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Help for a sapphire newbie please!

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coalie123

Rough_Rock
Joined
Sep 26, 2013
Messages
10
Hello. I have been reading many posts about sapphires. I currently have a natural unheated sapphire that was sent to me from a company to look at. While the color is a beautiful cornflower blue cushion there are many angles where the stone goes completely colorless... in certain lights it looks clear even from the top but other times it only looks clear from some side angles. Is this how all unheated sapphires are? I have to decide in the next couple of days if I should buy it. Again, the color (when there is color) is absolutely beautiful but the lack of colors, in some lights this is quite significant, is a concern to me. Any advise or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much! =)
 
Heat or not being heated has no bearing on the distribution of colour throughout the sapphire. Colour zoning is judged only from the face up position, straight down the table, not at an angle. Even if the colour distribution is even, there will a few dark and light areas from the top, which is what creates liveliness or scintillation in a stone. These light and dark areas should move when the stone is moved / tilted / angled though. It should never be colourless though.

It sounds as though the sapphire has zoning from the side, hence when tilted, shows some colourless patches. You will get this in both heated and untreated sapphires. There are both heated and unheated sapphires that do not have any zoning even when tilted. If this bothers you, then this particular sapphire might not be the right one for you.

color_zoning_0.jpg
 
Thank you so much for your quick response. Would this type of zoning by considered a poor quality stone? It is a 1.8 Madagascar sapphire vivid blue unheated clarity is VVS1.. price is 2625.00.Is is UGL and GIA certified. Is this a reasonable price for this quality stone? Thank you so much =)
 
Colour zoning is a quality that most people avoid wherever possible. I'm guessing the sapphire you are considering is GemsNY? I find most of the quality somewhat lacking and if there is something nice, it tends to be priced higher than expected.
 
WOW.... You just blew my mind! How did you know that? If this is called color zoning..it seems like pretty much every unheated sapphire I have looked at has this problem..If you don't mind me asking..what would be a reasonable price for a stone like the one I have without this zoning issue? I do have a budget and if this is what is bringing the price to what it is, I might have to settle for it. My priority is overall color and unheated.. If I look at the stone from the top without moving it, you only see the beautiful blue color. However, tilting it in a myriad of directions reveals a big section of just clear/colorless area. Again, I very much appreciate your imput. This is a very big purchase and not being very knowledgeable in this area, I really depend on the expertise of those on this forum. Thank you so much =)
 
The UGL + GIA lab report combo is the giveaway clue. :bigsmile: I am curious to see what GemsNY classify as vivid blue. Do you mind posting the picture or sharing the link? It should be fairly safe from stone snatchers since you have the sapphire in hand. The reason I am asking is because colour sets the price and gauge their definition of "vivid" since GIA does not grade saturation.
 
Hello Chrono,
I attached the picture. FOr some reason I can't put it in the reply but the attachment is a jpeg and when you click it , the picture opens. Thanks again! =)

_10451.jpg
 
Have you taken any pictures of it yourself? So you're saying that sometimes it looks clear even when viewing it from the top down?
 
Hi, Mainly it looks like that from side views, it has looked like that a couple of times top down but I think I had a slight angle on it
 
That isn't zoning but a tilt window. We would very much appreciate actual pictures of the stone to determine if it has an actual window or just a tilt window, and whether it is normal or too much. I don't have the time to explain all these right now but if no one else steps in, I'll do so on Monday when I have more time.
 
Chrono, Thanks for your help with this. unfortunately I can't take any pictures of the actual stone as I had to send it back already. When you look at the sapphire top down directly through the table, there is no window. However, when tilted about 20-30 degrees in either direction you can see a window similar to the pictures from the other post. It is more prevalent tilting to the right but either way shows the window. When you look at it straight, it has a deep blue color with no window at all, and you can't see anything through it but like I had mentioned, tilting it in either direction shows that big area of colorless. Again, I very much appreciate your help and sharing your expertise. =)
 
What you are seeing is a function of a not so good cut. It has nothing to do with treatment or colour. It might be more noticeable in a lighter coloured sapphire compared to a darker one but it is mostly not cutting to the correct angles. The link below is to Finewater Gems, a precision lapidary, who I will use as an example to show a variety of sapphires cut with very little tilt windowing. Tilt window is normal but it should not be glaring nor go colourless in a sapphire, if well cut.
http://www.finewatergems.com/sapphire.html
 
Hello Chrono,
Thank you for taking the time to explain and send the link. Based on your explanation it is definitely a tilt window as opposed to a normal window since the window only appears from angles and not looking from the top to bottom. Thanks again. =) I truly appreciate you sharing your expertise. It is hard to find good information on the internet.
 
Will we get a chance to see any of your photos of the stone? :bigsmile: :praise:
 
Hi. I can't take pics of the stone since I had to send it back.
 
coalie123|1380993117|3532768 said:
Hi. I can't take pics of the stone since I had to send it back.
Click to expand...

Sorry to make you say it twice - shows what happens when you don't read a thread thoroughly enough! But thanks for your gracious answer (twice)! :))
 
No worries and thank you for your interest in trying to help :))
 
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