Heated Pink Sapphire

[ChaiK]

I am looking at a heated pink sapphire. GIA has certified it as heated.

Does heated mean low heat?

Or is it like ruby? I know with ruby, GIA will certify it heated to which degree.

Because Pink sapphires can also be heated with glass/flux added onto improve colour. It can also be nuked for colour.

With pink sapphire, what does heated as certified by GIA actually mean?

So far, I have only ever bought unheated as certified by GIA. This one I am eyeing is a nice pink heated.

Thank you for your thoughts and opinions and advice.

 

[Bron357]

My understanding is that both GIA and AGL can tell you if heated with “residue”. Minor residue T1 is considered fine and usually only a result of cutting not impregnation of fillers. T2 and T3 not good, T4 and T5 avoid!

 

[ChaiK]

My understanding is that both GIA and AGL can tell you if heated with “residue”. Minor residue T1 is considered fine and usually only a result of cutting not impregnation of fillers. T2 and T3 not good, T4 and T5 avoid!

The GIA cert just says heated for this pink sapphire. Sigh.

 

[Bron357]

If the GIA report just says heated “TE” like this report it means heat no residue.

 

[prs]

If the GIA report just says heated “TE” like this report it means heat no residue.

This is true. We have GIA certs for five small Thai rubies and each cert says "Indications of heating with minor residues in fissures"

 

[ChaiK]

If the GIA report just says heated “TE” like this report it means heat no residue.

Thank you so much, Bron357. I have only seen certs like that for rubies. This is the first time I am seeing it for a pink corundum.

This one, gia says is a purplish pink sapphire. And it just states heated. This is quite a new certificate, dated October 2018.

I don’t mind a heated and unheated sapphire. For me, if colour is good, I would go for the heated pink sapphire. However, with a certificate not stating to what level the heat treatment has been carried out, I am wary. It is just the treatments that are going around these days, which can give new meaning to heated in a negative way.

 

[chrono]

IIRC, GIA will not state level of residue for any corundum except ruby.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

That's super annoying and useless if one is trying to buy a heat only stone.

This reminds me of when they tested lavender jade and said they can't determine colour origin.

 

[AV_]

@ChaiK GIA is a diamond business. For subtleties of sapphire I would bother Richard Hughes's lab instead. A couple others are better known, of course, but I believe they are rather stiff institutions, not likely to respond to specific requests.

 

[Burmesedaze]

@ChaiK GIA is a diamond business. For subtleties of sapphire I would bother Richard Hughes's lab instead. A couple others are better known, of course, but I believe they are rather stiff institutions, not likely to respond to specific requests.

That's Lotus, in Bkk

 

[ChaiK]

So I wrote an email to GIA. Let's see what they say.

Thank you all for your advice.

It is surprising that GIA, a big name, would not certify coloured gems so well. That is very little help, to know it is heated on a GIA cert. In fact, it could be misleading - because it is on a big name cert. How heated? Flux? Not mentioned. All very vague.