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Round sapphire with no window?

Lex183

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jun 16, 2019
Messages
7
I’ve looked at a few light (in color) round sapphires with different vendors and they all have a window in the middle of the stone where I can see the color of my skin. They are all telling me that this is normal for round sapphires, but it just doesn’t “show” in dark ones because the color is darker than the color of my skin. I don’t know if I’m just unlucky and have been shown bad stones, or if this really is normal for light round sapphires??
 

arkieb1

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
May 11, 2012
Messages
9,786
Badly but is badly cut, no not all rounds have windows, in fact I'd guess most do not.
 

T L

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
25,218
Most sapphires are cut poorly, but that doesn’t mean you should accept a poorly cut sapphire because that’s the “norm.”
 

icy_jade

Ideal_Rock
Joined
May 1, 2009
Messages
6,131
Most of the stones I see irl are native cuts which can mean wonky bottoms and yes windows in most rounds. That said, rounds without windows definitely exist but you may have to pay a bit more for them than the ones you have seen.

I definitely see nicer cuts in cheaper stones... versus expensive ones like sapphires and rubies, where many of the stones are cut to preserve the carat weight. Otherwise the better cut stones are accordingly priced as well. Well cut pads are nearly unicorns imo.

Examples from Precision Gem:

1277A3F8-4A9C-4EBC-B811-DCE57694FDE3.jpeg B1CF8EA8-2611-41DD-88AE-BF487A7E7AD1.jpeg


You can have a look at some of the recommended vendors to have a look. If you mention what you are looking for and budget maybe someone can help you.
 

mellowyellowgirl

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
May 17, 2014
Messages
6,244
I recommend Mastercut Gems for well cut rounds. It's rare to find a window in one of their stones and the price is decent.


I personally find rounds usually have less windows than other shapes and the windows can usually be hidden depending on how big they are and what the setting is like.
 

SparkleC

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Aug 2, 2018
Messages
111
@Lex183 I'm also looking for a sapphire right now and I've had three round cut stones sent to me by a vendor so far. One of the three had a small open culet but truly it was difficult to see when I held it between my fingers. I honestly believe it would be almost unnoticeable once it was set. The vendor I'm working with said that rounds are more difficult to find. And I also read somewhere on the internet that sapphire crystals are elongated so they're often cut to accentuate their natural structure which would not be a round. If you look at my thread here https://www.pricescope.com/communit...-omg-blue-sapphire.251656/page-5#post-4631976 you can see pictures of the sapphire I'm talking about. It's most evident in the vendor's video. Good luck with your search.
 

MainSequence

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jul 31, 2019
Messages
37
A straight down window doesn't have to be normal for a light color sapphire, but a tilt window (which is totally normal) might be more noticeable in a lighter color sapphire than a dark one. I have a very dark teal sapphire that doesn't have a noticeable tilt window no matter how much its tilted, but several light blue sapphires that I looked at from GemFix all had visible tilt windows at a few degrees.
 

PieAreSquared

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Dec 18, 2014
Messages
235
A well cut round should not have a window...and a "tilt window" isn't a real window.
 

Anne111

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Nov 30, 2017
Messages
381
Whatºs the number? 90% of all individually cut gems have a window? Or 80%? Without diamonds and syntethics.
 

chrono

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 22, 2004
Messages
38,364
An old but still very relevant article on windowing (with example pictures).
 
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