Sri Lankan sapphire vendors

[Christinak]

Hello

As a family we are off to Sri Lanka for three weeks to volunteer at a sea turtle conservation centre.

Whilst there I thought it might be fun to look at sapphires and see if I can find something that sings to me. My husbands father and grandfather were also born in Sri Lanka so having a gem from there has some significance too.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a vendor based in Sri Lanka that you have brought from?

Thank you

 

[LilAlex]

Ivan Ivancic of Adamant International in Colombo, IIRC. Never met him in person but have bought from him and have found him to be a superb communicator and an unusually sober and balanced describer of his gems. Great photos, too.

It's a tough place and a tough time to visit but I suspect you know what you are doing.

There are some arcane export laws so maybe do your homework beforehand. But I bet you could arrange to meet Ivan. His specialty seems to be smaller (< 2 ct) fascinating and promising but suboptimally cut stones that he then precision cuts. Results are way nicer than this "back-handed" description sounds. He sells modestly priced stones with the care and attention befitting gems a log or two more expensive. No joke. Check his site to see if that is your ballpark. I've shown a few pieces on PS that we made with his stones.

 

[Christinak]

Ivan Ivancic of Adamant International in Colombo, IIRC. Never met him in person but have bought from him and have found him to be a superb communicator and an unusually sober and balanced describer of his gems. Great photos, too.

It's a tough place and a tough time to visit but I suspect you know what you are doing.

There are some arcane export laws so maybe do your homework beforehand. But I bet you could arrange to meet Ivan. His specialty seems to be smaller (< 2 ct) fascinating and promising but suboptimally cut stones that he then precision cuts. Results are way nicer than this "back-handed" description sounds. He sells modestly priced stones with the care and attention befitting gems a log or two more expensive. No joke. Check his site to see if that is your ballpark. I've shown a few pieces on PS that we made with his stones.

Thank you I’ll check him out!

 

[hubspecialist]

I figured it would be amusing to check over the sapphire selection and see if anything catches my ear while I'm there. Having a diamond from Sri Lanka is very meaningful to me since both of my husband's paternal grandparents were born there.

 

[Christinak]

I figured it would be amusing to check over the sapphire selection and see if anything catches my ear while I'm there. Having a diamond from Sri Lanka is very meaningful to me since both of my husband's paternal grandparents were born there.

I am back from Sri Lanka and didn’t manage to fit in any jewellery visits sadly. Like you my husbands family also were born in Sri Lanka. His great grandfather going to Sri Lanka from Ireland and then his grandfather and father being born there. I was really keen to get a sapphire for these sentimental reasons but we couldn’t fit everything in! My husbands grandmother had an amazing sapphire ring that I’ve only seen in photos but hope to see in real life one day - it’s almost museum worthy in size and colour. Unfortunately it was bequeathed to my father in laws sister and not to me