Appraisal advice

[pamplemousse]

My gorgeous sapphire has arrived!

I wish I had a camera to take some pictures for you guys..

It''s so clear and shiny and the color change is the most amazing thing I''ve ever seen. I''m totally in love with it...

Which is why I''m completely nervous for its moment of truth: tomorrow morning we go to see David Atlas. I''m pretty sure I know what I need to know. But I wanted to see if anyone has any advice on sapphire appraisals. Things in my head so far:

Clarity (especially since it''s being sold as Free of Inclusions)
Treatment (heat and otherwise)
Color rating.. if there is such thing
Origin, if they can tell me anything

And the usual: Cut, Weight, "value," etc.

Any other thoughts? I''ve been reading all about "oldminer" for the past week and I''m super excited to have him looking at our stone. But we''re such newbies I''m definitely open to advice.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Wow, what a neat stone!!!

Don''t worry...you''ll be in good hands with David Atlas! He''ll tell you everything you need to know about the stone!

 

[chrono]

It looks to be a good stone. Hope you''ll let us know how the appointment went.

 

[pamplemousse]

The appraisal went swimmingly, of course. David Atlas was amazing (again, of course). We were so afraid that the stone was going to appraise lower than what we paid for it. After reading.... someone''s ("timmy" maybe?) ruby appraisal experience, I was so afraid that I had fallen in love with this stone and then we''d just have to return it.

But no!

The stone actually appraised at a little bit MORE than what we paid. David Atlas was quick to remind us that this is NOT an investment, and that there''s a strong possibility we''d take it into a jeweler and they wouldn''t even know what it was... but we knew that. I just wanted to make sure we were getting what we thought we were.

And so on that note: nothing but great things to say about Wild Fish. David explained how he could tell that it wasn''t treated, probably not even heated (microscopic crystals would melt and form "water lilies" or halos around the original crystal, naturally occurring silk would split up into a broken line rather than a solid one, etc.). He commented that the clarity was really good (which is what I really wanted to hear, because I imagine that accounts a great deal for the price).

Anyway, boring details boring details... We''re thrilled that it came out the way it did and I definitely have this board to thank for finding both Wild Fish and David Atlas. I''ll show my appreciation with tons of photos as soon as it''s set!