighteness depends allot on cut (what else is new !) and it is hard to get a bright step cut sapphire. The cut is not as flashy among diamonds, as often said. For sapphire that''s twice true. It would probably help to look for a certain size rather than weight for the sapphire, because both cut (depth, what not) and pricing are quite inconsistent.

Anyway, there is at least one more Ec sapphire "hunt" on record here. With some spectacular results

It may be helpful to follow the related Saga

Even if the color you are looking for is a bit different, the sources would definitely apply, I would think.

 

[valeria101]

Just in case

 

[bar01]

I sent you a PM with a bunch of information.


Now - how about taking a Look at this sapphire

 

[Kaleigh]

Bertrand,
That sapphire is to die for!!

 

[michela002]

Thanks so much everyone for your help.

Valeria101 - the lighter colours are not as expensive? Oh, happy days! Lol. Thanks for the info it is great. The other EC sapphires you posted is beautiful. And one is very much like the ring I saw!

I''ll begin my hunt with thenaturalsapphirecompany.com and cherry picked.

One quick question though - is there anything bad about heat treatment? Like does the colour fade etc? I am not opposed to the idea of having a heat treated sapphire if the colour and the stone was the one I loved - especially as they sound like they are cheaper, and I care more about the sentimental value of it than the monetary. Any stern advice against heat treatment?

Thanks everyone! PS rocks, everybody is just so helpful!

 

[valeria101]

Date: 2/25/2005 5:37:43 PM
Author: Indecisive

One quick question though - is there anything bad about heat treatment? Like does the colour fade etc?

Any stern advice against heat treatment?

No... the effects are permanent.

The price difference between heated and not is quite spectacular for those types that are top price anyway. Otherwise, it does go down.

If heated sapphire keeps it's value better and is more "collectable" I can't really say. It seems that fine color (light or dark, blue or not, whatever) is very much in demand and difficult to come by heated or not. The more recent and more intrusive treatments do not seem very acceptable and so the value of those stones is anybody's guess. Heated sapphire has been around for ages - literally.

There's one catch: once a piece is sold as "heated" it takes one more question to find out what "heating " means (traditional low heat treatment, diffusion, something else...). Unfortunately, there are species like this and there's less disclosure once any treatment at all is applied. Anyway, if the price is makes this purchase important beyond the stone's looks, it can't be that hard to obtain a lab report I would think.

Pala lists one square powder blue with impressive shape

For what that matters, I'd love a bit more "blue" (not dark, but more saturated) - yeah, right

I am not sure what is the color you intend. But... sapphire does aqua blue very well - brighter as it is.

Couldn't find a step cut, but the respective type of blue would look like this:

Hope some of the rambling helps ...

 

[michela002]

Date: 2/26/2005 4:42:29 AM
Author: valeria101

Date: 2/25/2005 5:37:43 PM
Author: Indecisive

One quick question though - is there anything bad about heat treatment? Like does the colour fade etc?

Any stern advice against heat treatment?

No... the effects are permanent.

The price difference between heated and not is quite spectacular for those types that are top price anyway. Otherwise, it does go down.

If heated sapphire keeps it''s value better and is more ''collectable'' I can''t really say. It seems that fine color (light or dark, blue or not, whatever) is very much in demand and difficult to come by heated or not. The more recent and more intrusive treatments do not seem very acceptable and so the value of those stones is anybody''s guess. Heated sapphire has been around for ages - literally.

There''s one catch: once a piece is sold as ''heated'' it takes one more question to find out what ''heating '' means (traditional low heat treatment, diffusion, something else...). Unfortunately, there are species like this and there''s less disclosure once any treatment at all is applied. Anyway, if the price is makes this purchase important beyond the stone''s looks, it can''t be that hard to obtain a lab report I would think.

Pala lists one square powder blue with impressive shape

For what that matters, I''d love a bit more ''blue'' (not dark, but more saturated) - yeah, right

I am not sure what is the color you intend. But... sapphire does aqua blue very well - brighter as it is.

Couldn''t find a step cut, but the respective type of blue would look like this:

Hope some of the rambling helps ...

Ooooooooh, my god. I love the colour of the last one (the "aqua blue" colour) - that is EXACTLY what I am thinking (although that particular stone is not a step cut, obviously.) That is SUCH the colour I want, oh so pretty!!! The top one is also beautiful, although probably looks (at least on the monitor) a little darker than my ideal. I want an aqua blue like the third one - although it is going to be a coloured stone e-ring I don''t want dark colours. I have light blue/sometimes gray-ish eyes and I want light blue eye colour

lol. I''m silly.

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

Being in Australia Indecisive, you have every colour of the rainbow available to you. You need but ask. They are not marketed well and so relatively cheap.

A mine in FNQ has just started exploring a hundred km radius of ground with blue sapphs as good as any cylon sapphs and they are up their armpits with them - they call the ''lava'' sapphs from the areas name, but they will no doubt be market through Asia as Cylon again.

Be carefull with heat-teated stones as the treatements can vary and I know there is a lot more then heat used. The whole coloured stone market is not as transperant as the diamond market and I don''t rightly know what is being done.

I have 4 colours of natural saphhs for Camellias pendant (pink the most expensive) and I can heat any as far as burning them and after they change colour from bright yellow to white, they revert exactly to the original colour. I doubt you can do that with a treated saphh (browns excluded).

Be carefull before you buy. Australiasia is the cheapest place in the world for saphires and OS is no indication for price.

Cheers,

Phillip

 

[valeria101]

Date: 2/26/2005 7:20:10 AM
Author: Platinumsmith

A mine in FNQ has just started exploring a hundred km radius of ground with blue sapphs as good as any cylon sapphs and they are up their armpits with them - they call the ''lava'' sapphs from the areas name, but they will no doubt be market through Asia as Cylon again.

Any "sample " online ?

 

[michela002]

Thanks for the heads up Platinumsmith. Where could I go about seeing some an aqua blue emerald cut sapphires in Melbourne? What is FNQ?

But although I''m in Australia my boyfriend is in California so chances are that''s where all the looking and buying and sourcing will come from - although there''s nothing to stop him getting it from Australia!!

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

Not much of a heads up. I am still learning about the coloured stone market myself.

I will make a few calls and get some examples on appro'' I will look for good examples rather then the best deal as that takes more time and if your not buying now there is no point in doing that.

Give me a week. Check my contact page on my website and give me a call when your next in the city and want to view some sapphires, give me a day or two from then. That would be cool.

I can''t recommend a good shop as I never look at their coloured stones collections. Anyhow I am sure I can find you some examples of good natural aqua blue sapphires.

Cheers,

Phillip

 

[bar01]

Date: 2/26/2005 7:20:10 AM
Author: Platinumsmith
Being in Australia I

A mine in FNQ has just started exploring a hundred km radius of ground with blue sapphs as good as any cylon sapphs and they are up their armpits with them - they call the 'lava' sapphs from the areas name, but they will no doubt be market through Asia as Cylon again.



Cheers,



Phillip

I would be interested in finding out more about these. More info please. Who is selling these? Any Aussie who is up to their armpits in natural sapphires which resemble Ceylon (Sri Lanka) -and is selling them at great prices - would have my attention.

 

[chantal990]

Hi,

For coloured stones in Melbourne there is really not a lot of place that sell loose coloured stones to non-trade people . There is a couple in the Westpace Building on the corner of Collins and Swanston Street in the city and there is Dazzlyn Gems in Mentone but most of the time I have found it''s easier to buy off the web or to get a jeweller you trust to bring in a selection for you.

 

[lonewoodminer]

Hi All

I have been watching this post with great interest. As a miner in Australia I feel qualified to comment - Australian sapphire is cheap!! I know this from experience far too well. Platinumsmith is correct in saying that Australian sapphire has not been marketed well and so is very cheap - unfortunately our best stone has been re-labelled as sapphire from more desirable locations (eg. Ceylon). However, there is nice blue sapphire coming out of Lava Plains, Queensland at the moment although it is our understanding that it tends to be smaller in size. We can suggest that you contact the Elliots at Coolamon Mining to see what they have available - they are very large producers and are absolutely fanatical about the quality of their cutting. Please note that we have no business association with Coolamon - we are just recommending them as passionate about their sapphires and I''m sure would be happy to try and help. The New England resource in NSW has long been known for the quality of their sapphire.

cheers
Andrew Lane