Quality sapphire dealer UK

[aisha]

Can anyone recommend a sapphire dealer in the UK?

Looking for a quality pear 7 x 5 sapphire, no heating and very good cutting. I have been in touch with John Dyer and am considering importing one from the US as love his work but waiting to hear back on whether the customs is very high. Wondered if there are any gem cutters like him in the UK that deal with top quality gems and maximise this through great cutting.


Thanks

Aisha

 

[theredspinel]

I'm based in the UK too; I've not heard of any reliable sources here Unfortunetly! I've brought from the US, Thailand and someplace else can't remember now but customs duties do get you down. They charge so much it makes the "Internet deal" a bit more down to earth

 

[aisha]

Thanks for the reply. That's a shame! Who did you buy from overseas? Just so hard - want to see the difference in cuts and colour in an honest way as not that clued up!!x

 

[theredspinel]

It is hard and really daunting in the beginning. If you hang around here, you'll feel comfortable with purchasing online from overseas in no time at all (and I'm still not sure if that's a good thing ).

I've purchased from a few vendors, all ones that come highly recommended here. Brad at The Gem Trader. Jeff Davis. Pearl paradise for pearls. Yvonne raley from etsy (sorry forgotten shop name just this minute). Working with Sally, Heart of Water etsy shop, right now. There are a few others that escape me right now but you'll find all the recommended vendors up in this section, one of the top threads.

When I first started I used to buy finished pieces of jewellry because I just thought it was better, easier, cheaper and just less scary! I was terrified at the prospective of buying a loose gem and then trying to set it now I have a whole bunch of loose gems lol. Promise it really does get less overwhelming, the longer you stay here.

 

[aisha]

Thank you so much!

I can see myself getting gem obsessed! Will check out all those sites.

Is there a forum message that deals with typical prices per carat depending on certain factors?

For example, taking this post as an example:

https://www.pricescope.com/wiki/colorgems/colorgems_color

I am looking for a 7 x 5 pear and sapphire gem, cut is very important to me and so I would like a precision cut.

colour: moderately strong blue / strong blue / vivid blue for preference
saturation - at the higher end of the 6 modifiers

I am kind of trying to establish that is you took an average starting point, how much extra you pay as you go from "average"/a starting point to the high end.

Thanks again!

 

[theredspinel]

You're definetly in the right place if you do get gem obsessed

To be honest I've not done much research into sapphires at all but I do understand your questions. We get a lot of people asking about sapphires and the regulars here that know their stuff are really good at responding and answering. From my experience any threads with the UK in the title don't tend to get many responses (there are only a handful here, most of the forum users are based in the USA I think).

If you start a new thread along the lines of "help me find a sapphire" I'm sure you'll gets tons of replies (I see it all the time). So far I've not been very interested in getting a loose sapphire so sorry I can't help more!

 

[Snowdrop13]

Just saying "hi" as a fellow UK PS'er

I'm not really a coloured stone girl but have purchased a couple of pairs of unheated sapphire stud earrings online. I ended up at the Natural Sapphire Co (they don't have a good rep on here but they had what I wanted in stock at the time) and I found them good to deal with from here. I have also purchased from Gemfix, who have some nice stones, unfortunately they will only ship stones below a certain price level, not sure why. I don't know of any good sellers in the UK, it's all quite frustrating!

 

[aisha]

Thanks both of you. I've reposted asking for price info and help. All so confusing without seeing them in person!

Looked at both The Natural Sapphire Company and Gemfix too. I just struggle to grasp how its graded half the time. Sometimes the colour and cut appears worse than another but more expensive per carat and sometimes the slightest variance seems to see the price shoot up!

Unfortunately, I have always been a lover of very vivid colours as they make me feel alive when I look at them and actually make me feel more lively that day. So that means I am a sucker for the vividness of gems I just can't really afford.

Hopefully I will get there...!