Can a Sapphire with too thin of a girdle be recut easily

[JaredWA]

So I recently bought a sapphire from the natural sapphire company(TNSC). I was a little hesitant to buy the gem since it seemed to have a thin Girdle. I the sales person reassured me that it would be fine and my jeweler said when I asked about gems that a thin girdle would be fine as well. Well wen the jeweler's gemologist looked at the stone, they said the girdle was to thin and might chip during setting, so they wouldn't work with it due to the risk. The good thing is the NTNSC has a 14 day risk free return period which i'm going to exercise.

However, I really liked everything about the stone. It very beautiful and I was quite disappointed to hear that they said they couldn't work with it. Can a place like TNSC re-cut the girdle to make it thicker and therefore more durable? In doing so, will they have to re-cut the crown and pavilion as well? Should I just pick a different stone?

Here is the gem in question: http://www.thenaturalsapphirecompany.com/p-61026-cushion-blue-sapphire-b6972/
You can already see a chip in the sapphire on the right side girdle

 

[Niel]

Pick a different stone. NSC is expensive. Recutting costs more on top of that, plus the risk of damage. I think you're better off getting something that works best for you up front.

Here's a really pretty cushion in a similar price range.

http://www.finewatergems.com/store/p54/1.22_ct_Blue_Sapphire.html
Or this round
http://gemfix.com/gems/sapphire-blue-1254-round-roulette-cut-1-24cts

(Just a few options to show there are nice stones out there already cut well)

 

[chrono]

The short answer is no.
1. There will be face up size loss
2. There will be ct weight loss
3. There will be value / monetary loss (recut cost, material loss, $/ct loss)

You are correct that the crown and pavilion have to be tweaked as well. Given the reasons above, it is best to look for an alternative that is better suited to your desire.

 

[Michael_E]

Can a place like TNSC re-cut the girdle to make it thicker and therefore more durable? In doing so, will they have to re-cut the crown and pavilion as well? Should I just pick a different stone?

Yes, any competent lapidary can easily re-cut the girdle to make it thicker and won't need to recut the pavilion or crown. This is done by attaching the stone to a dop and grinding/polishing the girdle as the faceting machine freewheels. If you look at the pictures of the stone you can see that they did this initially, but were obviously concerned about removing too much material and being under the "magic" 1 carat mark. I think that a little judicious pruning would thicken the girdle enough and stay above 1 carat, (this is because the crown and pavilion are fairly steep at the girdle and a little face up loss makes the girdle wider very rapidly).

 

[bobsiv]

Yes, it's super easy. A lapidary could do it in 5 minutes while you waited, by hand. You shouldn't expect to lose more than 5 or 10 points.

 

[chrono]

If it's that easy with minimal weight loss, why wasn't it done in the first place?

 

[PrecisionGem]

Well, the difficulty would be in making the girdle level, and of a somewhat consistent thickness. If you look at the plot of the stone, it is far from either right now. It looks as if the cutter at one time had in mind making the girdle thicker, as you can see the facets don't meet the current girdle line at a point.