have you heard of...

[rparker1998]

purple sapphires? the stone I saw was an oval cut and a grape popsicle in color. It was a nice deep shade without being too dark.

and

what about an african sapphhire? This stone was a unique blue/grey stone with tints of purple in it...

Sorry, no pictures available.

 

[Harriet]

Yes and yes.

 

[Linda W]

Here are some purple sapphires from Wildfish gems. You can see the different colors.



http://www.wildfishgems.com/inc/searchresults?s=%22purple%20sapphire%22&ss=purple%20sapphire&n=890314

 

[T L]

There is a region of Africa that produces purplish grey sapphires and other pastel greyish sapphires that people find attractive. These are known as "Umba sapphires." The stone you probably saw might have been an Umba sapphire.

 

[rparker1998]

Date: 12/14/2008 7:17:02 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
There is a region of Africa that produces purplish grey sapphires and other pastel greyish sapphires that people find attractive. These are known as ''Umba sapphires.'' The stone you probably saw might have been an Umba sapphire.

are they pretty rare? She was asking a hefty price of 300.00 for one stone. I''m not sure of the weight but i''d say around .50 carat.

 

[marcy]

Yes I have, they are very pretty, you don''t see them often and $300 sounds reasonable to me for that size of stone.

 

[T L]

Date: 12/14/2008 8:41:33 PM
Author: rparker1998

Date: 12/14/2008 7:17:02 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
There is a region of Africa that produces purplish grey sapphires and other pastel greyish sapphires that people find attractive. These are known as ''Umba sapphires.'' The stone you probably saw might have been an Umba sapphire.

are they pretty rare? She was asking a hefty price of 300.00 for one stone. I''m not sure of the weight but i''d say around .50 carat.

It''s hard to say without seeing a picture and knowing the treatments on it. I don''t think purple sapphires are heat treated, so that''s the one nice thing about them. I did ask some gemologists about that once, so anyone please correct me if otherwise.

Well if you love it, and you know without a shadow of a doubt that this is a very honest and experienced jeweler, I would go for it. I''m always very cautious about rubies, sapphires, and emeralds in general due to all the treatments and issues with synthetics being sold for natural.

 

[Pandora II]

I''ve seen a LOT of purple sapphires recently as I was looking for one in a specific shade - found the colour eventually but didn''t like the size or shape... ah well.

$300 for a .5 sounds very reasonable to me if the colour is spot on and everything else (cut/clarity etc) is in order.

They are not always untreated - I''ve seen heated and unheated.

By African sapphire, are you talking about Songea Sapphires? If so, they are not to my taste - I''m not keen on the colour casts that I''ve seen in the blue ones. That is subjective of course.

 

[lavenderlill]

You know with a screen name like lavenderlill - that I love purple! I am obsessed with the purple star sapphire at the site Linda suggested. http://wildfishgems.com/inc/sdetail/10038 Cabs aren''t usually my fav but there is just something about this stone that keeps calling to me.

 

[rparker1998]

I will see if i can take some photos of them this weekend.

 

[T L]

Date: 12/15/2008 7:52:53 AM
Author: Pandora II
I''ve seen a LOT of purple sapphires recently as I was looking for one in a specific shade - found the colour eventually but didn''t like the size or shape... ah well.

$300 for a .5 sounds very reasonable to me if the colour is spot on and everything else (cut/clarity etc) is in order.

They are not always untreated - I''ve seen heated and unheated.

By African sapphire, are you talking about Songea Sapphires? If so, they are not to my taste - I''m not keen on the colour casts that I''ve seen in the blue ones. That is subjective of course.

I''m also always looking for that elusive shade. To me, most purple sapphires remind me of amethysts. I can''t describe the color I want, but if I ever find it, I''ll be a very happy person!

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 12/15/2008 10:48:12 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover

Date: 12/15/2008 7:52:53 AM
Author: Pandora II
I''ve seen a LOT of purple sapphires recently as I was looking for one in a specific shade - found the colour eventually but didn''t like the size or shape... ah well.

$300 for a .5 sounds very reasonable to me if the colour is spot on and everything else (cut/clarity etc) is in order.

They are not always untreated - I''ve seen heated and unheated.

By African sapphire, are you talking about Songea Sapphires? If so, they are not to my taste - I''m not keen on the colour casts that I''ve seen in the blue ones. That is subjective of course.

I''m also always looking for that elusive shade. To me, most purple sapphires remind me of amethysts. I can''t describe the color I want, but if I ever find it, I''ll be a very happy person!

LOL, I particularly wanted a tanzanite colour - but not the top tanzi shade - more of the ultraviolet less of the blue. I was hoping to get one in Sri Lanka. Everywhere I went I put out a call for purple/tanzanite coloured sapphires - I found the right shade eventually, but it was a round and only 0.7ct.

I saw lots of lavender, bright purple, a few amethyst coloured and a few that were colour change (blue in daylight and violet in electric).

I was looking for a cushion or oval at around 1.5ct and upwards.

It was very sad....

especially as they are way out of the budget over here.

Next time