Show me your best and worse lighting for your velvety blue sapphire

Probee · Thursday at 1:20 PM

Hello,

Some of you may have seen my other threads and know that I’m a newbie to color stones and jewelry in general. The folks in the forum has been kind and generous with their time to educate and advise me. Today, I’m exploring the possibility of getting a blue sapphire and would like to learn as much about it as possible before I set out to hunt for one.

Please show me your heated and unheated blue sapphire in best lighting conditions as well as worse lighting conditions. I’m leaning royal blue.

Photo of the sapphire that piqued my interest.

Autumn in New England · Thursday at 3:33 PM

What a fun journey! Best of luck to you!!

I would say mine could be described as a "velvet" shade, which, IMO, is one or two clicks lighter than royal. So maybe a medium (5) to medium-dark (6) tone and vivid (6) saturation. To me, royal blues are more of a dark tone (7). I like them too.

Best: In front of a picture window... indirect natural light.

Worst: In the middle of the room... low natural light.

Probee · Thursday at 4:05 PM

Autumn in New England said:
What a fun journey! Best of luck to you!!

I would say mine could be described as a "velvet" shade, which, IMO, is one or two clicks lighter than royal. So maybe a medium (5) to medium-dark (6) tone and vivid (6) saturation. To me, royal blues are more of a dark tone (7). I like them too.

Best: In front of a picture window... indirect natural light.

Worst: In the middle of the room... low natural light.

Wow, that’s gorgeous! I love both best and worst pictures. The blue is still prominent in low light. Is this because of the medium tone and vivid saturation?

Where do you think the picture of the sapphire I posted would be regarding tone and saturation?

Do you mind providing specs for your stone? I’m wondering if a 4ct would have similar finger coverage.

Probee

Autumn in New England · Thursday at 4:33 PM

Probee said:
Wow, that’s gorgeous! I love both best and worst pictures. The blue is still prominent in low light. Is this because of the medium tone and vivid saturation?

Where do you think the picture of the sapphire I posted would be regarding tone and saturation?

Do you mind providing specs for your stone? I’m wondering if a 4ct would have similar finger coverage.

Probee

Definitely... a not-overly-dark tone and vivid saturation definitely help in low lighting situations. You can see it closes up, but still keeps some glow. Cut is also a big factor in keeping it lively no matter the lighting. Inken had this one recut. The chubby oval wouldn't have been my first choice, but the faceting is rather nice. It is just over 3ct... maybe 9x7mm? I'd have to look it up. Wait, just found it - 8.5 x 7.5 x 6mm (so fairly deep). It's unheated from Burma.

Judging solely by the photo you posted, I would interpret (in a completely arbitrary manner) that stone as medium-dark (6) to dark (7) tone and moderately strong (4) to strong (5) saturation. Naturally, I'd need to see it in person to give a more educated opinion. But that's what I would expect judging by the photo.

This is the GIA tone and saturation scale I use, BTW. It's a colored stone grading guideline from the "GemSet" days. My jeweler, Richard Hegeman (who passed a few years ago), helped develop it! He had the original, physical set, and I spent hours playing with it. Perhaps clunky and antiquated, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. Now it's all computerized.

Here's the color chart.

Avondale · Thursday at 5:15 PM

Mmmm, just my type of thread. Boy, oh, boy, do I have stories to tell you.
To start, the light that every single blue sapphire loves is diffused daylight. Every stone looks great under such conditions.

Some blue sapphires love direct sunlight even more, but not all. It depends on the material. Some blue sapphires close up in direct sunlight, again depends on the material. Most looks great though.

Most blue sapphires love fluorescent light.

So those are your top three. In terms of bad light, I divide it by two types: low light and incandescent (warm) light.

Low light makes the stone darker. Unless you have a medium or even a lighter tone, the colour will darken significantly. How close to black it gets depends on how dark of a tone it has to begin with.

Warm light straight up kills the blue, unless you have a shifter, in which case the blue is replaced by violet and it's actually pretty nice.

Now, the light in my home is both low and warm (it's how I prefer it in the evenings), so it's pretty capable of killing any blue sapphire. I can show you the worst of the worst. In a minute.

Another thing I want to mention is when we're talking about velvet, that could have two meanings - the colour designation, and the... texture, for lack of a better word right now, of the crystal.

A stone that is velvety in texture is usually so due to tiny inclusions that scatter the light inside and give this softer appearance. This usually helps a stone fare better in lower light. On the other side of the spectrum are the more crystalline stones where you stand a chance if you have good cutting that ensures more brilliance. It's easier for them to go darker.

Here's my velvet (both in terms of colour and texture):

1. Outside, diffused light:

2. Inside next to biiig windows:

3. Low light at home (during the day but in a curtained off room):

4. Low warm light in the evening:

The oval in the third picture above is a royal blue. I'll include a couple more photos of it because you mentioned you were currently interested specifically in this colour.

At its best:

And low warm light at home in the evening, at its worst:

Hopefully that gives you a better idea of the range you can expect.

Probee · Thursday at 7:18 PM

Avondale said:
Mmmm, just my type of thread. Boy, oh, boy, do I have stories to tell you.
To start, the light that every single blue sapphire loves is diffused daylight. Every stone looks great under such conditions.

Some blue sapphires love direct sunlight even more, but not all. It depends on the material. Some blue sapphires close up in direct sunlight, again depends on the material. Most looks great though.

Most blue sapphires love fluorescent light.

So those are your top three. In terms of bad light, I divide it by two types: low light and incandescent (warm) light.

Low light makes the stone darker. Unless you have a medium or even a lighter tone, the colour will darken significantly. How close to black it gets depends on how dark of a tone it has to begin with.

Warm light straight up kills the blue, unless you have a shifter, in which case the blue is replaced by violet and it's actually pretty nice.

Now, the light in my home is both low and warm (it's how I prefer it in the evenings), so it's pretty capable of killing any blue sapphire. I can show you the worst of the worst. In a minute.

Another thing I want to mention is when we're talking about velvet, that could have two meanings - the colour designation, and the... texture, for lack of a better word right now, of the crystal.

A stone that is velvety in texture is usually so due to tiny inclusions that scatter the light inside and give this softer appearance. This usually helps a stone fare better in lower light. On the other side of the spectrum are the more crystalline stones where you stand a chance if you have good cutting that ensures more brilliance. It's easier for them to go darker.

Here's my velvet (both in terms of colour and texture):

1. Outside, diffused light:

2. Inside next to biiig windows:

3. Low light at home (during the day but in a curtained off room):

4. Low warm light in the evening:

The oval in the third picture above is a royal blue. I'll include a couple more photos of it because you mentioned you were currently interested specifically in this colour.

At its best:

And low warm light at home in the evening, at its worst:

Hopefully that gives you a better idea of the range you can expect.

THANK YOU! I love the stories. They will help me remember what to look for.

The stone I posted as listed as royal blue but I don’t think it has the color saturation needed. I’m surprised to learn that velvety look is from inclusions. That’s a bummer because the stone is clean at 30x per seller. It’s unheated and untreated.