Scratched color change sapphire needs repair

[punky03]

My engagement ring is a color change sapphire surrounded by diamonds. The sapphire is approximately 3.5 carats. I have not been as careful as I should have been with this ring and have severely scratched the top of the stone. Even with the scratches, I still have people comment on the beauty of the ring and even offer to buy the ring from me. I''ve been told that not just any jeweler can repair the scratches. I live in the Los Angeles area and am looking for a trusted jeweler who can repair my ring. I had a friend who actually had her diamond switched in her ring after she left it with a jeweler to be repaired, so I''m a little worried about leaving my ring with just anybody. The sentimental value attached to this ring can never be replaced. Any help finding someone to repair my ring would be GREATLY appreciated! THANKS!!

-Punky

 

[Lorelei]

Punky welcome

I cannot comment about your sapphire as I am not an expert, but I am sorry this happened to your treasured gem. Keep bumping your post, it can be a little quiet here on weekends, but by keeping your post current one of the experts may see this and be able to advise you further. I know nothing about sapphires but maybe it can be fixed. Hope this helps.

 

[RockDoc]

Recutting/Repolishing your stone.


A jeweler usually cannot be knowledgeable about the repolishing of your stone.

If the scratch is minor perhaps polishing the table facet will suffice, but if it is deep and repolising will affect the crown facets, it may require a full recut.

Wink who does post here works with Richard Homer, who is a very skilled lapidairy ( the term used for someone who cuts colored stones). You may want to contact Wink about it. Additionally the stone may have to be unset to estimate the affect of the repolishing. Particularly with saphirres, the area that has the color in it will have to be assessed as well to determine the color zoning of the stone. This is done by immersing the stone in special liquids and as such may have to be unset to determine this. I also know that Ariel from Ice Store also works with Richard Homer with recutting saphirres and he is in the LA area ( i think he is in the Beverly Hills area) . His website is www.icestore.com

However, you could also contact those that are lapidairies in your area. One of the problems is that you''ll have to take the item to the lapidairy to see and discuss how the "repair" should be made. It is entirely possible that the stone will not fit back in the mounting it is set in, or it may be that the color or brilliance of the stone is affected in order to acheive this.

Hope this helps, and hope your pet rock can be made even better than it was, as Richard Homer does some very nice work, and is able to bring the "magic" out in the stones he does cut.

Hopefully you do have the ring INSURED. The cost of the recutting and /or replacement would, or at least should be covered if you have an all risk type policy.

Hope this helps

Rockdoc

 

[Lorelei]

That is great advice Rockdoc and I know that will really help Punky out!

 

[Lightbender]

Hi Punky,

I''ve been cutting and re-cutting/polishing colored gems for almost 30 years and can assure you that RockDoc has given sound advice. I make it a practice to work ONLY through members of the trade, but will say that most jewelers are not equipped to take care of your problem. There are many good lapidaries in the LA area, check your Yellow Pages or a jeweler can probably refer you so that you will not have to be concerned about shipping. Some lapidaries will remove and re-set your stone for you, many choose to accept only loose stones to work on.
Now the good news:
In all likelihood your stone will not require a major re-cutting, just the crown at worst and it is neither expensive nor dangerous to do this. Any good cutter can minimize the weight loss to just a few points or perhaps less. AND....there''s a good chance the stone will end up looking even better than new. If the stone was originally cut overseas, the facet placement and polish probably was not as good as what you can expect from a good lapidary here in the USA.
I know that your heart is broken and you may feel this is a disaster, but we see these sorts of things every day and they are routine to repair...or make even better! BTW, it sounds like a wonderful stone!

Lightbender

 

[AndyRosse]

Punky, sorry to hear about your stone.

But RockDoc and LightBender have given you great info. Please let us know what you decide to do.

And how about some pics of the ring??

 

[punky03]

Thanks for all of the great advice and comments! I will try to post a picture of my ring if I can take a good one. I emailed Ariel at Icestore and received a very speedy and nice response. Unfortunately, Ariel is unable to help me as they don''t deal in sapphires or know of a cutter who could help. I also emailed Richard M. after receiving a private message about him. I will also try to contact Wink. Surely someone will be able to help me! Thanks Lightbender for giving me hope that repairing my ring won''t be too expensive! Again, thanks everyone for all the help!

-Punky

 

[RockDoc]

Thanks Punky

Is your saph color change from blue to violet, or diifferent color.

Actually I am very addicted to color change stones. Even have a color change diamond ( yellow to green).

I also have color change spinels, saphirres, alexandrites, and sugilite ( aka Royal Lavulite ). (They are not for sale)
and some color change diaspore.

Light bender made a good comment that if it was not cut in the USA perhaps it would become a much better looking stone if the cutter tells you that it could be vastly improved.

Somewhere on this forum there are some before and after pics of stone Richard Homer has done. Possibly they are posted on Wink''s site. I remember some consumers who posted before and after pics on one or two of the threads here


Rockdoc



Rockdoc

 

[cflutist]

Date: 12/11/2005 11:33:13 PM
Author: RockDoc

Somewhere on this forum there are some before and after pics of stone Richard Homer has done. Possibly they are posted on Wink''s site. I remember some consumers who posted before and after pics on one or two of the threads here


Rockdoc

Here is the link to the thread about my Richard Homer Sapphire Recut. There are before and after pictures on that thread.

There is also a webpage about the recut here.

Richard does beautiful work and I was very pleased with the outcome.

 

[oldminer]

Altobelli Jewelers in North Hollywood is "reliable". The head of the firm, Cos Altobelli, is one of the masters of appraising, and no one would say he is other than competent.

You could try there, if you want a local consultant and assistant. They may agree to help you.