Colured gemstone geek newbie

[jordyonbass]

G'day from Australia!! (Not sure if this is the right forum for this post)

Long story short, I'm a 26 year old guy from Australia who has been developing an obsession with coloured gemstones, albeit just after I tied the knot with my beautiful wife. I wish I had been bitten by the bug before we picked our wedding rings!! I'm not so much of a jewelry fanatic as I am a fan of the actual stones themselves. It intrigues me the different ways they have formed and the history of the stones e.g. Kasmir Sapphire and Russian Alexandrite which were mined in the 1800s.

I want to get my wife an emerald and a sapphire and I'm still lurking the forums and doing searches to widen my knowledge; but there's so many topics that I may ask a question here or there that may sound silly. So please keep in mind I'm still learning and any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks for your time!!
Jordy

 

[VirginiaZee]

Hi Jordy, and welcome to the CS forum! This is definitely the right area to ask questions, advice, recommendations, share stones, etc. If you have a specific question you can also do a regular Google search (including pricescope.com in the search parameters) to see if there's already a topic on it. Oh, and this thread has a lot of great info too: [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/new-to-coloured-gemstone-buying-read-this-first.174284/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/new-to-coloured-gemstone-buying-read-this-first.174284/..[/URL].

 

[dk168]

at newbie!

Be warned, CS is very additive, and good luck with sourcing the stones for your wife, she is a very lucky lady.

DK

 

[CirrusClouds]

Welcome aboard! I hope you love colored gemstones as much as we do! And you have come to the right place for assistance!

 

[marymm]

Welcome to the Colored-Stones forum jordyonbass - you will find this site addicting!

Not sure where in Australia you are located, but a well-regarded PS vendor, Doug Menadue of Bespoke Gems is based in Sydney -
http://www.bespoke-gems.com/SacredGeometrics_MainFoyer.php - if you're at interested in a sapphire from your homeland, Bespoke Gems is a good place to start.

 

[jordyonbass]

Thanks for the welcome guys!

marymm thanks for the recommendation, although we're not really looking for Aussie stones. If he stocks stones from overseas locations then we may be interested but at this point in time it's still in the research stages.

It's been such a bizarre manifestation as far as an obsession I've developed; as I've talked with people in the Aussie gem industry before in casual conversation but it never peaked my interest - one of those people being a Black Opal miner who was willing to let me know how much Black Opal they have in their retirement fund. Knowing what I know now about Black Opal I'd be begging him for a job if I ever spoke to him again!!!

 

[dk168]

I have seen some very nice black opals, and would like one for a clasp for pearls one day.

DK

 

[jordyonbass]

OK so I figured I should start asking a few questions in this thread about the upcoming purchase for my wife lol.

To put a long story short; in the last 12 months we have had our wedding and I've been busy building a fishing boat for my own use that has just been finished in the last few weeks.

I'm doing a big fishing trip early in the new year and after that I am planning on getting a Sapphire to set in a ring for my wife as a token of my appreciation for all the stress from the wedding and boat rebuild happening at the same time.

Originally I was interested in faceted stones only, however over the last week or so I have been looking at cabochon sapphires as an option for a setting and I am really liking them as an option for multiple reasons. Obviously the price is one of those reasons, I don't make top dollar in my occupation and a decent, faceted stone is a lot of $$. One of the other things I have noticed which I wanted to ask is how setting a cab sapphire would affect the aesthetics of the sapphire? Would I be correct in thinking that the stone darkening in a setting is not an issue with a cabochon? I love the colour of cabochon sapphires as they're so vivid in colour to my eyes, I want to ensure that what the colour we see after it is set is as close to the colour before it was set.

I also read another thread where someone mentioned the larger sized cabochons can be harder to set, however I don't remember reading why - can anyone elaborate on that a little more for me by any chance? Is there preferred settings for cabochons?

Thanks for your patience people, again I am new to this and I may ask questions that have been asked before that I couldn't find in my search. I don't have any kind of mentor here in Australia to speak to in regards to gemstones - the many threads and posts on this forum are my mentors and unfortunately sometimes they just don't have the info I am looking for!

Thanks guys,
Jordy

 

[chrono]

A blue sapphire cabochon is a great way to get a reasonably priced stone. It is more forgiving on clarity, you can get a decent size and very nice colour on a tight budget. It does require a different type of setting though; a flat base with longer prongs (or you can bezel it too but it still needs a flat base, not the usual basket). Stone darkening is not much of an issue.

In the meantime, enjoy!
http://www.finewatergems.com/sapphire.html
http://mastercutgems.com/index.php?page=viewgem&id=6924

 

[movie zombie]

have you explored the possibility of an AU sapphire?

 

[jordyonbass]

Chrono,

Thanks for that! Love the colour of the second stone that you posted, it reminds me of the cobalt blue waters that my wife and I have fished off Sydney. I think it's why we are so drawn to cabochon sapphires, the colour is absolutely gorgeous in some of them - I actually prefer the colour I've seen in cabs compared to that I have seen in faceted stones!

Movie zombie,

From what I have seen with Aussie Blue Sapphires, they're usually small and the colour is not really what we find desirable. Have you seen any nice Aussie Sapphire cabs in the 3-6 ct. size before?

 

[movie zombie]

I haven't looked onlne for them in along time.
and i'm afraid one in the size you're looking for would cost $$$$.

did you checkout Montana sapphires?

unfortunately, sapphires are wildly popular right now and even so-so stones command $.

 

[jordyonbass]

Movie Zombie,

I haven't to be honest, some of the sites I have been on have mostly Sapphires from Madagascar and Burma. How do the Montana sapphires in cabochon compare? I know that sapphires are expensive at the moment and it's money I can't afford, especially for faceted stones. It's a good thing that the cab sapphires have really taken our interest, my poor wallet would probably need to be placed on suicide watch if I went for a 3-6 ct faceted stone!! hehehe

 

[chrono]

Most Montanas aren't that large and I think anything over 3 ct is pushing it.