Pink Sapphire - Follow up question

[Hammieboy]

Hi all. I posted a couple of weeks ago regarding my great-grandmother’s pink sapphire ring. It was set in an antiquesetting that was lovely, but not my style, so I had our local jeweler remove the stone in order to get a better look at it to make an educated guess as to whether the stone is natural or synthetic/lab created. Our jeweler is a GIA Graduate gemologist, so while I know that she cannot tell me with 100% certainty she is doing as much as she can to give her best “guess”.

Anyway, I’m left with a few options and would love to hear others’ opinions. (I have learned so much in the last couple of weeks reading your posts.)

1. Take the jeweler’s best guess (which is that it is natural) and reset the stone to my liking. I’m not planning on spending more than $2,000 on the setting, so it isn’t an enormous financial outlay, but I can’t decide if that is even worth it if it is lab created.

2. Purchase a completely different colored stone ring. I am planning on this project/purchase being a second wedding set. I have my mother’s diamond and love it, but love the idea of something fun and unique as another option.

3. Send it to GIA for the “final word”. As far as I can tell, the main advantages are that I would know for certain (how close to certain can the jeweler reasonably get?) and I suppose for insurance purposes as well. I’m feeling impatience to complete my Christmas project which is the amazingly armature truth.

Anyone want to offer thoughts/opinions? My birthstone is a sapphire so either way I’d be going with a non-blue sapphire.

Sorry this so so lengthy. Thanks so much for any opinions!

Hammieboy

 

[Bron357]

Hi, I think sending it to AGL would be better, they have a better reputation for coloured gems. You can just get a gem brief ($85 if set) which will confirm natural or synthetic and treatments (and given the cut style I would suspect it is natural). That gives you concrete proof and makes spending lots of money on a new setting much more comfortable and appropriate.
Depending on its dimensions you might be able to buy a pre cast semi mount. They are a lot more cost friendly than hand cast. Ivy & Rose (amongst others) have a lovely selection. There’s also a few Chinese manufacturers PSers have had good results with too. You can buy a ring setting to suit and have a local jeweller set your gem.

 

[Hammieboy]

Thanks so much for your reply. Our jeweler ended up coming down on the side of synthetic stone. I figured there was at least a 50/50 chance so I’m not surprised. I appreciate the advice!