Need help deciding b/w sapphire or diamond engagement ring!

[emcee]

So my boyfriend and I are looking for an engagement ring and I am so confused! I've been silently browsing on Pricescope for ages now and I was sure that I wanted a halo setting with a diamond center stone. But then I was at the mall and saw a gorgeous sapphire halo ring and it was amazing. I love how sapphires are so unique compared to the traditional diamond engagement ring. And since I'm at a time when all of my friends seem to be getting engaged or married (and getting the standard Tiffany's solitares or pave settings), I am drawn to the uniqueness of sapphires.

However, I'm also worried that I might get sick of sapphires in a few years (or decades) and that maybe it would start to feel old fashioned in a few years, whereas diamonds will always be in style. And as much as I shouldn't be thinking about this, I'm also worried that people would think it's absolutely strange to not go with a diamond for my engagement ring. Have any of you wished that you had gone for a colored stone instead of a diamond or vice versa? Have you ever changed your mind about your engagement ring? If you have any advice or personal stories to share, it would be much appreciated!

Whether it was a sapphire or a diamond, I would likely go with:
- cushion cut
- delicate halo
- plain shank & stems (am I using the right terms here?)

Some other stats:
- I'm a freakishly small ring size at 2.5
- Because of the price difference, I would probably go with a 0.80 ct diamond vs. a 1.5 to 2.0 ct sapphire

Inspiration styles:
- Harry Winston! Totally out of my price range, I'm sure. [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/im-engaged-my-harry-winston.148170/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/im-engaged-my-harry-winston.148170/[/URL]
- Maytal Hannah sapphire (also out of my price range, I'm pretty sure). [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/maytal-hannah-sapphire-engagement-ring-experience.168600/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/maytal-hannah-sapphire-engagement-ring-experience.168600/[/URL]
- Birks Amorique halo (also pricey; and not sure if Birks exists outside of Canada but it's similar, if not better than Tiffany's) - http://www.birks.com/en/featured/collections/The-Amorique-Diamond-Collection/g820/5000507920
- Whiteflash Guinevere (much more reasonable and my top contender). [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/new-engagement-ring-pics.127475/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/new-engagement-ring-pics.127475/[/URL]

That's it for now. Thanks in advance!!

 

[chrono]

Re: Need help deciding b/w sapphire or diamond engagement ri

Here's a few misconceptions about diamonds versus coloured gemstones. Years ago, before all the diamond hype and marketing, coloured gemstones were THE engagement rings. In fact, if you look at royalty engagement rings around the world, many still have coloured stone e-rings and it's only the newer generation that opt for diamond engagement rings. If anything else, the British Royals have revived the popularity of blue sapphire e-rings and prices of blue sapphires have gone up quite a bit. Personally, I rarely wear my diamonds the past few years preferring coloured gemstones because I find diamonds rather boring with the only exception being antique diamonds like OECs and OMCs.

The second misconception is that coloured gemstones are more affordable than diamonds. True and untrue. Just like diamonds, there are fish tank gravel and there are quality gems. Very fine quality unheated sapphires can cost MORE than diamonds.

The third misconception - diamonds are rare and very special. Fine gemstones are FAR more difficult to find and purchase than diamonds. If you want a certain shape, look, cut and etc, you can find it in a diamond within the week. For coloured gemstones, it can take months to find. In short, diamonds are very commonplace and coloured gemstones of good quality are rare.

Based on your requirements, I'd find the perfect stone first. As mentioned in misconception #3, you will be setting a very difficult limitation when trying to a stone into a setting. It is easier to get a setting to fit the stone later.

So you know, size 2.5 is NOT freakishly small. If anything else, it is enviable because the stone looks bigger. Price difference? Depending on the quality of sapphire you like, it could be a large or small stone.

Have you considered the following:
1. What pictures of sapphires you like best colour-wise? Keep a folder of them and think about it to decide whether you like a straight blue, blue with hints of violet, something a wee bit greenish or etc. Do you like the trade preferred slightly violetish blue with eye popping saturation and medium dark tone or something different?
2. What about treatment? There is a fairly large price difference when comparing heated versus unheated in fine quality blue sapphires. How much does it matter to you?
3. Are you fussed on precision faceting or will a really good regular cut do? In the coloured gemstone world, colour is of the utmost importance but a good cut goes a long way in bringing out its beauty so I'm not advocating horribly cut stones, but a very good cut is sufficient for me. Going with only precision faceting will limit your options but for some, only that will do.
4. Eye clean is the standard for coloured gemstones. Unlike diamonds, going for VVS and VS and such becomes an impossibility.
5. Corundum is denser than diamonds, so it will look smaller for the same carat weight. In addition, it has to be cut deeper than diamonds, so that will also make it appear smaller face up. I believe a 0.8 ct diamond is around 6 mm, correct? That is about the equivalent of a 1.0 ct sapphire.

 

[distracts]

Re: Need help deciding b/w sapphire or diamond engagement ri

I have a sapphire, and I've been engaged a year and a half. SO FAR, I do not wish I had a diamond ring... over a sapphire ring (I'd love to have both!). You mentioned getting tired of it - I KNOW that I would get tired of a diamond. They have no color and everyone has one and they're just less interesting. Don't get me wrong - I like diamonds, but all diamonds, all the time is not for everyday for me. I prefer a pop of color. No one has thought it was weird that I got engaged with a sapphire ring (or if they did, they didn't tell me), but I think I get way more compliments on my ring than most people even with ginormous diamonds, since every week or two a stranger stops me to admire my ring.

Personally I think you shouldn't get too hung up on the details of the sapphire with regard to size or shape or even maybe color. With my choice, I was actually aiming at a light greenish blue, round, 3 carats, and missed completely. I ended up with a royal blue (ish) 2 carat cushion. I fell madly in love with it the first time I saw it.

But see, that's the thing - you should be madly in love with your engagement ring, and I can't know whether that's going to be a diamond or a sapphire for you.

Glamor shot I took of my sapphire (the ring REALLY needs to be polished, lol):

 

[emcee]

Re: Need help deciding b/w sapphire or diamond engagement ri

Thank you so much for your advice, Chrono and distracts!!

I have been looking for stones on a bunch of online sites, but I'm having a hard time differentiating between the different qualities of sapphires. I haven't seen anything outstanding on the sites I've checked out (e.g. Gemfix, Africa Gems, Gems Thailand, etc.). The list of reputable vendors is so long that I don't really know where to start. Plus, I haven't come across too many sapphires locally so it's hard to compare the quality of the cuts, color, etc. compared to the ones I'm looking at online.

Also, do postings normally specify when it's a "precision cut" or otherwise? I've seen some cuts that look alright but I don't know if I should be looking for specific keywords that call out to the fact that a stone is precision, or some other very good cut, or some other type of poor cut. I think I decided that I am fine with heat treatment, though I wouldn't be interested in any other kinds of treatment.

disctracts, thank you for sharing your experience with your sapphire! It is absolutely gorgeous, by the way. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get it from? It looks to be very similar to what I'm looking for. Should I be looking for something in a "royal blue" color or is there a more technical term for it?

 

[chrono]

Re: Need help deciding b/w sapphire or diamond engagement ri

You'll see the difference between precision cuts (precise meet points, symmetry, polish, angles and etc) and very good non-precision cuts in the links below. Vendors likely to have what you are looking for:

Non-precision for the lack of a better word
Andrew Sarosi - www.andrewsarosi.com
Marc Sarosi - www.africagems.com
Arnold & Rung of AJS Gems - www.ajsgem.com
www.gemcal.com
Andrew Gulij of Gemfix - www.gemfix.com (sometimes precision cut)
Pala - www.palagems.com
John - www.simplysapphires.com

Precision faceting
Richard Homer of Concave Cut - www.concavegems.com
Gary Braun of Fine Water Gems - www.finewatergems.com
Lisa Elser - www.lisaelser.com
Gene Flanigan of Precision Gems - www.precisiongem.com
Roger Dery of Spectral Gems - www.spectralgems.net
Jeff White of White's Gems - www.whitesgems.com

Ebay Stone Vendors
Gemsthailand http://stores.ebay.com/naturalsapphirecompany (NB: this Ebay Store is not affiliated to The Natural Sapphire Company)
Tan of Gemcatalogue http://stores.ebay.com/GemCatalogue
Tan of Odysseygem http://stores.ebay.com/OdysseyGem
Tan of VVS1gem http://stores.ebay.com/vvs1gem
Tan of Thegemology http://stores.ebay.com/thegemology

When shopping for any gemstone, describing it in "royal blue", "grass green" and the like becomes subjective. It is best to describe it in terms of hue, tone and saturation but I understand that it becomes more than what one sometimes want to learn. When that is the case, it is easiest to just keep pictures of what you like and show it to the vendor you like to work with to find your matching stone.

http://www.palagems.com/quality_4cs.htm
http://www.palagems.com/sapphire_connoisseurship.htm#sapphire_buying_guide

 

[emcee]

Re: Need help deciding b/w sapphire or diamond engagement ri

Thanks for that, Chrono!

Would you say that the vendors that you listed are all a pretty safe bet in terms of getting an excellent-ly cut stone? I still don't have an eye for differentiating between average and amazing cuts. The only one that looks clearly different is Richard Homer's Concave Cut. Some of the ones posted have nice brilliant-diamond-like facets, and others look like they have chunkier facets. Which one is better??

I see some decently nice ones from those sites (or what I'm guessing is decent), but so far there aren't too many options in the shape and size that I'm looking for. I guess that's what you mean when you say it can take a long time to source the perfect stone Plus, it's so hard to choose, considering I can't see it in person and the grading system for sapphires is so much less precise than it is for diamonds!

Also, what are your thoughts on getting a ring designer to do the sapphire sourcing on my behalf? I've contacted a few places (like Whiteflash, Brian Gavin, Leon Mege, etc.) to inquire about their custom settings and about sourcing a sapphire. So far, it sounds like they can all source the sapphire for me, but is that a good idea since they would have more experience with this? Or will there be a huge markup along with a limited selection?

 

[snoopkat]

Re: Need help deciding b/w sapphire or diamond engagement ri

I have a sapphire as my engagement ring and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love diamonds as much as the next girl, but I wanted my engagement ring to be something a little bit different. I don't have anything against RBs, but I've always had this mental picture of 6 diamond RBs in a police line up and if I had one, I wouldn't be able to tell my ring from the others. But I'd be able to spot my engagement ring a mile away. That's my logic anyway, might not make sense to some but it makes sense to me.

 

[chrono]

Re: Need help deciding b/w sapphire or diamond engagement ri

In the first grouping of vendors, they sell a variety of quality cuts so you'll get some pretty good ones and some average ones. I don't think they sell any horrible ones but yes, some could certainly be better cut.

Concave faceting is a very specific style of faceting. I know Gene of Precision Gems also does concave faceting. In terms of chunky or otherwise, it is a personal decision. For me, colour comes first, so if the coloured stone I like happens to have modern RB style facets, I'm okay with that. I don't go out of my way to select a specific cut design even though I love the antique style chunky faceting.

There is a mark up when sourcing a stone from a designer but it still does not negate the fact that:
1. You still have to communicate exactly and very clearly the colour that you want.
2. Most designers are familiar with diamonds but not coloured gemstones, so their eye for colour might not be as good as you might think. Remember, their primary expertise is in design and creating it.
3. Selection will depend on their sources. Some might be limited in this respect.

In terms of cut to show the difference between precision cutting and not so good but somewhat decent, it's best to pick a vendor that sells both. Not knocking on Gemfix at all; it's just convenient to have it all in one place done by the same person under the same lighting conditions.
http://www.gemfix.com/sapphire_blue.html
Where it says in brackets as Cut by Andrew Gulji, those are precision cut. Those without that statement shows non-precision cutting but still quite well cut.

My definition of precision cutting is as defined by Uli.
http://www.osirisgems.com/precision_cutting

ETA
Just for clarification, I'm not advocating precision cuts at all. If anything else, I am non fussed either way as long as there are no glaring cut issues. Perhaps you feel the same way.

 

[distracts]

Re: Need help deciding b/w sapphire or diamond engagement ri

disctracts, thank you for sharing your experience with your sapphire! It is absolutely gorgeous, by the way. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get it from? It looks to be very similar to what I'm looking for. Should I be looking for something in a "royal blue" color or is there a more technical term for it?

Thank you! Mine is not a true royal blue - when you can compare it to ones that are, you can see that it's greyer and greener. However I'd put it generally in the "royal blueish" category. I don't worry about technical trade names for colors when looking for stones but try to pick out something which has a color that is easy to call to mind. Mine also isn't precision cut, but it doesn't bother me because the cut is only a little wonky, and doesn't have any major flaws like windows or obvious asymmetry. I got it from Mariloff in Dallas. I think there's also a location in Atlanta. I wanted to order online from a PS vendor but my fiance couldn't quite get his head around that, so we found a store that both understood that, yes, I wanted a sapphire center stone for my engagement ring, and could source sapphires with lab reports for us. We had to go back several times to look at the ones they brought in before we found one we were crazy about.

If you are ordering online, be sure to pick vendors with good return policies, as you may have to order several stones before you find the one that makes your heart sing.

 

[emcee]

Re: Need help deciding b/w sapphire or diamond engagement ri

@snoopkat, haha that's a great analogy about the police line-up. I can totally picture it in my head! I agree with you that it's so much nicer to stand out.

@Chrono, thank you, you are always so helpful! A jeweler already got back to me with an estimate so I'll have to see whether it's worthwhile to get my stone from them or whether I should do the digging myself. Your link on precision cutting perfectly explains everything! I agree that color will be the most important factor in selecting a sapphire. However, I also want something that has a decent sparkle factor. I know a sapphire will never have the fire of a diamond, but I would still like it to be as sparkly as possible. I suppose precision cuts would give me the best chance of getting a beautiful sparkly stone?

@distracts, I don't see the green or grey in your stone at all! I guess it's all about side by side comparison though, just like diamond color grades or something. Thanks for sharing your experience about purchasing your stone. I am hoping to go with a PS vendor, but I haven't contacted too many yet. Are they normally willing to ship me the stone(s) for viewing even before they are set? I am likely going with a custom setting so I won't have the luxury of receiving a complete ring and sending it back if I don't like it.