Blue Sapphire on line -- Is it worth the price?

[tinkyy]

Is this stone worth the price? 4 ct round at $1250 per carat? I''ve been looking at this one for a loooong time. Anyone have any thoughts on it? Anyone seen it up close?

http://www.simplysapphires.com/cgi-bin/hazel.cgi?action=serve&item=bluerns401.html

Making myself dizzy here, but in a three stone ring, looking for a large ROUND blue center stone 9.0 mm or more as a companion to two side round white sapphires (if they don''t make it too dead looking), or diamonds. Really could use your input, THANKS!

 

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

Date: 7/19/2006 10:24:07 PM
Author:tinkyy

Is this stone worth the price? 4 ct round at $1250 per carat? I''ve been looking at this one for a loooong time. Anyone have any thoughts on it? Anyone seen it up close?

http://www.simplysapphires.com/cgi-bin/hazel.cgi?action=serve&item=bluerns401.html

Making myself dizzy here, but in a three stone ring, looking for a large ROUND blue center stone 9.0 mm or more as a companion to two side round white sapphires (if they don''t make it too dead looking), or diamonds. Really could use your input, THANKS!

TINKYY:

It is hard to tell the quality of a stone through online photographics although the technology is getting better. Ceylon sapphires have a different tone than Burma''s or let''s say sapphires from Madagascar (Africa). From the picture I am not so convinced that the stone is clean. What are your priorities. Bigger or the finest quality. For $5000 bucks you can probably pick up a very nice heated burmese stone with excellent transparency and crystal. On- line the stone looks a little hazy and there seems to be some evident zoning and areas of extinction. If your serious about the stone maybe have it sent to an appraiser to verify if your getting a fair market price. See if you can see the stone in different lighting conditions.

Hope this gives you a little insight...

 

[tinkyy]

We don''t know where to look for stones, which I''m sure is part of the problem. We are looking for a larger (9.5 mm maybe) round center stone with the best quality for the price, if that makes sense. (I agree with you that 5K is probably a good price range and should potentially have several choices). Round seems to be a problem. Should we change to oval and two round sides or cushion cut/squared off with round sides? Where to go from here? Thanks!

 

[widget]

Hi, Tinkyy....

Have you considered having your jeweler/online vendor source a stone for you?

I''m not an expert, but I think nice round sapphires of that size might be hard to find. I suspect there or more ovals and cushions out there. Also, with your budget, you''d probably need to confine your search to heated stones.

For fun, I searched Palagems.com, (wholesalers) and only came up with two bigger round sapphires. Here''s my fav, from Madagascar, but I notice it''s unheated...so it''s probably pretty expensive.
http://www.palagems.com/php/db_search.php?action=gemdetail&inventory_number=7255

Good luck!
widget

 

[CaptAubrey]

Large round fine-color sapphires are not common, but it''s impossible to judge colored stone quality over the internet like this because the skill of the photographer can make such a difference in the appearance. Pala has some excellent photographers; the shots on the first site are not so great. It might be windowed and zoned, it might just be a bad photograph.

$1250/ct is not out of line for nice 4-ct blue sapphire at retail. But you really need to see these kinds of stones in person or enlist the help of a professional.

 

[bar01]

That price seems very low to me to be a fine sapphire - but in general most of simplysapphires prices seem low to me - but I like looking at their site.

I have seem a few people say they have had good experiences with Simplysapphires - and I believe they have a 10 day no questions asked return policy. You could use that time to have your sapphire examined by yourself and a qualified independent appraiser/lab in your area. My guess is that they may be willing to extend that time to 15 days if you need it.

I think buying on line is the way to go – and using an independent appraiser during the allowed return time is peace of mind that you can’t get elsewhere.

 

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

Date: 7/20/2006 9:55:34 AM
Author: tinkyy

We don't know where to look for stones, which I'm sure is part of the problem. We are looking for a larger (9.5 mm maybe) round center stone with the best quality for the price, if that makes sense. (I agree with you that 5K is probably a good price range and should potentially have several choices). Round seems to be a problem. Should we change to oval and two round sides or cushion cut/squared off with round sides? Where to go from here? Thanks!

Tinkyy-Here are some suggestions based on vendors I have dealt with that have Great knowledge of colored gemstones. They have been in the Industry for years and not only know where to source a fine gem, but have many trade contacts which opens up a lot of avenues to get a great stone for the price.

Richard Homer: Cuts gemstones for a living and pioneered concave faceting. Richard mainly fashions concave faceted stones, but also does traditional faceting.www.concavegems.com

Wink Jones: Wink is a vendor who has a lot of experience and believe gets his stones direct from the source on some occasions (buying trips) or has contacts in the trade and goes to gem shows to find what your looking for. Great Guy..www.winkjones.com

Reginald Miller: WWW.Cherrypicked.com- A great site with a lot of exceptional stones in their inventory. 4 years ago they sourced me a unheated burma stone (Blue Sapphire), which was not on their online selection for gems, but part of their inventory. It came out of an older antique ring and offered to sell me the gem out of the setting. CherryPicked also has a grading system referred to as the Cherry Score. There is currently no standardized method of gem grading for overall quality and they do a good job of scoring the individual characteristics which play a role in how gems are judged on quality based on certain characteristics of grading.

Richard Wise: Richard is a great person who wrote the book "Secrets of the Gem Trade" and finally started marketing his stones on-line. I have looked at many websites and my personal opinion is Richard's outfit is top notch. Great Photographs and he personally answers every email you send to him. I am in the process of buying an exceptional heated Burmese Ruby which is crystal clear, and gorgeous. Richard is a well known gemologist who has been to many different places and has an excelent understanding of the market and has an excellent inventory of some of the finest stones you will probably ever see.

Palagems: An excellent website with high quality goods. You can search this sight also, but will need someone in the trade like a vendor to play the middle man in getting you a stone. I sourced 2 sapphires 3 years ago and used Gary Dutton (akaiamondExpert on Pricescope) to source these for me. Gary gave me detailed info, photographs and price information and has great trade experience to help you along with your purchase.

This are my Top 5 which I have done business with. Rounds can be a difficult to get versus other styles because the gem rough (sapphire) doesn't really lend itself to this style of faceting. Cutters can also get more out of a stone using different shapes and cutting techniques.

What is important to decide is..Let's say your budget is $5000. If you want the best quality stone within that price you have a coupke things to decide. If you get a reliable trustworthy dealer he can work with the price and then set the rest of your priorities in motion like shape, and region where your stone comes from, heated or non-heated.

If you want the most out of your money and the highest quality I would choose a heated sapphire from 1 of the 3 following regions.Burma,Ceylon, or Madagascar.

Burma goods will have the largest premium out of these three and are beautiful, but the supply is somewhat limited.They possess a blue described as "royal blue" and have excellent transparency and a vivid hue.

A very fine Ceylon stone IMHO will get you a bigger stone but might not possess the exceptional saturation Burma stones are known for. Ceylon stones are beautiful and also posess a vivid blue hue but because of some of the inclusions don't posess the crisp transparency that some of the fine Burma's have.

Sapphires from Madagascar have been compared to sapphires from Ceylon but tend to show a purple secondary hue. They are gorgeous also and will not be as much as a Burmese Stone.

Going with a cusion or oval will definitely open up your selection.

If it were me I would go with the best Ceylon sapphire in a cushion/oval that your budget can afford. Let your vendor know The you want the finest heated Ceylon sapphire that your $5000.00 can buy. If size is not an issue with you the end result will be a smaller but exceptional gem.

I apologize for the long winded response and good luck.

 

[colorchange]

Date: 7/20/2006 4:12:42 PM
Author: Bertrand

That price seems very low to me to be a fine sapphire - but in general most of simplysapphires prices seem low to me - but I like looking at their site.

I have seem a few people say they have had good experiences with Simplysapphires - and I believe they have a 10 day no questions asked return policy. You could use that time to have your sapphire examined by yourself and a qualified independent appraiser/lab in your area. My guess is that they may be willing to extend that time to 15 days if you need it.

I think buying on line is the way to go – and using an independent appraiser during the allowed return time is peace of mind that you can’t get elsewhere.

I don''t feel their prices are too low personally. They may make some margin seelling their gems at these price, especially if they do not own all, and some prices are very high.
The thing I don''t like is that they say "heated" where gems are heavily treated sometimes, like http://www.simplysapphires.com/cgi-bin/hazel.cgi?action=serve&item=yelloworo438.html just try to red the cert from AGTA : most probably Berylium and synthetic overgrowth.

 

[MustangFan]

the price seems about right for heated, if you really like it, go for it. Make sure they have a good refund policy though, I don''t trust online pictures.