Do pink sapphires have the glow of ruby/ spinel?

[Double E]

Can pink sapphire be that glowy? Or at best it can only be a sparkly gem with excellent cut and clarity?

 

[peacechick]

A ruby is the same thing as a sapphire, they are simply the coveted red variety of corundum and that boundary between pink and red sapphire is not as distinct as we may think. I personally think that an extremely saturated and neon pink sapphire would be marketed and sold as a ruby.

 

[Double E]

A ruby is the same thing as a sapphire, they are simply the coveted red variety of corundum and that boundary between pink and red sapphire is not as distinct as we may think. I personally think that an extremely saturated and neon pink sapphire would be marketed and sold as a ruby.

Thanks~ this may make the stone more expensive

I just wonder what determines the degree of fluorescence of pink or red corundum. Isn’t it the chrome content within the stone which is also Indicated by the saturation of Its colour? Really want to learn more.

 

[Bron357]

Interestingly not all rubies have “glow” caused by high chromium content. Thai rubies have their chromium content quenched by their iron content. Still red, as garnets are red, but not so glowy.
Yes some pink sapphires fluoresce / glow similar to rubies. I have a vivid pink and it is has a strong glow. Some might consider it a ruby but in most lighting I see it as pink especially alongside my wee ruby.

 

[Double E]

Interestingly not all rubies have “glow” caused by high chromium content. Thai rubies have their chromium content quenched by their iron content. Still red, as garnets are red, but not so glowy.
Yes some pink sapphires fluoresce / glow similar to rubies. I have a vivid pink and it is has a strong glow. Some might consider it a ruby but in most lighting I see it as pink especially alongside my wee ruby.

Thanks and this is so helpful! So the chromium content is not the only criteria for my understanding. And yes I have to keep in mind that not every stone with a glow or the glow can be strong or weak.

your photo was wonderful comparing two vivid colour sapphire/ ruby. A strong glow vivid hot pink sapphire is a gem I want to have once I have the budget. Mai I know how large and how much of your pink sapphire? If you don’t mind~

 

[ShinyPink]

I have a ruby that I really don't know if it would be classified as a ruby or sapphire if submitted to a lab. I also have sapphires that I think are closer to rubies. I have pink sapphires in my newer wedding band that are gorgeous and almost red. I guess mine had "their chromium content quenched" to quote Bron. While I love the rubies - or whatever- I have, my most glowy pink-red stones are my spinels.

 

[Bron357]

The pink sapphire I think is around 1.5 carats (the ruby is 1.10 carats). I purchased a lot at auction and it ended up containing a lot of gemstones, including the pink sapphire which I set into the ring.

 

[JewelledEscalators]

Interestingly not all rubies have “glow” caused by high chromium content. Thai rubies have their chromium content quenched by their iron content. Still red, as garnets are red, but not so glowy.
Yes some pink sapphires fluoresce / glow similar to rubies. I have a vivid pink and it is has a strong glow. Some might consider it a ruby but in most lighting I see it as pink especially alongside my wee ruby.

I wonder Bron, how come you've never been inclined to set your wee ruby?

 

[Double E]

The pink sapphire I think is around 1.5 carats (the ruby is 1.10 carats). I purchased a lot at auction and it ended up containing a lot of gemstones, including the pink sapphire which I set into the ring.

A 1.5ct is a nice size to us, would you mind sharing the price of the sapphire

 

[Double E]

I have a ruby that I really don't know if it would be classified as a ruby or sapphire if submitted to a lab. I also have sapphires that I think are closer to rubies. I have pink sapphires in my newer wedding band that are gorgeous and almost red. I guess mine had "their chromium content quenched" to quote Bron. While I love the rubies - or whatever- I have, my most glowy pink-red stones are my spinels.

I would like to share your headaches on defining the types of own stones~
And my next question is how would a a vivid glowy pink sapphire compared to a equally glowy spinel? I do need some experience sharing before I start my hunt for a hot pink gem with strong glow once I got that fund…

 

[Bron357]

I wonder Bron, how come you've never been inclined to set your wee ruby?

The wee ruby and her 1.8 carat sister plus a pair of 3 carat each round blue sapphires were going with me (in person) to see Lotus Gemology in Bangkok for reports then Covid happened. I’m not prepared to post them due to their value and tricky reimportation issues.
The rubies are both unheated Burmese and the sapphires I hope also turn out to be Burmese origin.
I intend selling them eventually and I need recognised lab reports. Here in Australia we don’t have any major lab and any report will not be “strong enough” for a potential international buyer.

 

[JewelledEscalators]

Thanks for the explanation Bron. Did I make this up or did you have a name for the ruby? I'm sure somebody had an unset ruby that they'd given a name to, maybe I've got you mixed up with someone else.

 

[nutellakitty]

For the lighter pink kind they don’t glow too much. If you find the hot pink kind, some of them glow just like rubies or spinels

 

[Bron357]

Thanks for the explanation Bron. Did I make this up or did you have a name for the ruby? I'm sure somebody had an unset ruby that they'd given a name to, maybe I've got you mixed up with someone else.

“Truth” was the only gem I named.
The story behind that one was interesting. A few years ago now.
As a result of my scoring this amazing haul of gemstones, a new poster to Pricescope described her absolute distress at having her engagement ring stolen. She was looking for advice to buy a very modest replacement ring. She went on to add that she was a cancer survivor, estranged from her family and doing it really really tough.
So I decided to gift a large yellow sapphire to her and another Pricescoper gifted money for the sapphire to be set by David Klass. All was proceeding nicely until another Pricescoper found her Instagram account where there were photos of her with Chanel handbags, enjoying high tea with her sister, holiday snaps etc etc etc. It became apparent that Suz and I were misled and her being gifted this beautiful sapphire ring was entirely inappropriate. So Suz now has the ring and I named her Truth.

 

[JewelledEscalators]

“Truth” was the only gem I named.
The story behind that one was interesting. A few years ago now.
As a result of my scoring this amazing haul of gemstones, a new poster to Pricescope described her absolute distress at having her engagement ring stolen. She was looking for advice to buy a very modest replacement ring. She went on to add that she was a cancer survivor, estranged from her family and doing it really really tough.
So I decided to gift a large yellow sapphire to her and another Pricescoper gifted money for the sapphire to be set by David Klass. All was proceeding nicely until another Pricescoper found her Instagram account where there were photos of her with Chanel handbags, enjoying high tea with her sister, holiday snaps etc etc etc. It became apparent that Suz and I were misled and her being gifted this beautiful sapphire ring was entirely inappropriate. So Suz now has the ring and I named her Truth.

Wow, what an interesting story, and how strange that there are even niche scammers targetting people like that. Good that you found out before you sent them the sapphire. It's not nice when people try to take advantage of your goodwill - makes you kind of suspcious of everybody else doesn't it. Haha, 'truth' - you could also name it 'integrity' or 'honesty'

Re: the name of the ruby - I think I might have you mixed up with someone else. I'm sure I've seen someone with a ruby about that size unset who had a name for it. Will have to dig through the forum to find out who it was.

 

[glitterata]

By "glow," do you mean intense color, or do you mean fluorescence? Fairly pale pink sapphires can have bright red fluorescence. I have a pair of early 20th century gilded silver hairpins from Sri Lanka, set with pink sapphires, that were made into brooches for the European market. Here they are, with a photo of one of them glowing in UV light:

 

[Double E]

By "glow," do you mean intense color, or do you mean fluorescence? Fairly pale pink sapphires can have bright red fluorescence. I have a pair of early 20th century gilded silver hairpins from Sri Lanka, set with pink sapphires, that were made into brooches for the European market. Here they are, with a photo of one of them glowing in UV light:

That UV photo is beautiful ~

that’s a good but hard question for me, really.

what I envision to own is a pink gem with below quality:
1) Hue: vivid hot pink which is bright and vibrant , and without brown or grey modifier
2) Tone: medium. As I think being too light would turn out to be a waste of that intense colour despite still being bright, while too dark would decrease the brightness, or causing the stone dark out in some lighting which I don’t prefer
3) colour shift: hard to point out one by one in terms of every possible colour, but try to stay as close as to the above primary hue as possible
4) glow: the most tricky part, I’ll elaborate in the following post…

 

[qubitasaurus]

Generally shouldn't be a problem to find a glowy one, mostly it's the silk which will give that effect. Hot pink with fluorescence should also be possible as you're just in the spectrum between pink sapphire and Ruby.

Here is one that I think will just be due to silk

1.48ct Certified Unheated Neon Pink Sapphire 100% Natural No Heat Neon Bright Pink Red Color - Etsy Singapore

This Gemstones item by CDGEMSTONE has 58 favourites from Etsy shoppers. Is dispatched from Canada. Listed on 17 Jul, 2024

www.etsy.com

 

[Double E]

That UV photo is beautiful ~

that’s a good but hard question for me, really.

what I envision to own is a pink gem with below quality:
1) Hue: vivid hot pink which is bright and vibrant , and without brown or grey modifier
2) Tone: medium. As I think being too light would turn out to be a waste of that intense colour despite still being bright, while too dark would decrease the brightness, or causing the stone dark out in some lighting which I don’t prefer
3) colour shift: hard to point out one by one in terms of every possible colour, but try to stay as close as to the above primary hue as possible
4) glow: the most tricky part, I’ll elaborate in the following post…

Following my last post.
4) my idea of wanting a gem with a noticeable glow comes from Jedi spinel and rubies. However, what I learn being the cause of a glow in a gem varies. Is it fluorescence, micro inclusions, other inclusions causing silk (like rutile), intensity of the stone colour…I got lost here…

 

[Double E]

Following my last post.
4) my idea of wanting a gem with a noticeable glow comes from Jedi spinel and rubies. However, what I learn being the cause of a glow in a gem varies. Is it fluorescence, micro inclusions, other inclusions causing silk (like rutile), intensity of the stone colour…I got lost here…

Further more, to my understanding, there could be a difference on the look of a glowy gem. Being a bit silky in one way while glowing with a crystal clear clarity otherwise, is these correct and possible? Or part of my understanding is wrong?

 

[landscape]

Do you mean that there is no dark and
as bright as the Jedi spinel? Although such a pink sapphire is rare, it does exist, just like the one I posted on the left（ On the right is hot pink sapphire）

 

[Double E]

Do you mean that there is no dark space as bright as the Jedi spinel? Although such a pink sapphire is rare, it does exist, just like the one I posted on the left（ On the right is hot pink sapphire）

What a gem~But, I am still confused, what causes that kind of glow…?

 

[landscape]

What a gem~But, I am still confused, what causes that kind of glow…?

High chromium content, low iron content, large Gr/Fe ratio

 

[Double E]

My learning on pink sapphire continues~
Is there any iconic or obvious difference on hue and degree of fluorescence between stones from different localities, like main places such as Burma, Madagascar, Sri Lanka etc.? As for what I understand, there are differences for rubies m, so I bet if it also applies to pink sapphires.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

“Truth” was the only gem I named.
The story behind that one was interesting. A few years ago now.
As a result of my scoring this amazing haul of gemstones, a new poster to Pricescope described her absolute distress at having her engagement ring stolen. She was looking for advice to buy a very modest replacement ring. She went on to add that she was a cancer survivor, estranged from her family and doing it really really tough.
So I decided to gift a large yellow sapphire to her and another Pricescoper gifted money for the sapphire to be set by David Klass. All was proceeding nicely until another Pricescoper found her Instagram account where there were photos of her with Chanel handbags, enjoying high tea with her sister, holiday snaps etc etc etc. It became apparent that Suz and I were misled and her being gifted this beautiful sapphire ring was entirely inappropriate. So Suz now has the ring and I named her Truth.

OMG
it is to your credit dear Bron, that you still have great faith in and kindness for others

 

[Gloria27]

“Truth” was the only gem I named.
The story behind that one was interesting. A few years ago now.

I remember the thread, and for what it's worth, I think the part about the cancer was true.
The past is the past now so won't comment any further on the subject.