Advice on sapphire for an engagement ring

[tkl34]

Hi All,

(Looks like my post got wiped out due to the upgrade, sorry if this appears twice )

This is my first post here and first of all I'd like to thank this community. The wealth of knowledge on these boards is astounding, and the images/commentaries/links have been extremely helpful to myself and likely many others that don't end up posting here.


I'm looking for a sapphire for a unique engagement ring and need some advice on what to select (along with a lot of other people apparently based on the first page...). I'm working with a local jeweler on a custom setting. it will likely be a solitare, so the stone has to have a presence and ability to stand on its own.

That said, I'm not incredibly picky about "what is usually considered desirable." I've been looking at quite a few stones from the vendors page and showing her a few to get an idea of what kind of color she'd prefer. So far, the standard cornflower/royal blue as well as a few bluish-green Montanas have caught her eye the most.


I've narrowed down what we're looking for a bit to these:

Shape: Oval/Pear (Pear less preferred)
Size: 1-2 Carats (1 may be a bit on the small side)
Color: Blue or Bluish-green (lot of leeway here)
Price: $4500 max, but want to stay in the mid range unless it is something perfect


I've been going through the vendor's list for about a month. These are a few that she's seen and approved of the color.

Two montanas from Jeff Hapeman:

http://www.earthstreasury.com/product/1-11-carat-cornflower-blue-montana-sapphire-heated-2/
-Looks good, but has a corner that looks like it loses color, not sure how this would look in a ring.

http://www.earthstreasury.com/product/1-45-carat-royal-blue-montana-sapphire-heated/
-looks amazing, just a slight bit of green compared to the previous one maybe?

One from Gemfix:
https://gemfix.com/gems/sapphire-blue-1219-oval-portuguese-style-1-38cts
-more of a traditional looking sapphire

One concave cut:
http://www.concavegems.com/detail.cfm?zNum=6945
-Another one that looks fantastic, but does anyone have experience with what concave stones look like in real life?

One pear I looked at from Dan Stair:

http://www.customgemstones.com/SAPPHIRE/sa1738.html
-Not sure why this is so cheap, thoughts?


I appreciate any thoughts/suggestions. I'll be contacting at least one of the above tomorrow, maybe even buy one to see it in person.

Thanks for reading this far!



Bonus:
I got a bit fatigued after looking at sapphires for a month. Alex is my birthstone so I thought I'd throw one of those in as a wild card.
http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?1815588156

 

[TheElms]

Hi All,

One concave cut:
http://www.concavegems.com/detail.cfm?zNum=6945
-Another one that looks fantastic, but does anyone have experience with what concave stones look like in real life?

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?1815588156

My engagement ring is a round concave cut by Richard Homer. When it is newly clean I can see the "cracked ice" (not sure what else to call them) lines that characterize a concave cut. After 2 days of not cleaning it, I can no longer see them unless I look very closely. I went with a concave cut because for my budget which was around 4K top for a 7mm stone a lot of the medium color stones I liked showed a lot of extinction. The concave cut seems to help the stone stay blue.

This thread shows sapphires that I had in hand of close to the same color/tone and size. The first one is a traditional faceted stone, the second one in the concave. But as I said above on an ordinary day the concave facets are less noticeable than in the picture.

https://www.pricescope.com/communit...for-e-ring-looking-for-opinions.180357/page-2

 

[chrono]

Did you get a chance to read my comments and view the video or do I have to repost?

 

[SparkliesLuver]

Not sure if you saw mine either. I posted about this stone but I can't find it on their website now. Hm. I'll keep looking though.

 

[SparkliesLuver]

Found it! Not sure if you'll like it, but I wanted to post it anyhow. It's an unheated 2.560ct sapphire for $3,712.

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?-735900941

 

[tkl34]

My engagement ring is a round concave cut by Richard Homer. When it is newly clean I can see the "cracked ice" (not sure what else to call them) lines that characterize a concave cut. After 2 days of not cleaning it, I can no longer see them unless I look very closely. I went with a concave cut because for my budget which was around 4K top for a 7mm stone a lot of the medium color stones I liked showed a lot of extinction. The concave cut seems to help the stone stay blue.

This thread shows sapphires that I had in hand of close to the same color/tone and size. The first one is a traditional faceted stone, the second one in the concave. But as I said above on an ordinary day the concave facets are less noticeable than in the picture.

https://www.pricescope.com/communit...for-e-ring-looking-for-opinions.180357/page-2

Thanks for the thread, I'll check it out. (she describes the look as "making the jump to hyperspace" - bit of a nerd

Did you get a chance to read my comments and view the video or do I have to repost?

No unfortunately, I didn't see anything from yesterday. I had to recreate my account even.

Found it! Not sure if you'll like it, but I wanted to post it anyhow. It's an unheated 2.560ct sapphire for $3,712.

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?-735900941

Wow, that is an interesting color change in a blue sapphire. I'll see if she likes that color. Thanks!

 

[chrono]

http://www.earthstreasury.com/product/1-11-carat-cornflower-blue-montana-sapphire-heated-2/
Ask Jeff whether the colouration is even or whether it is colour zoned. That should address your concerns. I think it is just light play that you are seeing, not uneven colouration.

http://www.earthstreasury.com/product/1-45-carat-royal-blue-montana-sapphire-heated/
Definitely greener and also darker in tone.

https://gemfix.com/gems/sapphire-blue-1219-oval-portuguese-style-1-38cts
Darkish, and not all too exciting for me.

http://www.concavegems.com/detail.cfm?zNum=6945
I own several concave cut stones and find them "static". The benefit of such a design is that the stone doesn't darken and you will not see extinction. People either love it or hate it.

http://www.customgemstones.com/SAPPHIRE/sa1738.html
Dark, gray, and drab.

 

[tkl34]

Thanks chrono, that is some helpful insight.

- I'll go ahead and email Jeff, was leaning towards those anyway. Something about the shape of his stones is really appealing.

-I think I understand what you mean by 'static' based on the video of that concave faceted stone? You don't really see new facets shine the same way as a flat facet as he rotates it, the facets just seem all more visible from higher angles. Not bad, just different

-on Dan's I just wasn't sure if that was an artifact of his photography, a lot of his images just seemed washed out. I think I looked at it too long and adjusted my eyes to compensate for the background .

 

[chroman]

+1 to the multicolour oval that SparklesLuver posted! That was the first stone that came to mind reading the initial post