Newbie looking for sapphire

[Mrs. Bojangles]

Hi everyone!

I've been reading here on and off for a while now but just joined. I am researching sapphires. I know next to nothing about them, but would very much like to learn, and eventually purchase (read: nudge Mr. Bojangles to purchase) a sapphire to be made into a ring.

When we were engaged about an eon ago, we were young and poor. Mr. B thought he HAD to buy me a diamond engagement ring, but I balked. We have matching yellow gold domed bands, but I'd really love something blue (or green!) to wear with mine. I've been looking around and LOVE sapphires, much more than diamonds. I've been looking at some of the following sites:

[urlhttp://www.thenaturalsapphirecompany.com/][/url]

http://www.gemfix.com/

[urlhttp://mastercutgems.com/][/url]

[urlhttp://planetarygems.com/index.htm][/url]

http://wildfishgems.com/

I'd appreciate any tips, feedback, any info at all about these particular gem vendors. Are there any others worth taking a look at? Are there good reasons for desiring a non-heated stone over a heated one, or vice versa?

I have so many questions, but I'll leave it at that for now. TIA!

 

[Mrs. Bojangles]

Oops...sorry! I did not get the links right on all of those web sites. Sorry about that.

 

[Aerix]

Hi there, and welcome! I don't know too many other vendors, but I thought I'd suggest Jeff White and bump this thread up. If you do a search, you'll find a few people who own a few of his sapphires. They're absolutely gorgeous and I dream of owning one someday too! You can also check out Richard Wise and Steve Perry. Not sure who else to recommend. Is there a certain size (in millimeters) and certain color you're looking for?

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Depending on your budget/desired size, I'd also look at Jeff White, Simplysapphires, cherrypicked, and thenaturalsaphirrecompany.

Good luck!

I have a sapphire e-ring and love it!!!

 

[Mrs. Bojangles]

Thank you, Xiriah and Bella mezzo, for those suggestions. I will check them out. I would like a blue or green sapphire, or blue-green, maybe 7 mm.? I want something substantial but not huge.

What do you think of heated versus unheated? What are the pros and cons of each? Anyone? And thanks in advance.

 

[lavatea]

I prefer untreated gems, so I'd say unheated. But that's a personal choice. If you do feel that heat is OK, be sure that heat does not also mean BE-diffused. Check with whatever seller to make sure of that.

I was browsing around and Doug at Bespoke has quite a few sapphires. Some are blue, some yellow, and some are what he calls green but to me they look more yellow. He's very nice to work with.

 

[maebelle]

I had been salivating over a sapphire at gemfix for a while, sadly it's listed as "sale pending" now I really dig Andrew Gulij's cuts. Make sure to not only look at the blues, but his Montana sapphires as well. There is a blue/green 7 mm round Portuguese cut that might be right up your alley (it is heated though)

One you haven't listed is artcutgems!

 

[chrono]

If you like blue green sapphires and unheated, Montana sapphires and Australian sapphires are generally a good bet. I cannot speak for all the vendors listed as I’ve not personally dealt with all of them but here is what I have observed:
1. NSC – Tends to be the most expensive vendor but carries a large selection of unheated sapphires. There was a bit of commotion here on PS with their rude response with regards to photoshopping of their matched pair of stones.
2. Gemfix – Have not heard anything negative about them.
3. Mastercut – Did not have a good experience but many others have and were satisfied with their purchases.
4. Planetarygems – Seems very inexpensive for the quality. Not sure of the reason why.
5. Wildfishgems – Also on the expensive side but the reason is said to be the practice of fair trade and ecological mining. Carries varying quality gems.

With beryllium diffusion being not detectable by most labs, and then, even only using very expensive specialized equipment, I prefer to stick with unheated corundum. Do not presume that if you see the presence of silk that it means the stone is unheated. Do not presume that if the colour is not a rich blue that it is unheated.

However, there is nothing inherently wrong with heating at all. Heating drives off some not no nice modifiers and makes many unattractive stones look pretty for a lower price. The treatment is stable and permanent. My issue with heating is really heating with the added beryllium mineral.

 

[Liane]

I had been salivating over a sapphire at gemfix for a while, sadly it's listed as "sale pending" now

If you mean the 1.74 carat Portuguese round, that should actually be back up. I bought it a couple of weeks ago but sent it back because it was a teeny bit darker than I wanted. Really beautiful stone though, lovely rich blue color and the cutting was to die for (but then I have a definite weakness for Portuguese rounds). Aaaaand it's 7.5mm so maybe within the range of what the OP's looking for.

Laura at Gemfix was super nice and quick to respond to any questions. I would definitely work with them again.

 

[maebelle]

I had been salivating over a sapphire at gemfix for a while, sadly it's listed as "sale pending" now

If you mean the 1.74 carat Portuguese round, that should actually be back up. I bought it a couple of weeks ago but sent it back because it was a teeny bit darker than I wanted. Really beautiful stone though, lovely rich blue color and the cutting was to die for (but then I have a definite weakness for Portuguese rounds). Aaaaand it's 7.5mm so maybe within the range of what the OP's looking for.

Laura at Gemfix was super nice and quick to respond to any questions. I would definitely work with them again.

Sorry for the threadjack...

Haha, Liane! That's exactly it. It's the first stone I've found online that I was truly disappointed to see had been sold. I'm pretty happy to learn it's still on the market... When you say it was a bit too dark... I know it's subjective but how did it compare to the vendor photo?

 

[Liane]

It's tough to describe, and I'm not sure this is going to be at all accurate/useful because your monitor's likely calibrated differently from mine, but... overall I'd say the body color that I saw in most lights was about the color shown on the photo at 11 o' clock or 4 o' clock, i.e., a deep royal blue. Not dark enough that you'd mistake it for black, but a very deep blue. It gave off a lot of bright blue flashes when it caught the light, which I liked.

The Portuguese "petal effect" generally only showed up in parts of the stone at a time, depending on how it was rotated. What I saw in person looks a lot like what I see in the photo at 11 o' clock and 4 o' clock in that the facet pattern is visible if you look hard, but it's obscured by the depth of the color. I was looking for a stone where I could clearly see all the petals all the time, and I couldn't do it with that sapphire, so that's why I sent it back.

 

[Selkie]

Gemfix has a very pretty 7mm blue-green portuguese cut Montana sapphire as well. It's on the right in the 2nd row on this page: http://www.gemfix.com/sapphire_montana.html.

 

[Aerix]

I think it's personal preference as to whether you prefer heated or unheated. I don't have a strong preference for one over the other, but if I had to choose, I'd go with unheated.I guess it's because I like knowing that the stone I have is as natural as when it came out of the ground (minus being cut of course.) However, if I had a choice between a heated stone that was a the perfect color I wanted, vs an unheated stone that was not a color I really loved, I would probably go with the heated one. One thing to think about is that unheated gems are more expensive than their counterparts. There's nothing wrong with heated, and in fact they tend to be more affordable than the other, but like I said, it depends on personal preference.

 

[Aerix]

Just wanted to add, I saw this 7.2mm unheated light blue Montana sapphire at Litnon:
http://www.litnon.com/index.php?page=viewgem&id=8582

Roger Dery at Spectral Gems also has some sapphires. I'm not sure what the measurements are, you'll have to ask, but here's another link:
http://www.spectralgems.net/A-corundum.html

You could also check out GemRite and GemHunters. GemHunters sells Australian sapphires that are untreated. They'll take more photos for you if you message them about a stone you're interested in. I'm not sure if anyone has purchased from them, but I know they've been recommended on the forums before and I asked about a few different sapphires and they wrote back to me right away and took more pics pretty quick. I think some of their larger sapphires are on the darker side but it could just be their photos.

 

[Mrs. Bojangles]

Wow, thanks to everyone who responded. I had not even heard of some of those vendors but I'm going to check them all out. I don't mind the "threadjacking" at all. I like tangents and reading about what people thought of certain stones they bought, etc. It's all good.

I tend to think I'd want an unheated stone, but a little heating might be okay if I really loved the look of a gem. By the way, what is a "little" heating? I've read the term "gently heated" but don't know what it means. Is it a certain temperature and/or length of time? I really don't know what the process involves.

You are all so helpful.

 

[chrono]

Many used the term “gentle heating” in the past to differentiate it from heating with the added mineral beryllium (diffusion). In actuality, the temperature used is still very high (in the thousand range) so I’m no longer using the term “gentle heating” anymore.

 

[Mrs. Bojangles]

Chrono, thanks for the explanation.

 

[Gemvara]

Personally, for blue sapphire I prefer Sri Lanka to Montana, even if the Montana sapphire is unheated. I think you should choose color first, then worry about heat/no heat. (But I have to agree with everyone else that you should avoid diffused sapphire and get the fact that your sapphire is not diffused in writing.) Sapphire is such a romantic choice for an engagement ring: it's the gem of the soul. And beautiful, of course! Here's a reminder of what you are looking for in terms of color: an inspiring sapphire image courtesy of the AGTA.

 

[joebox]

Liane,

I actually recently purchased the sapphire from Gemfix. I did notice that the color in person was a much darker blue than pictured and the rose petal effect appears when rotated as well. Where there any other reasons you returned the gem? I bought it for my fiances engagement ring and am trying to decide whether or not I am going to return it.

 

[maebelle]

So you got the 7.5! I wish I knew less about your future fiance (you said her finger size in another post, and it's not mine) and could pretend you *might* be my boyfriend under an assumed name. A girl can dream.