Rich blue Montana sapphire - thoughts? Tips? Newbie to colored stones!

[Cerulean]

Hi PS friends,

The diamond side of this forum was tremendously helpful as I searched for an engagement ring. Wanted to share a fun new adventure - looking to get a sapphire. Or, entertaining the idea. No clue what I am doing, but I do not want anything terribly expensive. A little something fun and sparkly to look forward to during a rather dark time. Honestly, I am worried about having to cancel my wedding and honeymoon in September, so I am treating this a little R & R to get me through the possibility. It's not all doom and gloom yet - as a lot is up in the air...but time will tell.

On a more fun note - I think I found a keeper. I had a shoestring budget ($1k on the top end) - and I wanted as much stone as possible for my big ole hands. I was looking for teal, but was keeping an open mind for the right stone. I don't mind inclusions, a little silk, or something less than perfect.

I found this stunner - a 1.43ct montana sapphire, 6.45mm, the clarity seems great...are there any other questions I need to ask - asked the vendor if the stone is heated?? Here are some photos in different lights, ranging from morning, to evening, to indoors...I tend to like "medium toned" stones, not too dark, but vibrant - any thoughts on whether this may show dark when set? I am thinking a white metal, bezel setting.

 

[gingercurls]

I think the cut of the stone is lovely and I think that the lapidary who cut it does nice work. I think that the stone will be at least a little darker than the medium tone that you are after and stones do tend to darken further when set in a bezel.

 

[LilAlex]

Will look darker in bezel, imo. I think it will be less saturated by a fair margin in person.

Look at the vendor's other offerings and photos to gauge how they portray their stones. If they are all inexpensive yet beautifully saturated, it's image processing. Cell-phone photos will make any blue sapphire look better than IRL.

 

[Cerulean]

Sorry these photos are super blurry - these are indoor shots in less - than ideal lighting. Still on the fence. I love the rich blue - just don't want a dark stone.

 

[Cerulean]

I was also looking at this one from Master Cut Gems - can't tell if it's not saturated enough

https://www.mastercutgems.com/Produ...Sapphire_1_61_carat_VIDEO_-Gem.php?FromPage=1

 

[MollyMalone]

I have a teal sapphire from Mozambique (purchased from Dana at Master Cut Gems) that is likely very similar to the first sapphire you posted & I think it's charming. But of course we don't all share the same tastes/preferences & priorities (and honestly, I wouldn't want that sapphire to be my only gemstone ring.)

Does the vendor have a reasonable return-refund policy -- like Dana's -- so that you could return the 1st stone (and get your money back) if it doesn't capture your heart upon being able to examine it for yourself, under various lighting conditions? Colored gems "shift" in ways that their contemporary diamond counterparts do not & Montana sapphires are more prone to that than many other colored gems.

My default setting is that I always anticipate I will be returning a colored gem (although I've actually returned only 1).

• Even when the vendor conscientiously strives to post photos-videos that accurately capture, on their end, what they see in real life, those are still only two-dimensional renderings under narrow circumstances.
• Plus, it's very unlikely that your screen/display is color-calibrated exactly like theirs
• Lastly, our brains don't all "register" colors in the same one. Although I've very sensitive to gradations-nuances in certain colors, I almost never see the brown in a ruby photograph/video when that's noted by chrono and some others here.

But because I certainly understand your desire to increase the odds that you won't want to return it, how about asking the vendor to do a video of the stone on the top of his hand, both inside and outdoors?

 

[Rfisher]

So it’s not fun to say -but look at the vendors return policies and can you swing bringing in both to see in your own environment, and what artificial/natural lighting you’ll see it most often ? Specifically ask what artificial lighting vendors use in pictures, too. It matters.
They’re so shifty, it’s hard to tell what you’ll like until you see it. So many different personal preferences on Montana’s too.......

 

[Cerulean]

The more I look at the first stone in the indoor lighting - the more I think it is just too dark for me, and it lacks some of the green that I really want - it is more a pure, rich blue and I expect will make someone VERY happy. Given that it is going to be my only colored stone for a while, I want to be thrilled with it! The vendor doesn't have any other stones right now that really fit the bill - so I will ask about waiting for a new one to come in.

If Dana has a good return policy - maybe worth trying. I reached out to him about a bunch of stones - it feels really hard to tell in photos how a stone will look, asked for a few more photos....this is a challenge, that is for darn sure!!!

If anyone has seen a stone that might fit the bill - I am open! I like rounds, ovals, and cushions - not so much the geometric cuts that seem to be trendy for a lot of montana sapphires in particular.

I also don't care what part of the world a stone came from either - I have seen pretty stones from all over the place.

All of these tips are SUPER helpful.

 

[Cerulean]

Hi all-

I keep finding myself lured in my the rich, blue colors and am surprising myself. I went in thinking I’d want a mid-tone teal stone. I also have kind of “pink” skin like this vendor - and now that I’m seeing some of the greener stones - they don’t look as flattering?

I am thinking about this one -he’s giving me a great price albeit a bit over budget..it appears a bit less dark than the first one? Thoughts?

2.09ct 7.46x6.63x4.70mm unheated, Madagascar origin


bottom row, far right

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Overcast lighting - top row, second from left

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[minousbijoux]

I really like the last one you are showing. However, I'd ask him to walk it inside and snap a few in other lighting. Right now, he's showing it in the most optimum conditions - indirect sunlight. In direct sun, many stones close up/go dark. In inside fluorescent lights, some stones brown out or go dark as well. But I have just about never met a stone that doesn't look good in indirect outside light like he's showing - especially SoCal!

 

[Cerulean]

Here it is in artificial lighting - he said it is more vibrant in person and does not black out at all. Sorry if these are blurry - they are screenshots of videos

the image with two stones - it’s on the left

 

[minousbijoux]

The background on the first screenshot still appears like he's outside? In any case, it looks a bit less saturated. I would wager that it may often appear darker than his images - but then again, so will Dana's stone. What do you think?

 

[gingercurls]

I don't want to overwhelm you with options but Jeff at https://www.earthstreasury.com has some amazing Montana sapphires and has an incredibly extensive inventory of all different sizes, shapes, colors, and prices. He is also very easy to work with and has always been quick to answer any questions that I had.

 

[Rfisher]

It goes silky in artificial lighting?
I know you mentioned wanting sparkly in your initial post - will this bother you?
No right or wrong - just personal preferences.

 

[Cerulean]

Oh I am already knee deep in options! Hah! I am an avid researcher, so I don’t mind more.

And good call out with the silk - I didn’t even put together that’s what it was. I don’t mind silk, or even some inclusions.

I looked at earths treasury - he was super quick to answer me which I greatly appreciated! He had some nice stones too. Admittedly there were some weird nuances in the back and forth that kind of put me off to be honest but maybe i should not be so darn sensitive. The selection is astounding!

I was looking at Precision Gems too - but I’m worried all of the stones are a bit too small for me...although they are amazing colors

 

[LilAlex]

I also have kind of “pink” skin like this vendor - and now that I’m seeing some of the greener stones - they don’t look as flattering?

I have followed this person on IG. Have you ever seen such a staggering assortment of vibrant colors? No? Neither has this vendor. He/she has "pink" skin because the photo is comically oversaturated. Look at that gold band. In fact, I will add that virtually every IG vendor is a sham, AFAIK. Every gem on IG is to die for.

I don't t know that they think they are dishonest. It's just so easy to boost that saturation a tiny bit more and make the stone look amazing.

I once bought a ring with a too-dark sapphire from an online vendor. It was a decent price but IRL it looked nothing like the posted photos. I was disappointed and a little baffled but figured it was wearable and not worth the hassle. Years later, I took some nice photos of my own and thought it looked too dark. I bumped one of the sliders in Aperture and the inky sapphire was instantly a killer cornflower blue -- exactly like vendor's phony photo that I had saved to a file. It's like if you're advertising your car and there was a "clean" vs "dirty" slider and a "shiny" vs "dull" slider, you'd try to get people interested...

 

[Cerulean]

That makes me a little sick to my stomach to think that someone would deliberately increase saturation on images. Even just a tiny bit

Of course vendors have every right to try to capture a stones "best" but I am not a fan of the idea of misrepresenting that much..I want to know what a stone will look like, on my hand. I do have really reddish skin so it didn't seem unreasonable that this person would to, but I really don't know what I am looking at, honestly

Do these photos indeed look oversaturated to everyone? My dealings with the person have seemed very positive overall and they've been nice. But now I am nervous

 

[Cerulean]

These are the stones from Earth's Treasury I had them take a video of...confirming the other poster- super fast reply so A+ for that

It seems dumb but the reason I am being fussy about ET is because I wanted to see 5 and sent 5 SKUs but they said I needed to narrow down to 4 which felt odd. I was thinking of asking to see a 6th but given the resistance to showing 5 I didn't

but these are pretty - all 4 of them - my eyes lean to 2nd from bottom and I think I like the un-evenness in color, weirdly

base of the finger from the tip:
https://www.earthstreasury.com/product/1-50-carat-peacock-blue-montana-sapphire-heated/
https://www.earthstreasury.com/product/1-55-carat-teal-blue-montana-sapphire-heated-2/
https://www.earthstreasury.com/product/1-48-carat-teal-blue-montana-sapphire-heated/
https://www.earthstreasury.com/product/1-50-carat-teal-montana-sapphire-heated/

 

[minousbijoux]

I agree with @Rfisher - at this point, it's about personal preference.

 

[gingercurls]

I like the second one from the bottom in the photo you posted, too. Very pretty.

 

[Cerulean]

Sorry to bombard - hope it is okay to share!

This is a video from Dana for this stone I shared earlier
https://www.mastercutgems.com/Produ...Sapphire_1_61_carat_VIDEO_-Gem.php?FromPage=1

it seems so much less saturated in the video - is that normal? I don't mind a bit less, but I am finding myself drawn to richer colored stones but like that this is unheated..it's also the smallest of the ones I have been looking at

 

[Rfisher]

Sorry to bombard - hope it is okay to share!

This is a video from Dana for this stone I shared earlier
https://www.mastercutgems.com/Produ...Sapphire_1_61_carat_VIDEO_-Gem.php?FromPage=1

it seems so much less saturated in the video - is that normal? I don't mind a bit less, but I am finding myself drawn to richer colored stones but like that this is unheated..it's also the smallest of the ones I have been looking at

Just a guess, but this could look like his listing photos in some lighting and shift to the greyer/lighter as in the video in other lighting.

 

[Cerulean]

Just a guess, but this could look like his listing photos in some lighting and shift to the greener/greyer as in the video in other lighting.

That was my fear...looks like it lacks the depth of color I am really after...

 

[Cerulean]

Does Precision Gem tend to represent color accurately? This one seems kind of nice too - think I am starting to get a little overwhelmed - had started warming up to the stone from the IG vendor but the over-saturation point totally freaked me out

http://www.precisiongem.com/gemstackpage/gems.php?product/page/2502/Gem+2272+Blue+Sapphire

 

[Rfisher]

Then you’ll definitely want to make ‘I want a Montana that doesn’t shift much’ a major part of your discussion with vendors.
I don’t know, but wonder what general percentage of blue/green Montana’s are not very shifty?

 

[Cerulean]

Then you’ll definitely want to make ‘I want a Montana that doesn’t shift much’ a major part of your discussion with vendors.
I don’t know, but wonder what general percentage of blue/green Montana’s are not very shifty?

Good point...

I think I like the idea of color shift - i have seen such COOL ones - but really not loving the idea of prominent silver / grey (at least not for this particular purchase - may change my mind down the road)

 

[LilAlex]

That makes me a little sick to my stomach to think that someone would deliberately increase saturation on images. Even just a tiny bit

Of course vendors have every right to try to capture a stones "best" but I am not a fan of the idea of misrepresenting that much..I want to know what a stone will look like, on my hand. I do have really reddish skin so it didn't seem unreasonable that this person would to, but I really don't know what I am looking at, honestly

Oh boy. I do a lot of photography. Every image you see is manipulated. As I've tried to explain on many threads, cell phone photos are among the worst offenders -- they automatically boost saturation, contrast, you name it. It makes your pictures look "good" to your eye. ("This camera is great!") Super-blue sky in those landscapes = super-blue sapphires. Plus, many web sites automatically do you the same "favor" when photos are uploaded (Facebook, for one). Along those lines, every IG gem account is just videos of the world's most saturated royal blue sapphires. Please. Also, even then, they are mostly shot outdoors on a cloudy day with nice, cool, even overhead light -- which, imo, is the most flattering light for blue sapphires. I live in that light so that's fine by me, but most of the world does not.

I started a post a few weeks ago of all the ways I can make a gem look better (before and after) but then thought better of it. It's incredibly easy to make a gem look stellar; it's really hard to make your photos actually match the real appearance of the gem.

I shoot in RAW, which is a highly modifiable format that is designed to capture and preserve as much information as possible (think 30 Mb instead of 3 Mb). That leaves the most "headroom" for adjusting the exposure and pulling details selectively out of shadows and suppressing the burned-out highlights, etc. But the unedited pictures are bland, flat, and lifeless because they are actually less contrasty and less saturated than real life. So every single photo shot by a pro or by a decent amateur requires careful editing. With a good RAW file, you can make anything look like anything.

Have you seen senior portraits lately? Every kid is face-tuned into a model. It's kinda like that.

 

[Cerulean]

Oh boy. I do a lot of photography. Every image you see is manipulated. As I've tried to explain on many threads, cell phone photos are among the worst offenders -- they automatically boost saturation, contrast, you name it. It makes your pictures look "good" to your eye. ("This camera is great!") Super-blue sky in those landscapes = super-blue sapphires. Plus, many web sites automatically do you the same "favor" when photos are uploaded (Facebook, for one). Along those lines, every IG gem account is just videos of the world's most saturated royal blue sapphires. Please. Also, even then, they are mostly shot outdoors on a cloudy day with nice, cool, even overhead light -- which, imo, is the most flattering light for blue sapphires. I live in that light so that's fine by me, but most of the world does not.

I started a post a few weeks ago of all the ways I can make a gem look better (before and after) but then thought better of it. It's incredibly easy to make a gem look stellar; it's really hard to make your photos actually match the real appearance of the gem.

I shoot in RAW, which is a highly modifiable format that is designed to capture and preserve as much information as possible (think 30 Mb instead of 3 Mb). That leaves the most "headroom" for adjusting the exposure and pulling details selectively out of shadows and suppressing the burned-out highlights, etc. But the unedited pictures are bland, flat, and lifeless because they are actually less contrasty and less saturated than real life. So every single photo shot by a pro or by a decent amateur requires careful editing. With a good RAW file, you can make anything look like anything.

Have you seen senior portraits lately? Every kid is face-tuned into a model. It's kinda like that.

This is really helpful. I’m an artist myself but know nothing about photography, despite being the daughter of a very skilled photographer...honestly I think I intentionally avoided it because I remembered long boring road trips where’d he’d pull over on backroads and try to get the perfect shot for what seemed like HOURS and we’d get home and then he’d be off to his dark room. I admire the skill very much, and understand that editing is crucial. But I know that a lot of digital filters are far more fantastical which is fine if you want something pretty to look at, not fine if you are trying to sell a product and misrepresenting it.

This stone is a big purchase for me, and so honestly - it sounds like you would you recommend steering clear from this vendor? Not trying to be dense. To my layperson eyes, it looks like a great sapphire, which is why I asked on Pricescope to make an informed purchase!

This is also the first time I’ve purchased a gem online. I know a return might happen but I’d like to avoid it if I can. This person charges a $100 restocking fee which seems like a hefty penalty for not liking a stone. I liked this stone a lot but don’t want to get duped.

 

[gingercurls]

I understand where you are coming from. The process of buying anything jewelry related online can be stressful and overwhelming, particularly if you are new to the process. As a few other posters have mentioned, faceted gemstones will shift at least a little bit depending on the type of lighting. Montana sapphires are particularly prone to shifting colors and looking different in different types of lighting. May I ask why Montana sapphires have captured your attention? Is it because of the range of colors that Monatanas tend to come in that is appealing to you? If that is the case, you might want to also look at Australian sapphires. Australian sapphires tend to come in colors similar to Montana sapphires, like blue green, teal, and greenish blue, and deeper blue. In my experience, Australian sapphires are less prone to color shifting and you might experience less doubt about how an Australian sapphire will perform.

You could check out this vendor on Etsy. He has several Montana sapphires and a few Australian sapphires to look at.

 

[Cerulean]

I understand where you are coming from. The process of buying anything jewelry related online can be stressful and overwhelming, particularly if you are new to the process. As a few other posters have mentioned, faceted gemstones will shift at least a little bit depending on the type of lighting. Montana sapphires are particularly prone to shifting colors and looking different in different types of lighting. May I ask why Montana sapphires have captured your attention? Is it because of the range of colors that Monatanas tend to come in that is appealing to you? If that is the case, you might want to also look at Australian sapphires. Australian sapphires tend to come in colors similar to Montana sapphires, like blue green, teal, and greenish blue, and deeper blue. In my experience, Australian sapphires are less prone to color shifting and you might experience less doubt about how an Australian sapphire will perform.

Thanks for your kind words. It IS a bit overwhelming!

And I’m not partial to Montana sapphires over others at all! I had just named the thread after the first stone that I wanted Pricescopers to weigh in on - it happened to be a Montana Sapphire.

It sounds like an Australian sapphire may be a better fit - thanks for the tip - the one from the IG vendor was from Madagascar although it’s not teal, more a straight blue. So I am completely open. I’m realizing as I look, the richness of the color matters to me, but I don’t want a dark stone. I think more Montanas just came up when I looked for a mid tone teal I think, they seem kinda trendy at the moment..