Take me to your (sapphire) leader

[jewelz617]

Ok, after much debate I have decided sapphire is the stone for my ering. Who are among the best online vendors?

 

[arjunajane]

My vote must go to Jeff White of http://www.whitesgems.com/

here is a link to my thread of my recent anniversary ring made with one of his lovely sapphires: thread

 

[SB621]

I guess my first question is what is your budget?

there are many things to consider when buying a sapphire. If you want an unheated untreated stone that will run you a lot more per carat then one that is just heated. Many people have heated stones and i think that is accepted- however be extremely careful of treatments like fracture filling etc.

You should also know what color of sapphire you want. I recommend finding pictures of sapphire colors you like and then showing them to the sapphire "leaders" so they know exactly what you are going for. Just telling them you want a royal blue sapphire is extremely subjective.

To actually source a sapphire from you have many alternatives

Jeff White- I think he is wonderful to work with and his cutting it out of this world. If you google sapphire rings you will probably see a few people who have gotten sapphires from him- my personal favorite being diananbanana
The Natural Sapphire Company- I put them down only because they have large stock on hand. In general I think they are overpriced.
Richard Wise- More expensive but I would still ask. Richard is a wealth of information
Dana at MasterCutGems- I think Dana has some very nice sapphires if you have a lower end budget. he has many gemstones in stock but not on his website. Just email him and he will get back to you quickly. He is also wonderful to work with.


I hope that starts you in the right direction.

Goodluck!

 

[LtlFirecracker]

For an E-ring, I would personally consider

Richard Wise http://www.rwwise.com/products/category|12
His stuff is a bit pricer, but very nice quality.

Art Cut Gems - not too much on their website, but a sapphire could be sourced for you

A vendor who deals with pala gems. Pala itself does not publish prices as they only deal with jewelers, but you could easly get that from a jeweler who works with them. I know Wink Jones is one, I remember hearing Whiteflash works with them too?

Jeff White - A great cutter, if you want a precision cut sapphire for you e-ring, he is the way to go. I personally have no problem with a more traditionally cut stone, and will take a less than perfect cut for a top color, but there are many different opinions on the issue. He usually gets a sapphire that has already been cut (as nice sapphires are rarely exported as rough) and re-cuts it. So you might be paying for a larger ct weight than you get. But many of the stones I have seen pictures of are stunning.

 

[Mom2SF]

I got my sapphire (for my ering) from Master Cut Gems. It was a little scary because we wanted something "worthy" to be the center stone of my ering but had a limited budget. It turned out to be a GORGEOUS stone.

Our jeweler promised our ring "by Christmas" so I should have it soon.

First, start with what color you want, then shape. Take it from there and have fun (and be patient).

 

[kas baby]

I am another vote for Jeff White. I went through him to get the sapphire for my e-ring. He was wonderful to work with. I think the price was very reasonable for the quality we were getting- not only with the gem itself, but the cutting and customer service as well. He was always very prompt with e-mails (or notified me when he would be out of town) and always answered my questions in a professional manner. I never felt like I was bothering him. All in all a great guy, from my experience.

my thread: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/pi%C3%A8ce-de-r%C3%A9sistance.122760/

it''s not set yet though

soon hopefully

good luck with your search!

 

[Stone Hunter]

As far as figuring out what color you want I would suggest looking at http://crossjewelers.com they have a whole section on how to buy a Sapphire and list the different colors.

So if you want a "Prince of Wales Blue" then you can tell a vendor/cutter that that''s what you like.

HTH!