Blue Sapphire - Pricing

[ozam]

I'm sure this question has been asked and answered many times, but now it is my turn!

I am trying to buy a loose blue sapphire in the 1 to 1.75 carat range for a ring or pendant. Unlike my diamond buying experience, which was very interesting and fun (thanks to all the information provided by Pricescope and its followers), buying a colored stone has become a real pain in the butt! It reminds me of buying fine art or antique furniture (neither of which I like to do), where there is no easy way to "verify" an asking price. There is soooo much more subjectivity to this process.

Assuming I want to get a high quality nice stone (however one might define that, but I am ok with the stone being heated), what would be the most I should pay on a per carat basis. Would $2000-$2,500 per carat be high from a reputable dealer?

Advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.














Buying a colored stone is a big pain in the butt! I really enjoyed buying a diamond.

 

[ozam]

Have a asked a taboo question?

Obviously, I know pricing is dependent on many factors (color, hue, saturation, clarity, cut, etc...). I am just trying to align my expectations. Is there a noticeable difference between a "fairly valued" $1,000 1.5 ct stone and a $2,500 1.5 ct stone, or it like two HDTVS where both look great individually, but the differences become apparent when placed side by side (which obviously will never be the case in the real world). I've spent many hours searching the internet and this site and I really have not come across anything to help the occasional buyer feel comfortable in their decision making process!

I really would appreciate some thoughts from those of you who deal with this issue frequently.

 

[Pandora II]

As you say, pricing depends on so many different factors - and that is likely why you haven't got responses.

It really is very like antique furniture shopping!

You could show me a 1.5ct sapphire that would be a complete bargain at $2k/ct or it could be a complete rip off. The stone needs to be evaluated on it's own merits.

The best thing to do is to look at stones on different sites and work out why some are priced at x and another at 3x. Palagems is a good site for seeing amazing stones and for their buying guides and other articles. You may find some of them helpful.

Colour will always be the primary consideration and what appear to be very subtle differences in tone, hue and saturation can have very insubtle effects on the price of a stone.

You've already worked out that coloured stone buying doesn't come with crib sheets the way that diamonds do, I think that makes the hunt that much more interesting and exciting.

Right now sapphires are very sought after - the William & Kate effect brought about a 40-60% increase in prices and I heard yesterday that prices have gone up another 20% or so in the last 6 months, so you may find a range of prices depending as much on how long a piece has been in stock as to it's quality.

Sorry that I can't give you anything more specific that that, but there are no short-cuts.

 

[ozam]

Thanks so much for the long write up. I really appreciate your thoughts. I knew it was not a simple answer but I was hoping for at least a rule of thumb.

SOOOO....given the subjective nature of the process, what does one do to make sure they are getting a "fair" deal. I know with my diamond I sent it to Rock Doc down in Florida (G-d bless him). Are there similarly skilled appraisers for sapphires?

 

[Pandora II]

There are but they are hard to find.

I was trying to find one for a couple in the UK who got an amazing deal on a 4.5ct unheated emerald-cut blue sapphire and after a lot of enquiries and people talking to others I came up with 3 names.

The people that are often most knowledgeable about price fluctuations are the dealers who are travelling to the sources to buy and are then selling to various levels of the market - trade, end customer etc. However they're not usually trained as appraisers, nor are they independent - which an appraiser should be.

Finding an appraiser who can keep up to date on all the latest treatments and on price fluctuations and who sees enough coloured stones of a certain quality on a regular basis is not always simple.

Richard Sherwood used to be the name one heard mentioned, but I understand that he has given up appraising and has gone back to dealing.

One of the great things about PS is that people can come here and post details of a stone and while they won't be getting the opinion of a qualified appraiser, they will be getting the opinion of a group of people who have racked up a lot of hours looking at stones and who are very aware of current market prices - pretty invaluable as a tool... even if we don't all agree with each other!

 

[Michael_E]

I was hoping for at least a rule of thumb.

SOOOO....given the subjective nature of the process, what does one do to make sure they are getting a "fair" deal.

Purchases of sapphire are based on how the buyer FEELS about the stone. In any given price range there are hundreds of variables of color combinations, (sapphires are dichroic and can be color changing depending on the light they are in), cut style, etc., etc. The only way to make a decision is to either decide how you feel about a particular stone or to rely on someone else to decide what you should like. A gemologist/appraiser is fine for determining information about a stone such as treatments and so forth, but any value information that they give you will necessarily be in broad ranges. You should not rely on them to tell you what you should like.

I know with my diamond I sent it to Rock Doc down in Florida (G-d bless him). Are there similarly skilled appraisers for sapphires?

Not really. Values are based on previous sales of stones having specific traits and there are so many more gradations of variables in colored stones than in diamonds, that values are always given in ranges. The final value of a piece is determined by what the present owner is willing to accept to give it up to the next owner and this is determined by how both of them feels about the stone. The basic idea here being that you need to look around, decide what you like and what it's worth to you, (a little bargaining can always be attempted to get better pricing if you feel the seller is a bit over your limits).

 

[ozam]

Thanks Michael_E!

You have confirmed everything I do not want to know!!! Especially the part about feelings being part of the price! LOL

The more I read and think about buying this stone the more I realize that I am not the type that should ever buy art, jewelry (diamonds excluded), and antiques. My DNA is built around getting the most bang for a given dollar and when it comes to these types of subjective purchases, my brain starts to explode.

So one last question that I alluded to earlier in my HDTV example....I know there are degrees of nice, but assuming you are dealing in two nice vivid stones that aren't over saturated are the differences that dramatic? Said another way........if there were two nice 1 ct stones and one was $1,000 and the other was $2,500, should you expect the latter stone blow you away with its beauty or is it much more subtle difference. Or, I am completely missing the point and making this too complicated.....i.e. just buy the stone I like best irrespective of price.


I'm just trying to get a basis for what my expectations should be! Thanks again for all the help.

 

[winternight]

I personally find buying antique furniture and art much much easier than buying colored gemstones! I've had zero luck with colored stones so far.

One thing I'll bring up is, pricing aside, it is difficult to get something online because the color on your monitor and what you think you're getting ends up not being the gem in hand. Also, do you know how much smaller in size a 1 ct sapphire is compared to a 1 ct diamond? Sapphires are heavier (I believe) so they won't look as large even though they'll weight the same. That may add to your sticker shock. Also, stones seem to often be a nice color online but will appear too dark in person.

Price depends alot on color so what I suggest is you figure out what color you like and act accordingly. You won't necessarily love the most expensive color of sapphires (if you're lucky).

 

[0-0-0]

So one last question that I alluded to earlier in my HDTV example....I know there are degrees of nice, but assuming you are dealing in two nice vivid stones that aren't over saturated are the differences that dramatic? Said another way........if there were two nice 1 ct stones and one was $1,000 and the other was $2,500, should you expect the latter stone blow you away with its beauty or is it much more subtle difference. Or, I am completely missing the point and making this too complicated.....i.e. just buy the stone I like best irrespective of price.

I don't have specific experience with sapphires, but in my experience shopping for an aquamarine, price has no correlation to how nice a stone is unless the stones are from the same vendor. A cheaper stone actually blew me away more with its beauty than a pricier one from another vendor.

 

[gsellis]

Don't be so hard on yourselves over colored stones. Comparing it to diamonds will just frustrate you. White diamonds have a standard and all the variations are based off an ideal. Everything from the ideal stone decreases the value. There is so vary little variation, that it really can be easy (until you add colored diamonds). It is like pricing tennis balls. The standard is yellow, fuzzy, round, and air pressure. You just can't play any of the other ball games with them