A Blue Ceylon Sapphire in a Marquise Diamond Setting

[prs]

We originally acquired at auction a 5.00ct Ceylon sapphire in a Tsavorite and diamond setting.



It looked great in bright direct light, but darkened up a lot out of direct light. DW suspected the setting wasn't doing the sapphire any favors by blocking all light entry below the girdle.



DW decided we should take it to David and Amy at DKJ and get their advice. They too thought a more open setting might improve performance, and they kindly unset the stone for us.



I wondered if the stone might benefit from a recut, but looking thru his loupe David found so much going on under the table, he thought it best to leave the stone well alone. Just to confirm, Amy took us to see two other sapphire experts, and they too agreed it would be best not to touch the stone for fear of hitting an inclusion or feather below the surface of the table.

We were in the middle of another project with Amy so DW decided to take the sapphire home with us whilst she looked for a new setting inspiration. Anyway to cut a long story short we ended up asking Jerry Newman if he thought it might be feasible, at our risk, to recut the pavilion only of our stone. The idea being to leave the crown completely alone and keep the original face up size. It was pretty clear the ultra wonky native pavilion cut on our stone wasn't put there for beauty, but rather to hit the 5.00ct mark. To cut the story even shorter Jerry did successfully recut the pavilion, and to DW's delight the sapphire did brighten up considerably all the way around the crown and to a lesser extent on the table. Jerry wasn't able to predict how much weight we might loose on the recut, and we were very relieved when the sapphire came in at 4.20ct. Stupidly I didn't take any photos after the recut, but the pavilion cut was based on an OEC diamond.

DW had decided she wanted to go with a Princess Diana style setting with this photo as her inspiration.



DW was leaning towards white gold and when we visited with Amy to drop off the sapphire she asked Amy if she could see the stone next to a diamond ring in white gold. Amy went to the safe and pulled out their tray of settings, she was looking for a ring of suitable size when she came across this one.



Apparently the setting had originally been home to a large marquise diamond that was badly chipped and had to undergo a major recut. The setting was almost exactly the right width for our sapphire but obviously N/S was a problem. After some thought Amy said they might be able to adjust the setting to fit our stone. The setting would likely cost a little more than a Princess Diana, but DW could make her decision whilst DKJ figured out how to adjust the setting to fit our stone. DKJ are not well known for wasting words and the next we heard from them was this photo David sent us



So do you think DW decided to go with a Princess Diana or Marquise Heaven? More later.

 

[FL_runner]

Oh that’s so much more visually interesting than a Diana halo (although of course that is a classic look). Love this!

 

[CSpan]

That is exquisite! Love the setting too

 

[whitewave]

We originally acquired at auction a 5.00ct Ceylon sapphire in a Tsavorite and diamond setting.



It looked great in bright direct light, but darkened up a lot out of direct light. DW suspected the setting wasn't doing the sapphire any favors by blocking all light entry below the girdle.



DW decided we should take it to David and Amy at DKJ and get their advice. They too thought a more open setting might improve performance, and they kindly unset the stone for us.



I wondered if the stone might benefit from a recut, but looking thru his loupe David found so much going on under the table, he thought it best to leave the stone well alone. Just to confirm, Amy took us to see two other sapphire experts, and they too agreed it would be best not to touch the stone for fear of hitting an inclusion or feather below the surface of the table.

We were in the middle of another project with Amy so DW decided to take the sapphire home with us whilst she looked for a new setting inspiration. Anyway to cut a long story short we ended up asking Jerry Newman if he thought it might be feasible, at our risk, to recut the pavilion only of our stone. The idea being to leave the crown completely alone and keep the original face up size. It was pretty clear the ultra wonky native pavilion cut on our stone wasn't put there for beauty, but rather to hit the 5.00ct mark. To cut the story even shorter Jerry did successfully recut the pavilion, and to DW's delight the sapphire did brighten up considerably all the way around the crown and to a lesser extent on the table. Jerry wasn't able to predict how much weight we might loose on the recut, and we were very relieved when the sapphire came in at 4.20ct. Stupidly I didn't take any photos after the recut, but the pavilion cut was based on an OEC diamond.

DW had decided she wanted to go with a Princess Diana style setting with this photo as her inspiration.



DW was leaning towards white gold and when we visited with Amy to drop off the sapphire she asked Amy if she could see the stone next to a diamond ring in white gold. Amy went to the safe and pulled out their tray of settings, she was looking for a ring of suitable size when she came across this one.



Apparently the setting had originally been home to a large marquise diamond that was badly chipped and had to undergo a major recut. The setting was almost exactly the right width for our sapphire but obviously N/S was a problem. After some thought Amy said they might be able to adjust the setting to fit our stone. The setting would likely cost a little more than a Princess Diana, but DW could make her decision whilst DKJ figured out how to adjust the setting to fit our stone. DKJ are not well known for wasting words and the next we heard from them was this photo David sent us



So do you think DW decided to go with a Princess Diana or Marquise Heaven? More later.

Wow! Oh so dreamy

 

[Niel]

Beautiful

 

[Snowdrop13]

I’m really hoping she stuck with the marquise magic!

 

[Austina]

It’s stunning in that setting, and more unusual than a traditional MRB halo.

 

[Ally T]

My word, I'm definitely hoping she stuck with the marquise halo too!

Beautiful!

 

[prs]

@FL_runner @CSpan @whitewave @Niel

Thank you so much for your kind words!

@Austina @Snowdrop13 @Ally T

DW is always looking for something different from the traditional MRB halo, and had somewhat reluctantly decided on the Princess Di because it is just such a classical look with a blue sapphire. You can imagine her reaction when she saw the marquise setting, I don't think she ever expected to own anything this extraordinarily beautiful.

I guess my title for this thread gave the game away, but yes, her decision was pretty much made the moment she saw the marquise setting! Here are a couple of hand shots.





Showing the gallery.



In the garden.







Here's Sapphy playing with her new friend Tanzy.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

That is a stunning ring!! Your wife's collection is such a pleasure to peruse, @prs - it makes my day whenever you post!

 

[Ally T]

These hand shots are amazing, as they really give a sense of size & proportion. And the tanzante is new too? Have we seen that one before?

I love how you indulge Mrs Prs - you are definitely a keeper!

 

[Catmom]

Wow, absolutely gorgeous as usual! I love it in that setting. So much better than a straight Diana type setting.

 

[Diamond Girl 21]

Gorgeous!!!❤

 

[Austina]

It’s absolutely amazbling!

 

[tyty333]

Really beautiful! I think the DKJ Team are miracle workers!

 

[prs]

Really beautiful! I think the DKJ Team are miracle workers!

When we were first looking at the setting and talking with Amy about how it might be adjusted for our stone, my suggestion had been to squash the pointy ends inwards until it formed a circle!

The much better idea of adding the two round diamonds to fill the space at the pointy ends was pure genius.

They are indeed miracle workers!

 

[prs]

@AllAboardTheBlingTrain @Ally T @Catmom @Diamond Girl 21 @Austina

Thank you for your kind comments. DW spent ages looking thru photos online to find the inspiration for her sapphire setting and never saw anything that looked remotely like this one.

A big thanks to Amy for finding this fabulous setting, and doing such a great job converting it to fit DW's round sapphire. It was Amy who found DW's OEC, so we owe her big time!!!

 

[cushioncutnut]

@FL_runner @CSpan @whitewave @Niel

Thank you so much for your kind words!

@Austina @Snowdrop13 @Ally T

DW is always looking for something different from the traditional MRB halo, and had somewhat reluctantly decided on the Princess Di because it is just such a classical look with a blue sapphire. You can imagine her reaction when she saw the marquise setting, I don't think she ever expected to own anything this extraordinarily beautiful.

I guess my title for this thread gave the game away, but yes, her decision was pretty much made the moment she saw the marquise setting! Here are a couple of hand shots.





Showing the gallery.



In the garden.







Here's Sapphy playing with her new friend Tanzy.

I am glad you chose the marquise halo. I am all about uniqueness when executed the right way! Oh my gosh, the tanzy is gorgeous too! Go big or Go home!! LOL!! The recut on the pavilion gave it a whole new life!!

 

[gregchang35]

Wow!! What a transformation on the stone snd that setting!!! Wow!! Congrats!!

 

[vintageinjune]

Such a visually interesting take on the "Diana" style ring, it is absolutely beautiful. Your wife made an excellent decision, as this seems to suit her style so very well!

 

[prs]

I am glad you chose the marquise halo. I am all about uniqueness when executed the right way! Oh my gosh, the tanzy is gorgeous too! Go big or Go home!! LOL!! The recut on the pavilion gave it a whole new life!!

@cushioncutnut @gregchang35 @vintageinjune

Thank you, DW is barely 5"0" tall and has to shop in the petites section. It's just amazing she can wear these bigger pieces so well.

Jerry told us the ideal cut on a sapphire is a CA of 35° combined with a PA of 42°. He is a perfectionist, and I suspect if we had just sent the gem in for a recut that's exactly how he would have cut it. This would have meant a considerable weight loss because our sapphire has a both a relatively shallow pavilion and a high crown.

When Jerry examined the sapphire he too could see something going on under the table, and decided it was best not to touch the crown. After some persuasion he agreed to deviate from perfection and recut the pavilion only. He also thought it would be possible to recut the pavilion whilst staying away from the girdle. This way the sapphire could be put back in its original setting. He did it perfectly, the girdle dimensions were exactly the same before and after the recut.

Our sapphire is actually an oval so Jerry had to use different PAs as he went round the oval in order that all eight pavilion main facets met at the same point. The PAs varied from 37.5 to 39.0° with an average of 38°. This certainly brightened up the stone a lot. In fact its now a lot easier to see what's going on under the crown. There is an area of vertical color zoning directly under the table. It's deep enough you can't see it with the naked eye, but you can see a darker area in the photos if you know where to look.

I have since wondered how the stone would have looked if Jerry had cut all the PAs at the ideal 42° and left the flat wonky bottom in place. There would have been much less weight loss. However it also occurred to me that gemstones might be like diamonds and a higher crown angle needs to be matched with a lower pavilion angle. If this is the case we were very fortunate, and likely explains why the recut worked out so well.





7

 

[oncrutchesrightnow]

Such a cool ring.