Emerald cut white sapphires

[MichelleCarmen]

Would an emerald cut white sapphire in any way even sort of resemble a diamond in its appearance or do you think people would think it''s a cz or just another clear stone?

Thanks,
Michelle

 

[valeria101]

If anyone thinks a step cut sapphire is CZ

...

send them to me for rehab !

 

[MichelleCarmen]

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On 2/28/2004 6:02:40 PM valeria101 wrote:


If anyone thinks a step cut sapphire is CZ

...

send them to me for rehab !

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haha - okay

I've never seen one in person but can buy one for a cheap price and thought it would be fun to go ahead and order one now and mount it into a ring later when I have more money.

Michelle

 

[DavidEmslie]

White sapphire is ok, but not tops, often it can have a hint of color, A CZ after being worn for a couple days will have the look of a diamond, White sapphire is good for side stones. but it lackes the brilliance, and finding one cut right, is not easy.

 

[strmrdr]

The sad thing is that many people if they notice a stone that resembles a diamond but odiously isn’t will think its cz or glass or worse plastic.

 

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

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On 2/28/2004 5:27:20 PM MichelleCarmen wrote:





Would an emerald cut white sapphire in any way even sort of resemble a diamond in its appearance or do you think people would think it's a cz or just another clear stone?

Thanks,
Michelle
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Hi Michelle,/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

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White or "Colorless" Sapphires have great brilliance. Gem quality true colorless white sapphires can be hard to find. White Sapphires also have modifying colors such as pink, yellow, and light blue.Even with these slight tints white sapphires can still be considered colorless.
Brilliant and Clean Colorless Sapphires are gaining more popularity as a collectors gem and should rise in value in the future./www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

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The difference between White Sapphire and Diamond…

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Diamond has a very high refractive index and strong dispersion, which gives it great fire and brilliance. The refractive index for Colorless Sapphire is lower and it has less dispersion, which translates to optically not performing as well as a diamond. /www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

A gem quality Colorless Sapphire well cut is a very brilliant gemstone, but will not possess the same fire as Diamond. In describing fire I am referring to the colors of the rainbow seen viewing from the top of the crown looking into the stone in natural daylight. When viewing sunlight hitting a diamond, the colors of the rainbow will appear on the surfaces around you. Using the same technique with White sapphire you will see more white light in the facets vs. diamonds ability to disperse the spectral colors. /www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

The gem closest to a Diamond in brilliance and fire is Colorless Zircon. This gem has a very high refractive index and strong dispersion, greater than white sapphire. Gem quality white zircon is competetively around the same price as white sapphire. One drawback of zircon is that it has the same hardness as Tanzanite and care must be taken, making sapphire the more durable gem if your considering an alternative to diamond. Zircon is also strongly doubly refractive. On a zircon of any size at all the doubling of the pavilion facets caused by the strong birefringence can make the stones look slightly fuzzy./www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]/www.pricescope.com/idealbb/images/smilies/3.gif[/img]

Well Michelle..I don’t want to steer you away and am just pointing out some facts which go along with discerning the differences. Truth is a cz. is a viable alternative and does posess great fire and is also singly refractive. Of course if you want to posess a true precious gem, white sapphire is the way to go but don’t expect it to posess all the optical qualities which make diamond a diamond....

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[MichelleCarmen]

Josh,

Thanks so much for your help

The white sapphire I found is only $30, so it sounds like it may not be of that good of quality since it's almost three carats??? lol Oh well. . .I'll look into zircons.

Michelle

 

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

Michelle,




What is the size, shape and budget you are setting for yourself for your sapphire?

 

[valeria101]

Michelle, if that is natural sapphire, it is the lowest price I ever heard of - crazy ! It should be kept in mind that white sapphire is synthesized en-masse, and artificial colorless corundum very easily available. The look of the synthetized material is whiter and more 'clean' than the vast majority of natural white sapphire (which rarely is completely white, as mentioned on this thread), but at $30 the stone you saw could be anything, really.

White sapphires are nice, esp. if you do not live in a country where everyone is expected to wear a diamond

 

[MichelleCarmen]

My budget is just $30 as we're in middle of doing a bunch of house improvements and can't afford too many luxuries right now. This was just a fun thing on the side, but from what Valeria said I wonder if this eBay seller is selling what he says he is, so I'll probably wait until I have more money and get a ligitimate stone. I'd love an emerald cut stone, so I'll research a bit. . .

Thanks again!

Michelle

 

[Griffin]

I've seen natural white sapphire anywhere from $6/ct to $40/ct and even more though I think that particular dealer was smoking something.

It has a variety of qualities and particularly cuts, hence the variety in price. 10 bucks a carat is not necessarily out of line for a larger stone like that, though it tends toward double or triple that price for truly excellent stuff especially for the smaller stones.

 

[valeria101]

Wow, that's low ! There are plenty of white sapphire offered at around $300/ct up to 4 carats.. what's the catch ?

 

[Griffin]

Wow. I honestly have no idea. I didn't know white sapphire was getting so popular until lately. Like black sapphire, people used to just chuck aside huge chunks of white rough at the mines as not worth cutting.
I have had a tough time finding much of it until lately. Last time I needed decently cut black I had to special order a parcel, people still view it as not worth even cutting.
I know prices are up for white but I cannot imagine $300/carat. Where was this at?

 

[Richard M.]

Natural white sapphire is hard to locate in any significant size these days because it's greatly in demand as raw material for diffusion treatment in Bangkok and elsewhere. As a result, most of the white sapphire reaching consumers these days is synthetic.

For those who don't know, diffusion is a high temperature process that deposits a very thin layer of blue (and possibly other colors of) sapphire on white stones. They look great until they are damaged and need recutting; then the skin-deep beauty is revealed. Many of the fancy -- and mainly unnatural -- colors of topaz being marketed these days other than blue are also diffused or coated. Blue starts as white topaz but is both irradiated and heated.

Rectangular cuts are not generally very brilliant, even in diamond or CZ. There are a few exceptions like the Barion cut. Barions are deep, featuring a cone-shaped brilliant-cut pavilion with transition facets to a "normal" crown, usually some kind of step-cut. They're best in high R.I. materials but a lot of valuable rough is lost in cutting making them pricey in comparison to similar-sized standard cuts.