Looking for a purple sapphire for engagement ring

[sydneyatl]

Hi all - long time lurker and finally registered today!

Well, after five years of dating Boyfriend and I have finally decided to start the search for the perfect ring. We're looking for a purple sapphire, preferably cushion cut, to be flanked by a pair of clear baguette stones. Our preferred size would be somewhere between 5-7 mm, definitely no more than 7. If possible, I would like to go for a pinker shade rather than blue, if we can't get a truly purple stone (I'm told this is rather hard to find). Budget - ideally we'd like to stay below 2.5k, but may be able to be flexible.

Boyfriend just came back from talking with a jeweler who quoted us 4.5k for the whole thing, including a palladium band and a center stone that was "just over 2k". I did not actually get to see the stone beyond a iPhone pic so I can't really say much about the stone other than it seems rather dark in color and awfully big, which makes me think it's closer to the 7mm end of things. Boyfriend says he was told it was 1.52 carats.

Question #1 - is it reasonably possible for us to get a ring as described above for 2.5k or less? Obviously the sapphire in the middle will be the more expensive piece, and I know that the price can go up significantly based on the quality of color, the cut, the clarity, and so on. I'm not tremendously picky about anything other than color and shape; I don't really care if it was treated or natural or whatever. I just want purple, not too big of a window, and not round/oval.

Question #2 - the jeweler told us that we should definitely not be rock shopping on our own and that he can get much better deals through his connections. Would be curious to know y'all's thoughts on this statement, given what we're looking for.

Question #3 - would love to know y'all's thoughts on this stone: http://www.ebay.com/itm/UNHEATED-1-31CT-PURPLE-SAPPHIRE-MADAGASCAR-CERTIFIED-SEE-VIDEO/321508160351?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D29385%26meid%3D74157b1f2a194d8e99b9ad82410f3fca%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D10%26sd%3D370736618704

Having never bought a stone online (or really any sort of gemstone at all), I'm a little nervous - especially given that it's shipping from overseas - but it sounds like plenty of PSers have had good experiences with Jeff Davies.

Thanks in advance!

 

[livannie]

Hi, don't have a whole lot of knowledge, but I have seen this ring on loupetroop.com and I wish I could buy it. Just thought I'd show you for your purple sapphire search. I think it's an awesome price too!

 

[sydneyatl]

Ooh, so pretty! I'm pretty dead set on having a pair of baguettes on either end, though. Would you happen to have any thoughts on purple-cushion-sapphire hunting in general? We are completely new to this so we'd really appreciate any advice!

 

[livannie]

You might have to ask a vendor to have a sapphire cut in the shape you want. The only recommended vendors I have ever bought from are mastercutgems and gemfix. Look at the thread of recommended vendors and go through and see if there are any purple sapphires available that you might like. I think cushion cuts might be hard to find but I would say you could e-mail Dana at Mastercutgems and see if he has any or could cut you one. I know people sometimes ask Jeff White to cut sapphires for them also or Brad from the GemTrader. I bought a purple sapphire I am crazy about from Mastercutgems but it is oval. But I love purple as well. Here is a pic.

 

[LoversKites]

Question #2 - the jeweler told us that we should definitely not be rock shopping on our own and that he can get much better deals through his connections. Would be curious to know y'all's thoughts on this statement, given what we're looking for.

Question #3 - would love to know y'all's thoughts on this stone: http://www.ebay.com/itm/UNHEATED-1-31CT-PURPLE-SAPPHIRE-MADAGASCAR-CERTIFIED-SEE-VIDEO/321508160351?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D29385%26meid%3D74157b1f2a194d8e99b9ad82410f3fca%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D10%26sd%3D37073661870

Having never bought a stone online (or really any sort of gemstone at all), I'm a little nervous - especially given that it's shipping from overseas - but it sounds like plenty of PSers have had good experiences with Jeff Davies.


Thanks in advance!

ETA: hmm, it seems half of the text is being cut off from my answer so I'll fix that.

Re question 2:

There is a risk of losing stones and such due to the shipping and all but that's why insurance exists. I guess it's not impossible to believe he has great connections but the internet will most likely have way more options. Especially with purple sapphires, most don't want a flat, medium-grade amethyst-like colour or an overly dark purple colour, but a saturated purple that leans a little on the bluish pinkish side. But that is preference. I think it's worth seeing what he has to offer.

Re question 3:

This colour is the sort of flat purple I'm talking about. While there is nothing wrong with it (it's still an attractive stone) and it boils down to preference, I just want to make you aware if that makes sense... This one is much nicer IMO, maybe a smidge too dark -- it has lovely blue modifier. You did say you'd rather have a pinkish stone, but I'm just trying to make a point.
http://www.africagems.com/cushion-purple-sapphire-gemstone-54671376.html

(FYI africagems are having a sale til april 15th, and the coupon code is april15, just in case you or another reader will consider something from them)

Re Jeff Davies:
True, but his photos and sometimes his videos can be misleading. Some have not been so happy, but returns were not an issue, so that's important too.

And congrats on your engagement

 

[Marlow]

#3

Purple sapphire:

purple in daylight and purplishpink in incandescent light (color shift)
or
blue in daylight and purple in incandescent light ( color shift too)

Both have trace element ( chrome and/or vanadium) which are responsible for the color shift.

#3 looks like a purple/purplishpink shifter.

Has anybody here a purple sapphire with an identical color in daylight/incendescent light ??? ( rhetorical question but if "yes" please post a pic.

 

[LoversKites]

#3
identical color in daylight/incendescent light ??? ( rhetorical question but if "yes" please post a pic.

Sapphires are shifty little guys, huh.

ETA: the lab report even calls it 'slightly purplish pink' which is interesting.

 

[Marlow]

Yes they are

I don't like this report ( lab) - think the pic on the report is the incandescent color - the vendor pic...(??) - don't know whether accurate or not.

I prefer CS sapphire with a beautiful daylight blue and a fine purple in incandescent light....

Love this one

http://www.thegemtrader.com/Oct14CSSapphirePage.htm

(Loverskites - please post the pic - can't do this with my iPad )

 

[sydneyatl]

Wow, thanks, everyone! Very helpful responses.

LoversKites - I really like the one you posted as well, and good to know about the discount! It does seem a little darker, but I think it's hard to compare off of photos only. So there's one more jeweler in town that Boyfriend wants to hit up early this week, and if nothing comes of that, we think we may order a couple of stones to compare, including that one and possibly a couple from Jeff Davies; as long as there's a good refund policy I guess we can always send back the ones we end up not liking as much.

Please let me know if y'all come across any other good options! So hard to be patient

 

[minousbijoux]

Congrats - sounds like you are about to have some fun!

In defense of the jeweler, he does have access to sources that us mere mortal lay persons do not. It may be a sales gimmick, or it could be that he uses sources such as Pala gems and gems2000 and does not charge much of a markup. You might want to look at the purple/violet sapphires Pala has on their website, and find out from the jeweler how much they would cost. From that, you would likely have a pretty good idea of whether your jeweler is being honest or blowing smoke.

One of the few down sides to buying gems online (and there are a lot of upsides!) is the return process if you don't like the stone. It can be a hassle to return stones to some of the vendors who live abroad, like Jeff Davies who is located in Thailand (not that the vendor makes it difficult, but working out the method of return and things like insurance can be). That said, Jeff is a good vendor. Expect his stones to be a bit darker and not quite as saturated in hand. I very much like the stone of his you are looking at, but you might want to see if he will send you a hand shot or two.

http://www.palagems.com/

 

[sydneyatl]

Hot damn, I had just bookmarked the africagems stone and it's gone already! I kind of regret having not bought it on the spot, but I generally don't like to do impulse buys, especially with something so expensive. Ah well. I emailed them to see if they might have anything similar in their inventory that isn't yet listed on their website, because I would love to take advantage of that April 15th discount.

Two more questions for y'all experts...

1) I mentioned earlier that I wanted this stone set with two clear baguette stones on either side; should we be trying to round those up on our own as well, or are those a lot easier to find? Which leads into...

2) The main jeweler that we've been working with has a pair of diamond baguettes; I've seen them in person and I liked them. Given that he's also been trying to help source us a purple sapphire, would it be bad etiquette to come back and say, hey, we actually found a stone on our own but we would still like you to do the setting and putting it all together?

minousbijoux - thanks for the heads up re: Jeff's stones. I'll probably email him and ask if he can produce some additional photos, because I'd really rather not ship a gemstone back across the world if I can avoid it.

 

[lilmosun]

If someone has spent a lot of time with me, I often try to give them some business even if I find what I really want elsewhere (assuming they are a vendor who offers a good service or product). But I say that without knowing your jeweler and how he might react (if he reacts badly, I would just take everything elsewhere).

 

[NKOTB]

What about this one? http://www.africagems.com/cushion-purple-sapphire-g2k-855232.html

There is also one on the Finewater site, been available for a while...

 

[LoversKites]

http://www.thegemtrader.com/Oct14CSSapphirePage.htm

(Loverskites - please post the pic - can't do this with my iPad )

And I'm on my phone, and it's not letting me select a file suddenly.... anyway, that one actually belongs to a PSer.

Op, I'm sorry that stone was bought under you. But take comfort in the fact that AfricaGems is priced on the high side and the discount usually makes the prices more reasonable -- not cheap.

I know nothing about settings so I can't help you with that.

 

[Acinom]

Not sure whether you would consider a color like this, as it is more bluish violet.
1.44 ct sapphire for $ 650 via Jim McCormick (Fine Faceted Gems & Cabs Market on Facebook)

 

[Acinom]

... and stills from the video:

 

[chrono]

First off, are you aware how palladium wears? It looks white now but over time, it becomes a smoky dark gray unless you have it repolished often. It is also a metal that few jewellers work with. The benefit of palladium is that it is lightweight and relatively inexpensive compared to platinum. I'll also look around to see what's out there.

 

[PieAreSquared]

...

2) The main jeweler that we've been working with has a pair of diamond baguettes; I've seen them in person and I liked them. Given that he's also been trying to help source us a purple sapphire, would it be bad etiquette to come back and say, hey, we actually found a stone on our own but we would still like you to do the setting and putting it all together?
...

Choose your words carefully!
If you approach a jeweler and say, "Hey, I found a much better center stone on the internet, and less expensive than the one you showed me. Can you set it?" this will probably not go over well.
If you say, "We have a stone we love and want you to do the setting and diamonds for, can you do it?" I can't imagine any decent jeweler who would refuse to work with you. He/she may ask you to sign a waiver of responsibility in case of accidental damage to your stone during setting.
They already make a profit on the setting and the diamonds, they are not going to "lose money" on you if you bring the stone.

 

[sydneyatl]

Oh yes, I would definitely word it very differently! I met the guy about a year ago when he did some work for me on another piece and I liked him, so I've always thought it would be him to do my engagement ring. I just don't want to step on any toes but it sounds like we'll be okay if we ask nicely

Acinom and NKOTB - gosh, both beautiful stones but a little larger than we would like. I should have specified in my first post that our ideal stone would be a little closer to square than rectangular. Thanks though!!

Marc of Africagems just got back to me and said that unfortunately there is nothing in their inventory that matches what we're looking for. We plan to keep looking but Jeff Davies' stone is starting to look better and better, if only it wasn't in Thailand...come to think of it, I have a good friend in Bangkok who would probably be willing to go look at it for me. But he's a single guy who wouldn't know the first thing about jewelry LOL.

Chrono - thanks for the headsup about palladium bands. I work in medicine and wash my hands probably 30+ times a day, I'm guessing that will be rough on any band.... :/

 

[minousbijoux]

Its not that bad to return things to Jeff. I just wanted to warn you that its more of an inconvenience than say, returning a stone to the States. I actually think its probably worth you getting it to see.

 

[carmen1]

I've returned stones to Jeff in Thailand, and he just told me to send it back Registered Mail. Not really any more inconvenient than sending something back to a US seller, I guess the postage was slightly more but I don't remember it being overly expensive. I wouldn't be worried about the inconvenience of sending something back to Thailand, it is just a trip to the post office.

 

[sydneyatl]

Thanks ladies for the support re: shipping for Jeff's stones. I asked him today if he could send me any more photos, and if those photos are good, then I think we'll definitely get it. I just really want to see it for myself, and at this point I feel comfortable just sending it back if it doesn't work for us.

Re: jeweler, I think we'll first talk to the same guy we've been talking to all along. There's one more place in town that I wanted to check out before we commit, but they're closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Oh well, no rush seeing as we don't have a stone in hand anyway.

Any thoughts on whether or not we need to round up those clear side baguettes ourselves, or should those be relatively easy for the jeweler to obtain?

 

[minousbijoux]

Any thoughts on whether or not we need to round up those clear side baguettes ourselves, or should those be relatively easy for the jeweler to obtain?

Oh, sorry - I forgot to answer this before. It is always a good idea to lead with the stone - not the setting and not side baguettes. You want everything to be in the correct proportions to your liking, so the dimensions of the baguettes will be determined by the dimensions of your center stone. What might help you now, is to start looking at Rings with centers and side baguettes to get a sense of how you like it.

 

[ElleK]

Any jeweler should be able to get variety of pairs of diamond baguettes very easily. You should leave that to your jeweler.

 

[chrono]

Let the jeweller source the baguettes for you. He/she should be able to get them very easily and the dimensions will depend on the size of the centre stone. By getting the baguettes first, you are limiting the size of the centre stone, thereby making the search more challenging.

 

[sydneyatl]

Ok. We will leave that one up to the jeweler then

Jeff says he will get some pictures to me as soon as he can get back to the office. I am fairly certain we're going to buy that stone but would like to see pics first to be sure. Still spending a huge (but very enjoyable) amount of time looking through all the other websites

I think we have two more jewelers to check out while we wait, for which I'm glad - I like to have something to do, I'm not very good at waiting idly!

Thanks again for all of your help

 

[LoversKites]

Here is an option -- with a 2 day inspection period. This is a known PSer: http://loupetroop.com/listings/loose-stones-colored-gemstone/purple-color-shift-sapphire-cushion

 

[livannie]

That is a pretty one LoversKites!

 

[sydneyatl]

Here is an option -- with a 2 day inspection period. This is a known PSer: http://loupetroop.com/listings/loose-stones-colored-gemstone/purple-color-shift-sapphire-cushion

Oh wow, that is a beautiful stone - I really like it!

We've pretty much committed to buying the stone in the original post from Jeff Davies, but would like to get a few others (domestically, preferably) to compare. That said, apparently Thailand is in the middle of a major holiday and Jeff says he won't be able to ship the stone out until April 21st. So we may have to wait until next week before we buy anything else, to make sure all the return windows line up correctly and we're not stuck making a decision before we've seen all of our options. If ElleW's stone is still available next week, it will definitely be in the mix.

 

[sydneyatl]

Hi all,

An update - we ended up buying the original stone that I mentioned in the first post. Jeff Davies was wonderful to work with and was kind enough to take some extra photos and even an additional video for me, and after we saw those we decided to go ahead and buy it. Shipping was super fast (less than 3 days from Bangkok to Atlanta!).

I'm not going to post any pictures tonight because I wanted to wait for Boyfriend to get home before we opened it, and by then it was dark outside and our apartment's overhead lighting isn't that fantastic, so all the pics on my iPhone 4 came out rather lousy. Our impression is that it's actually quite a bit pinker than in the photos we saw - but in all the photos that I took on my phone, the color is the same as the pics Jeff sent. Maybe it's just our eyes that are screwed up... Hopefully tomorrow I can get some better pictures.

All in all, I like it a lot and I think we're quite likely to keep it.

We plan to hit up two local jewelers this weekend to discuss getting it set. The initial jeweler has informed us that he prefers only to work with stones that he found, which is fine; no feelings hurt. There's one family-owned place close to us, and then a bigger conglomerate quite a bit further out. They told us that they also have some sapphires in stock, so we might as well take a look at what they've got while we're there. We still haven't made a final decision on whether we want to do white gold or palladium, so there's also that to think about.

I'm SO excited, you guys. Boyfriend bought me an amethyst and CZ ring for my 25th birthday and since then I have been thinking about my future stone - and here it (most likely) is