Such a thing as Mabe Sapphire?

[Ann]

My MIL had 2 of these in her bank vault. I have not seen the stones, but hubby saw them today and from his description, they sound like a mabe cut. Never heard of such. These are old stones that my FIL brought home from his tour of duty while in the Pacific during WWll.

Hubby said they were flat on the botton, smooth top, opague, not faceted. Wonder if they are worth anything and if they could be recut.

 

[widget]

Hi Ann....I think that mabe is a term only for pearls. What you''re describing sounds like cabochons. Non faceted, domed, flat on the bottom.

It''s my understanding that more valuable cabochon sapphires are those that are transluscent rather than opaque...and the more color they have (less gray) the better. If they reveal stars under a direct light, duh...they''re star saphire.

Any chance of posting pictures? They sound interesting....I love a mystery!

widget

 

[Ann]

Ah, yes cabochons! Mabe, duh!! Just couldn''t think of any other way to describe them. I haven''t seen them yet, but probably will soon or even have them. Mystery indeed.

 

[Kaleigh]

widget was spot on as usual. I hope to see some pics of them. I love cabochons , think they are lovely, and do appreciate their beauty.

 

[movie zombie]

i, too, love cabs! so much so in fact that i''m thinking my next gem purchase will not be faceted but a cab.......but i want a really good one. still undecided on what stone to go for, though.

movie zombie

 

[belle]

do you know for sure that they are sapphire? how big are they?
it sounds like they could be star sapphire. if this is the case, you wouldn't want to recut.

 

[Ann]

belle,

for years I have heard them referred to as sapphires, since I have not seen them all I can go by at this point is what my husband could describe when he saw them in the bank vault. I can''t ask his mom too much about them, she has just recently become ill and is in an assisted living facility. I don''t want her to think I''m frothing at the mouth for her things. Also in the vault was jade, ivory, and my husband said a gorgeous opal. But his sister has asked for those. The sapphires could turn out to be junk. Maybe within a few months I ''ll either see them or his mom will say to take them.