Looking for Round Blue Sapphire

[goldie_locks]

So after going back and forth with Jeff Hapeman I have two stones coming next week - the smaller montana stone I posted earlier and then the lighter blue one I recently posted a picture of (more pictures below). Even though they aren't quite the color I first thought I wanted, I find myself quite taken with them. I can't wait to see them in person!

 

[Arkteia]

I wish you good luck with the stones!

 

[goldie_locks]

Received the two sapphires from Jeff this morning. Husband definitely finds the Montana stone too greenish, though I still think it's quite a pretty stone. We are unsure on the larger stone from Sri Lanka. Both of us quite like the color, but husband is concerned about the feather in the center. Even though it is eye clean face up, you can see it from certain angles. Also, I think we both would like something a little darker/more royal. We have a few days to decide, but I suspect the search will continue .

 

[goldie_locks]

I'm feeling like I've exhausted my search for a round sapphire in the size and color I want, and so am thinking about expanding to include an oval shape. Does anyone have thoughts on this particular stone from fine water gems? To me the indoor pictures are a bit light for my taste, but the outdoor shot looks like it's in the color range I'm looking for. Since the stones always look lighter in the pictures compared to real life, the color might actually be right. If anyone has seen a medium-royal blue oval sapphire recently for under $4000, I'd appreciate you pointing me toward it. Thanks!

http://www.finewatergems.com/store/p26/2.05_ct_Unheated_Blue_Ceylon_Sapphire.html

 

[digdeep]

At the beginning of the thread color/bezel setting/ and darkness was an issue and the Gemline stone looked like it wasn't followed up on. The description says it does well in all lighting so maybe one to consider before moving to ovals. The vendor is very helpful if you have questions............???

https://www.litnon.com/index.php?page=viewgem&id=9941

 

[chroman]

If you are considering lighter stones like that from Finewater, theres also this:
http://jefferydavies.com/gemstones/sapphire/mj9527-sapphire-2-60ct-gia/

But for deeper blue ovals, this looks dark im the pics, but Elle says it has amazing color, so it might be worth checking into:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/495380...ed-heated-ideal-cobalt?ref=shop_home_active_9

Decent cut and great looking color on this one!
http://www.pearlmansjewelers.com/gemstones/?sku=G86671

A wee bowtie in the photo and a bit over budget, but another amazing color:
http://www.pearlmansjewelers.com/gemstones/?sku=G85994

 

[valeria101]

Was the first local find that you have called 'top of the line' like this one - WWW (very round-ed square) ? (considering the price !)

In any case, a mesmerizing blue dot could do a show of force in a pendant, methinks - pehaps along the lines of this design WWW (nevermind the numbers) - redrawn around the shape you will find.

I have certainly seen a fair number of similar designs: essentially, a frame of diamonds accomodating relatively small, often absurdly perfect dots of colour...

 

[goldie_locks]

@digdeep - thanks, I missed that one before. I sent an email asking if they have video.

@chroman - love the color on that oval one from Elle. I had actually reached out to her about this round one and she was going to send a video today: https://www.etsy.com/listing/232958385/210ct-blue-sapphire-precision-cut-round. Perhaps I can get side by side pics and video of the two of them. I think the oval has more of the vivid color I'm looking for.

Also, without looking back, I think it was you that sent a round pearlman's before. I actually did reach out to them for additional photos, but I thought it looked quite dark (see below). They actually have a number of rounds that appear to be in my ideal color range, but with so many similar ones, I'm having difficult deciding from the pics, if any, I'd like to see in person.



@valeria101 - yes, I would say that color was pretty similar to what I saw in person at the B&M store, but in a round cut.


At this point, other than seeing all of these in person, I'm not sure how to decide. Basically, I'm having a really tough time judging much from the pictures and am starting to feel overwhelmed. For example, these three sapphires are from pearlman's. All with the same price per carat and description. How would you tell just from the pics which are more promising?

 

[goldie_locks]

After an email to pearlmans about what I am looking for, they suggested these three:

http://www.pearlmansjewelers.com/gemstones/?sku=g86772
http://www.pearlmansjewelers.com/gemstones/?sku=G87765
http://www.pearlmansjewelers.com/gemstones/?sku=G88741

The first is one that I took screenshot of an posted above. The color on the second one seems off, and for some reason the third one just doesn't look right to me ....

 

[valeria101]

I am trying to fit what I see among the range of possibilities of sapphire... I'd say that the three images posted here look quite different from the ones on the site, where the 1.7 stands out.

Of course I am always wishing for untreated - if the goal is to have a sample of the best (an exageration ... ).

 

[goldie_locks]

I went to a local jewelry store this afternoon and they had a surprising number of gems in stock (they make a lot of jewelry on site so I guess it makes sense to keep a stock). They pulled two sapphires from the vault for me to look at - both ovals in a rich medium hue with flecks of violet just slightly lighter than the true royal, unheated, in the 1.5ct range, around $4100 (they did show me a beautiful true round royal blue ringing in at a whopping $10K for just under 2ct).

I really was a fan of one of them, which was a total fireball but i'm pretty sure I saw some fish eye-ing. If I've done my research correctly, this is when the stone looks somewhat dead in the table because it's not reflecting light? I didn't spot it until we took it outside and then it became very noticeable. In some threads I've read that this is normal/usual, but in others I've read that it's not.

I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to take any pictures, I'm not sure I would have been able to capture this effect anyway. Other than this issue, I thought I had found the perfect stone at a fair price, but now I'm not so sure ...

 

[valeria101]

I didn't spot it until we took it outside and then it became very noticeable. In some threads I've read that this is normal/usual, but in others I've read that it's not.

Daylight is strong light, even if the day is not properly sunny. However, the setting will forever prevent the stone from facing bright light again. Perhaps something to try ? A 'fault' that dissapears in setting is not much to talk about. [sidenote: if it turned unpleasantly, un-sunbtly gray-er in relatively low light, that would be much less good news]

The colour you describe sounds rather nice - 'Cornflower' blue (saturated, lighter than 'Royal', subtly violetish to some degree). IHMO, no photography is not worse than confusing, random photography ... Each shot might show a determined feature (say, some detail of cut, or color change etc. - each exagerated, so OK for narrow demonstrative purposes), but ... I am not sure what it takes to give the sum impression of a stone like that !

Just a thought ...


Slight cut issues are damned to Hell in diamonds - because there is so much more choice... Then, the same standard tends to get translated to colour stones aroudn here. Not wrong. However, perfect cut is not in the same league as perfect color: there is a choice to cut or not to cut, amounting to loss of material &, perhaps, no loss of value, after all; meddling with colour to the same extent is punishable by ostracism [thinking of difussion treatments etc. ]. Perhaps one day you will wish to think about sapphire cut perfection ... [there are a few good stories of re-cut around, including a tremendous spinel latey - @Arkteia 's].

From what you are writing so far, I understand that the merely intriguing-colored sapphire with perfect cutting are not what you are looking for. The choice is always there... Not bad.

Both cut & colour perfection is something else. For me, great quality in either sense is spectacular & compensates. What this means in terms of tradition & prices is somethign else.


____
Disclaimer: - much ado about taste, I have lost track of mine a long time ago ! WWW

 

[normanintheskywithsapphires]

I went to a local jewelry store this afternoon and they had a surprising number of gems in stock (they make a lot of jewelry on site so I guess it makes sense to keep a stock). They pulled two sapphires from the vault for me to look at - both ovals in a rich medium hue with flecks of violet just slightly lighter than the true royal, unheated, in the 1.5ct range, around $4100 (they did show me a beautiful true round royal blue ringing in at a whopping $10K for just under 2ct).

That's really surprising, that they had such choices. Was that a big city jeweler shop, if I may ask?

 

[goldie_locks]

@valeria101 - I'm not so sure there was a cut issue, that's what I'm trying to determine. The color was spectacular, not far off from the one you sent in a previous post or this one on wild fish gems (the picture in the hand appears to be pretty close): https://www.wildfishgems.com/inc/sdetail/unheated_ceylon_sapphire_1_28/10883/20078

It was spectacularly sparkly - the most sparkly I've ever seen, but it just appeared flat/dark in in the table. I'm sure it wasn't a window and after doing some research, I also don't think it is a fisheye. I was working with the owner of the store and he said it is normal - that the effect is the result of seeing the facets of the girdle through the table. I've never noticed this before, but I never knew what to look for before reading all of the posts in this forum. Given size, color, unheated, origin, and clarity it seems like a great find in given what I've seen online. Could this be a natural effect of the shape and darkness of the stone? When he emails me the full quote for the necklace today, I'm going to ask for some pictures, or maybe go back and look at it again.

@norman_in_L.A. - yes, it's a store in downtown Seattle called Turgeon Raine https://turgeonraine.com/about-us/. I was very surprised by the selection, both "in the vault" (hundreds, apparently), but also out on display in their own designs. Not only do they have a wonderful selection of blue and pink sapphires, they had a large showcase of other gems (and I wondered what the PSers here would think of them/their quality). My husband commented later that they must have millions of dollars worth of stock. Very impressive.

 

[goldie_locks]

Was browsing the other posts and saw this one about the spinel https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/greyish-purple-spinel-advice-pls.232408/ . This is exactly what the sapphire I was looking at does - super sparkly around the edges but dead in the table. I thought to be a window you had to be able to see through it - now I know and have learned yet another thing from this forum!

 

[digdeep]

Windows are one of the common cut issues, but not acknowledged by sellers or lumped into 'that's normal'. My round cut windowless sapphire is extremely sparkly in direct light and sometimes looks like a piece of glass in other light. (it's a champagne color). I'd urge you to see gems in light conditions on your own terms.........not just in a store under their very bright lights.

 

[valeria101]

You may choose not to put up with it, whatever the norm ...

 

[goldie_locks]

@digdeep - thanks, yes. We did get to take it outside to view in the typical Seattle overcast light, but I would like to see it at home also. I was thinking of asking them if they would let me bring it home for a few days -either by outright purchasing it or with just leaving a deposit.

 

[goldie_locks]

What do you all think of this one from gemfix?

https://gemfix.com/gems/sapphire-blue-11-1286

 

[rockysalamander]

I have a little oval blue sapphire that has a bit of a window, but its small size does make it harder to detect that in my larger stones. I'll dig it out and get DH to shoot some pics, as I'm a crap photographer. It was formerly set in an unflattering setting that seemed to make the window worse, so it will get reset, but the color is so lovely I still love it. So, I agree with PP that if you find the right color, the cut may be less critical.

Few more...
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXGjWogB5mg/?taken-by=ptgems
https://www.butterlaneantiques.com/products/diamond-and-sapphire-3-stone-ring?variant=47585928975 {bit small?}
https://www.butterlaneantiques.com/...hire-diamond-cluster-ring?variant=47946598351 {bit over budget}

 

[goldie_locks]

@rockysalamander - would be great to see pics of your sapphire. I found another one at wild fish that looks nearly identical, though smaller and without the tiny flecks of violet I saw: https://www.wildfishgems.com/inc/sdetail/unheated_ceylon_sapphire_1_03/10883/17665. This picture in particular, shows the a very similar color and nearly the exact same window effect I saw in the store. The price per carat is nearly exact (in fact, the wild fish price is slightly higher). This helps to give me confidence that the price the jeweler is asking is fair. Still waiting for them to send pics.

 

[minousbijoux]

I would not take the pricing of Wildfish Gems as a standard or metric for stone prices, as I find, among other things, his prices ridiculously high.

 

[goldie_locks]

Here are the details and pics of the stone from the local store - I appreciate all feedback, thanks!
1.84ct, unheated, origin TBD (the jeweler is going back to the cutter to find out)
7.91mm X 6.26mm
$4150

outside pic:


Inside pic:

 

[goldie_locks]

I would not take the pricing of Wildfish Gems as a standard or metric for stone prices, as I find, among other things, his prices ridiculously high.

Oh - good to know! They seem to have great reviews by PSers, so I figured their prices would be a good comparison.

 

[digdeep]

Oh - good to know! They seem to have great reviews by PSers, so I figured their prices would be a good comparison.

Agree with Minous' comment above; if you search "wildfish" the story goes both ways on PS for experiences with this vendor...........

From the pic's of the gem, while the color is great on half of the gem, the extinction causes it to disappear for the other half which is common with ovals and would be a deal breaker for me regardless of price. If it doesn't bother you (who will be looking at it since a pendant isn't visible to the wearer) then at least you are aware.

 

[rockysalamander]

Lovely blue ust popped up on instagram.I know was not the shape you like. https://www.instagram.com/p/BXIwk1MHQ5C/

 

[goldie_locks]

Thanks @digdeep, that is extremely helpful. I knew something seemed a bit off about the stone in person, but I couldn't figure out if I was just being very picky.

What about this one, posted by AJS:

 

[goldie_locks]

Lovely blue ust popped up on instagram.I know was not the shape you like. https://www.instagram.com/p/BXIwk1MHQ5C/

Beautiful - I'm pretty open to different shapes at this point, but I think I'm finding I don't like the cornflower blue as much as the royal blue.

 

[digdeep]

I'm not a good person to ask about oval's as I kept the first one I bought simply to remind me not to fall for pretty stone pic's---that's also when I learned about extinction/shadows and my aversion! LOL!
Have you heard from Michael at Gemline? He might have something else that isn't online right now. Honestly, I'd give that round he has a look as it seems pretty nice at a reasonable price point........

 

[rockysalamander]

Beautiful - I'm pretty open to different shapes at this point, but I think I'm finding I don't like the cornflower blue as much as the royal blue.

I figured it was not right, but worth sharing.

I like the AJS one you just posted. With your love of the darker colors, I think it will be a fine line to get a stone with a dark/pure color you like, while not being too dark. I LOVE the smaller stone by PrecisionGem and you can always reach out to him with your color inspiration and budget and he may have suitable rough.

Out of the box suggestion, I've been eyeing this ring on LangAntiques and its needs a good home. You could probably re-sell the setting. https://www.langantiques.com/vintag...carat-marquise-sapphire-and-diamond-ring.html

p.s. Sorry for the almost incomprehensible previous post. I was typing on my phone while trying to console my DS (who just found out that school starts in just a few weeks ).