Looking for Round Blue Sapphire

[Sabrina31]

Thats a lovely sapphire! That color!

 

[coralee87]

@dimaond_newb that's awesome that you were able to go to stores to view a lot of loose stones! Where are you located and how did you find stores that sell loose sapphires?

 

[goldie_locks]

@dimaond_newb that's awesome that you were able to go to stores to view a lot of loose stones! Where are you located and how did you find stores that sell loose sapphires?

Hi coralee - I live in Seattle.

The first store I went to a few weeks ago I just picked out from yelp reviews. I wasn't really expecting them to have gems in the store since my previous experience with a local family jewelry store (in DC) was that they always had to bring stones of any kind in. So, I was surprised to find out that they had several loose sapphires to look at in addition to a large selection of GORGEOUS custom gemstone jewelry.

This past weekend I went to one in particular after googling "where to buy gemstones in Seattle". Two stores popped up first in the list that looked promising, though only one specifically said on its website that they keep a wide selection of gemstones in stock. Since the two stores were quite far apart, I went to that one and they had tons! I saw loose sapphires of all colors of the rainbow, plus they had a fairly large selection of gemstone jewelry. The guy that helped me said they go to the Tucson and Vegas trade shows and hand select all of their gemstones to keep in house.

Walking down the street from that store, were several more jewelry stores, but we only went into two (DH was getting burnt out looking at sapphires, lol). One had a wide selection of gemstones set in custom settings (that the owner was willing to pull out) and another had quite a selection of loose gemstones displayed in their cases.

These stores are all in Bellevue, within a couple of blocks of the Northwestern Gemological Laboratory, but I'm not sure if that's why they're there, or if this area of the country actually has pretty high demand for colored stones.

I can't overstate what a help it has been to see so many stones in person, both for learning my own preferences, but also for learning to spot the various cut issues.

 

[coralee87]

Thank you for the recs! I live in SF (there don't appear to be any good stores here besides maybe Joe escobar). We will be in Seattle for a weekend in a few weeks - maybe we can stop by a store that you recommend! Can you share the names?

 

[goldie_locks]

@coralee87 - definitely!

The store with the biggest selection was in Bellevue, called Joseph Jewelry: https://www.josephjewelry.com/

A few steps down was the store with an amazing selection of (highly saturated) colored stones in custom settings: http://www.gordonjamesdiamonds.com/

A couple blocks down was this store with loose stones in display cases, but I wasn't impressed with the cut on two stones I looked at: https://www.greenlakejewelry.com/

And then downtown, this store had a few stones they pulled from "the vault" that met my criteria, but they said they had a lot more: https://turgeonraine.com/

Interesting note, the Raine in Turgeon Raine is the brother of the owner of Gordon James. I highly recommend that if you are going to visit, you reach out and ask for the stores to bring in stones for you also. I have email contacts at Joseph Jewelry and Turgeon Raine if you like. I also think it's worth following up with Gordon James just based on the wonderful stones he already has in store (he looks like he is great at picking CSs).

FWIW, although Turgeon Raine looks like the highest end jeweler of the bunch, but their price/ct was most competitive when comparing same color, heat/no heat, etc. (although they weren't 100% sure about origin). Joseph was next and seemed much more knowledgeable about CSs, and willing to negotiate price if you also bought a setting. Green Lake was most expensive, especially considering the cut of their stones was inferior. I can't comment on the price of Gordon James as we didn't price a stone, but he did indicate that he was more competitive than his brother.

 

[goldie_locks]

FYI, I notice Gordon James has a few very nice (and large) purple sapphires currently set in rings - he might know where to source some more.

 

[coralee87]

Awesome!! Thanks! We'll try to stop by one of those if we get time on our short trip Good luck with your stone! Looks like you have a couple good options!

 

[goldie_locks]

Sorry to spam, I don't have much of an update except to say that Jeff got the Roger Dery stones in today and he says they look better in person than in the pics .

Also, after following the link for M&W in the grey sapphire/spinel thread, I saw the third stone that Jeff is sourcing and the price he quoted me for it was well below what is posted on M&W's website ... not sure if I should be advertising that out loud or not. I'm so excited to see these babies - should have pics by tomorrow!

 

[goldie_locks]

The stones are in! Jeff took individual pics and video and sent them to me this morning. Pics are below, but I have no good way to upload the videos to share since they aren't on a media site. I've ruled out the oval (2nd pic) - @minousbijoux was right, the saturation seems lacking even in the video. The cushion and round are being shipped overnight. Based on the photos and video, the round (1st pic) is a bit shallow for my taste, but the cushion (3rd pic) is smaller than I wanted.

 

[Sabrina31]

They're both lovely, i hope when you see them in person you instantly fall in love with one, so the decision will be a lot easier

 

[goldie_locks]

Thanks @Sabrina31, I hope that happens too!!

 

[minousbijoux]

My only concern is that you are seeing them in the best possible lighting conditions. At least it looks like they were taken in bright indirect daylight. So justbe ready to see them sometimes not looking that saturated and bright, like in indoor or fluorescent light. That way, you'll have some fairly realistic expectations

 

[goldie_locks]

@minousbijoux - thanks for pointing that out! I will definitely be looking at them all over my house in all different lighting conditions. It can see how it would be misleading to see them only in the best lighting conditions. This has been challenging in the jewelry stores where I've been getting either that ideal indoor lighting conditions for looking at sparkly gems, or bright, indirect sun outside.

 

[goldie_locks]

The sapphires are in and my feelings are mixed . The color of both are quite lovely, I'm happy with how they look under different lighting conditions ... but (there's always a but, right?), I think the round is too shallow and showing a big window that I'm not sure would close with a setting, and the cushion looks like a big of a wonky shape - and TBH I'm just not loving this one. Am I starting to be TOO picky?!

Here is an assortment of the pics I've taken:

Cushion under my kitchen lights (led halogen)


Round under kitchen lights

Round in indirect light (partial cloudy sky)

Comparison with both under kitchen lights

Comparison with both in indirect light

 

[coavram]

These look awesome! Just a note:
I am also looking to buy sapphires, this time teal. I am checking out Choice Gems Co

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXfMwhKhW6m/?taken-by=cgemsco

This would be my first time doing business with them. I also found one that is royal blue, but not round. Do you know them and did your check them out in search? Any reference on them would be very much appreciated.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXdNmzXhO7v/?taken-by=cgemsco

Please if anyone have done business with them, kindly state your experience. @diamond_newbie15 if they turn out to be good people I will go ahead and try my luck to you - and hope I am as lucky as you!

Avram

 

[Sabrina31]

@diamond_newbie15 did you pick one of the stones you got in from Jeff? Personally i find the round to be more attractive, but i know i'm super late in responding.

 

[goldie_locks]

@diamond_newbie15 did you pick one of the stones you got in from Jeff? Personally i find the round to be more attractive, but i know i'm super late in responding.

I sent both of them back. I thought the round was more attractive overall - really a spectacular color, but the large window was quite distracting to me. I also wasn't crazy with how shallow the crown was. After seeing yet another stone in a local store, I've decided to commission one from Jeff White. I had reached out to him about a month ago, and he thought he could cut a sapphire that would be 1.7-2.2 ct but on the deeper side, so on the lower end of my target face up size (maybe 6.0-6.5mm). At the time I was more concerned about face up size, but now I see I'm paying for that with windows and shallow crowns - at least in my budget . I emailed him a couple days ago to see if he still has the stone available and he does, so now I'm just waiting for an email from him to let me know how long it will take. I think he's a pretty busy guy so I suspect it will be awhile.

 

[Sabrina31]

I'm sorry you didn't find one already cut in your budget, but man oh man i'm excited to see what Jeff White cuts for you!!!!

 

[Muhammad_Ali]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Natural-Med...670412?hash=item5694cd4e8c:g:sxEAAOSw8w1X5LK2


A little small and dark but worth a look

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/85-CARAT-EYE...247158?hash=item212b87e576:g:SbwAAOxywOtSY9mX


Very nice color

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1-16-Ct-Natu...380174?hash=item41ca540cce:g:VMMAAOSw2iNZZNFS

Very affordable

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NATURAL-GEM-...276119?hash=item2f0067f617:g:dKsAAOSwr~lYrNve
Pretty blue

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NATURAL-GEM-...411100?hash=item2efe727b1c:g:ER4AAOSw3v5YrGfS

More of a collector's stone but the color is top, unheated, IGI and GRS, Burma origin it'll keep its resale value better than heated stones:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1-44-Carat-U...232347?hash=item5d719f6e1b:g:qe8AAOSwDiBZMWKl

 

[Muhammad_Ali]

@Bex I was thinking the same thing, and then Jeff Hapeman just sent me this one that he was just about to post online. It's not the color I was originally looking at, but there's something very special about this one, I think.

That inclusion is pretty major. It's unfortunate sapphires are rarely cut in rounds; sapphires look stunning as rounds.

 

[goldie_locks]

Jeff White emailed me last night to let me know my sapphire is done! Ended up being 1.94 ct, 6.57mm round. Studio photo from Jeff attached. I'll take more as soon as it comes.

 

[minousbijoux]

Oh yesssss!

 

[digdeep]

WOWZA!!!!

 

[chroman]

Niiiiiiiice!

 

[Crazie4Cuts]

Winner! Can't wait to see this one set!

 

[goldie_locks]

It finally arrived . It's not exactly the shade of royal blue I was going for but I think the slightly lighter shade will do better in a bezel setting - which is originally what I had planned and am going to stick with. AND it has a lovely puffy crown, which I was really wanting. I'm too excited to ship this off with my Precision Gems garnet to get set, so I didn't try getting too fancy with glamor shots, but here you go!

In bright sunlight:

In indirect/LED light mix


Side shot

 

[Curby311]

I love it!!!!! I can't wait to see the final creation.

 

[shinyrocks]

Absolutely gorgeous! Stones like this are the reason why Jeff White is my absolute favorite cutter. Congratulations on the beautiful stone!

 

[qubitasaurus]

Congratulations! It will make a phenomenal ring, please post pictures when you have it set .

 

[MissyBeaucoup]

Absolutely beautiful! Congratulations!