Jeff White is Helping Me Source A Sapphire! Yay!

[brendaman]

I just got a note back that Jeff White will help me source a sapphire for a pre-existing ring. It''s for a promise ring my SO gave me, and I really love it, but the sapphire (less than a carat) is one of those dark, inky blues (purchased before we found PS). The setting is similar to that pictured below.

Jeff''s concerned with the difficulty of custom cutting a fine blue sapphire stone to fit a pre-existing setting "due to
the difficulty of finding the right stone coupled with the excess waste that is usually generated in cutting down to hit a specific size", in particular, since he has to buy a substantially larger material. He''s asked if I had the flexibility to change the head of the ring. I''m not really sure what this entails given the setting. Can someone please help me?

 

[ma re]

If you scroll down THIS website until you find loose setings, you''ll run into a term "five prong head". Picture pretty much explains what a head is - the part that holds prongs - so he''s probably proposing altering the dimensions (and possibly shape) of the setting, to accomodate a new stone more easily.

 

[oldmancoyote]

It's difficult to say if that is easily feasible since we can't really see how the ring is constructed. Could you take a picture of the ring's profile?

The thing that would concern me is the extent to which the rest of the ring - and particularly the side stones - can accommodate a different head and centre stone. Everything can be done, with enough time and patience.

 

[Sagebrush]

Brendaman,

Commercial settings come in calibrated sizes, 7x5mm, 8x6, etc, gemstones, other than diamonds, do not. In the old days that gave a goldsmith an advantage. I could pick odd stones from lots, go for the quality and often the dealer would be fine with it.

In the commercial world, consistency of quality is more important than quality itself. At a show a manufacturer may show the same ring to a 100 jewelers. Each expects to get the same quality when ordering. That is the real reason why inky black sapphire predominates. In order to get consistency, mediocrity becomes the standard.

An odd size requires a custom setting, that requires a skilled craftsman. Even with calibrated stones, a custom setting can often punch up the brilliance, hide flaws and improve the apparent color.

Ruby & sapphire rough is almost impossible to come by. The Thais, Sri Lankans and Burmese would rather cut the stone. Cutters like Jeff White and Gene Flanagan look for good candidates for recutting.

Cheers,

 

[Inanna]

Brendaman,

Great to see you back here and it''s AWESOME to hear you''re having Jeff White source a sapphire.

Personally, I would want to keep the promise ring as-is for sentimental reasons and give Jeff White the artistic freedom to cut the best oval he can (that is still the cut you want right?) with no strict measurement requirements. Again this is just IMHO, but after the sapphire is cut I would then look for settings, and perhaps if necessary, go the custom setting route.

I''m so excited to see what you end up with!