Esteemed stoners - blue sapphire help

[LD]

I have a question!

I''ve found several blue sapphires that make me want to press "buy"! Questions:-

1. One has a slightly sleepy appearance but an incredible vibrant colour. How will the sleepiness manifest itself when viewing the gemstone in different lights? Also, for those of you with a sleepy sapphire, does it annoy you and do you want a "clear" gemstone?

2. The sleepy sapphire is slightly smaller although faces up as big as my second choice which isn''t sleepy but has the same wonderful colour. The problem with sapphire #2 is that it''s double the price!

3. Both are certified as unheated/untreated.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated and apologies for a lack of links but I don''t want these pulled from under me!

 

[Barrett]

Remember the top echelon of sapphires, the kashmir, were sleepy looking with there silk. Just depends on how tired it looks.

 

[Moh 10]

Sleepy Sapphire?
I hesitate to ask - since understanding leads to VISA bills - but what makes a sapphire sleepy?

 

[colormyworld]

Date: 6/22/2009 6:00:00 PM
Author: Moh 10
Sleepy Sapphire?
I hesitate to ask - since understanding leads to VISA bills - but what makes a sapphire sleepy?

A type of inclusion that imparts a slightly cloudy effect to the stone. As in a star sapphire.

 

[Barrett]

A sleepy sapphire has little to do with a star sapphire...2 different things. A star sapphire has large needles of rutile oriented at certain angles to produce the star(maybe 60, 90, and 120..I don't remember) a sleepy sapphire the sleepiness can be caused by silk which in turn can also be caused my microscopic particles of rutile arranged totally different. They are somewhat similar in that respect but totally different.

 

[colormyworld]

The type of inclusion that causes the effect is not the same?

 

[Barrett]

Plus it can also be zircon, paragasite, or any number of other things that cause a sapphire to be sleepy. Rutile is the only way a star will star. Speaking of which they used to think that rutile caused star rose quartz to star but now there are running test at texas A&M that might prove that rutile is not the cause of stars in star rose quartz. The mine owner I mine star rose with here in GA just told me about this..it could be info that changes the books...will have to keep an eye on it

 

[colormyworld]

Date: 6/22/2009 6:40:05 PM
Author: amethystguy
A sleepy sapphire has little to do with a star sapphire...2 different things. A star sapphire has large needles of rutile oriented at certain angles to produce the star(maybe 60, 90, and 120..I don't remember) a sleepy sapphire the sleepiness can be caused by silk which in turn can also be caused my microscopic particles of rutile arranged totally different. They are somewhat similar in that respect but totally different.

Granted an opaque star sapphire is the extreme end of the effect of "sleepy". On the other hand though, there are nearly transparent stars also.

Thank you Amguy for the info.

 

[Barrett]

Yep you are right, col. It gets real technical when talking sapphires..lots of info and not many fine lines. They use the term velvety when describing kashmir but sleepy and velvety go hand in hand just to different degrees

 

[chrono]

It depends on how sleepy it is. I don''t like a sapphire that is overly sleepy but a touch of velvet would be incredible. Are they from 2 different places?

 

[stepcutgirl]

Can you post pictures but not links or do the pictures list where they are from?

 

[ma re]

If I understood corectly, the sleepy one is half the price of the other one. To me, that''s a sign that it''s a bit too sleepy and probably closer to opaque (or at least dull), as the depth of color is the same. I might be wrong though.

BTW, the key to finding a great sleepy stone is finding one that''s still interesting and doesen''t look like a piece of lapis. They (as far as I know) generally hold their color better than super clean ones, since the fine inclusions scatter light across the stone.

 

[LD]

Now mr ma re, you know me better than to think I would buy a sapphire where the sleepiness made the sapphire look dead!

The only difference between the two stones is (a) carat weight, sleepy is smaller but faces up almost the same and (b) the price, sleepy is less!

I can''t post pictures because a quick internet trawl will reveal the vendor fairly easily! I''m going to do a Google image search to see if I can find something that looks like sleepy! I''ll post if I can find something. I may also ask the vendor for his thoughts on both stones and request more pictures. If they''re not identifiable, I''ll post up then!

 

[LD]

Ok. I''ve played around with the photos of the two gemstones and tried to blow them up and cut out bits to show you the colour and the sleepiness. Sleepy is on the left. Both have been blown up slightly so are suffering from bluriness but not too much.

Any thoughts/help?

 

[chrono]

LD,
It sounds like both stones are from the same vendor. If so, can you request additional pictures of the 2 stones side by side? I would be hesitant when one stone is half the price of the other. Something else might be going on that we can''t see.

 

[LD]

Date: 6/23/2009 6:58:39 PM
Author: Chrono
LD,
It sounds like both stones are from the same vendor. If so, can you request additional pictures of the 2 stones side by side? I would be hesitant when one stone is half the price of the other. Something else might be going on that we can''t see.

I''ve requested more photos and their opinions and am waiting to hear back. I''ll let you know what they say. There''s nothing disclosed about sleepy that''s made me worried but ............. we all know that doesn''t mean much!!!! Thanks for your input Chrono.