Need advice on buying a blue sapphire please!

[SG05]

I hope the below pics are more clear and more helpful in determining if the 2nd sapphire is a good quality stone. Thanks everyone!

 

[chrono]

Are they from the same vendor?
Any chance of the two stones photographed side by side?

This one looks to have a stronger purple modifier, so I'm not sure if that's something you like. I would also verify the colour shift indoors and outdoors as it can go either way, either becoming grayer, too dark or into a nice stronger purple stone.

 

[ShangrilaGems]

Buying sapphires is a tricky business for all of us. Knowing when a gem is heated takes a good eye and under a loupe inclusions will have 'halos' over them indicating heat treatment. For multi-colored sapphires there is the additional need to be aware of beryllum treatment - which can be tested for in a good lab. I will attach a photo of a lovely purple/blue unheated 1.64ct Ratnapura sapphire for you to look at.

 

[minousbijoux]

Shangrila: welcome to the forum! Thanks for the information. No one here would ever suggest, however, that an individual try to ascertain for themselves whether a stone was heat or Be treated. Instead you will notice that posters uniformly recommend a lab report from a reputable lab which has the necessary equipment to properly test. At this point, the question is strictly about color.

With respect to posting photos of stones - please check with the moderators before posting anything, as being a member of the trade, I highly doubt that you are allowed to do so. Sorry to be so direct but I don't want you to start off on the wrong foot here...

 

[deorwine]

In 2012 this stone would be in the range of $1250-$1800 per carat. Now its $1500-$2150 per carat."

This may be a retail price, but I think it's natural to expect a stone sourced through a local jeweler to have a "tax" levied on top of that. You're essentially paying for the jeweler to do some of the work for you (some amount of weeding out poor stones, getting his/her hands on the stone, dealing with shipping, spending his time dealing with you, etc.) and also overhead due to the jeweler having a B&M business, etc.

That is to say, about six years ago I was quoted $2000/carat for a local jeweler to source me a fine blue sapphire (of under 2 carats). This was before the whole Kate thing, of course. I would not be surprised at all if the same jeweler would now quote me at least $3000/carat. To be fair, they are a very expensive jeweler even for my already-expensive area (another quoted me around $1500/carat) -- I would be paying for their "eye" as well as everything else.

That was around the time I joined Pricescope, and I eventually found my own sapphire, but it took substantially longer than it would have taken the jeweler, and if you count the number of hours I spent combing over gemstone sites, lurking at Pricescope and reading threads, ordering sapphire and returning them, etc. and multiply by my hourly wage, and add in buying other gemstones that PS/CS introduced me too it turns out that asking the jeweler to do it may well have been cost effective after all