Sapphires for earrings

[Nocciolata]

Dear Priscopers,

I'm looking for blue sapphires for earrings and don't know where to start. Can you suggest some vendors who would be able to source matching pairs with really excellent color? I'm not averse to heat treatment for earrings, and am looking for something with an intensely blue, velvety look (obviously I'm not at all knowledgeable about colored stones!). Links to useful threads would also be much appreciated.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I've looked a little and haven't come up with a great pair yet. What size are you looking for?

 

[Nocciolata]

Hi Diamondseeker,

What size are you looking for? I hope you find your pair soon! I suspect you're looking for great quality because most of the pairs I've seen seem dark and lifeless, at least in photos.
I want to set these in thin bezels and hopefully get jackets for them down the line, so I was thinking somewhere between 5mm -6mm, but I'm diligently looking for photos of this size on the ear in some kind of colored stone since I haven't seen anything similar in real life. Time for some photoshop, I think!

 

[cm366]

Hi Nocciolata,

I've worked with John Tolliver from Simply Sapphires before, he frequently has some inventory that's not online and is very reasonably priced. He's friendly, generally happy to work with you on price and returns, and has a good eye for fine shades of color... I'd recommend him very highly!

 

[minousbijoux]

This may be not as much work as you'd like to undertake, but an excellent ebay vendor with some very good stones is Odysseygem, VVS1gem, Gemburionline. The owner's name is Tan. I bought some gorgeous, unheated blue sapphire sub carat rounds about a year ago. I was collecting them. I bought them individually, but if you look carefully, you can typically find two that match from him.

Since he sells them so cheaply (or did at the time), he doesn't have them certed, but he would be fine if you would want them to be.

I think I paid from $60 to $120 for each and I have a bunch of perfectly beautiful blue sapphs, each about a carat or a little under.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Nocciolata, I am looking for close to the same size. My diamond studs are 5.6mm, and I wanted my sapphires to be close to the same size so I could have jackets made that would fit both. If you want ready-made jackets, the diamond size of .5 carat would be an easy size to find jackets for, and that is around 5.1mm.

 

[Nocciolata]

cm366, thank you! It's always nice to have a reference. I will contact John Tolliver with some sample photos.
minousbijoux, I looked at your collection--beautiful! I love your spessertites. I will look at the vendor you recommended, but I don't have your level of knowledge However, I'm so excited for this project and have a sinking feeling this could become an addictive.
Diamondseeker, I think you could be a jewelry twin! I wanted to get custom jackets in platinum for these studs and another pair of diamond studs I am planning to upgrade that are currently 5.2mm (I think ). Your studs are the perfect size. Do you know if it's easier to get more precisely fitted jackets with prong set studs vs. bezel sets?

 

[pregcurious]

Gemfix has a pair of 5 mm royal blue round sapphires for $590, with a sale pending:
http://www.gemfix.com/newest_gems.html

And another for $795, sale pending again:
http://www.gemfix.com/sapphire_blue.html

I would email them and ask if they have another pair.

 

[Nocciolata]

Thank you, Pregcurious!