advices, please

[Arkteia]

So now I am in Moscow, strolling down its main streets, buying fine strands of semi-precious stones for souvenirs.
One bright morning, I walked into an antique store and laid my eyes on several sapphire items. One of them, I suppose, is untreated (I see silk inclusions under 10X examination), the second one has inclusions but I would not be surprised if there were also cracks or chips (I can not say what is wrong, something is). All of the stones are mounted, the smaller one (with inclusions) in incut diamonds (I think that's how they call melee), the second one in old mine cut diamonds. Bottom line, all of them are of exquisite royal blue color.

Now given the fact that all the stones I have at home I yet have to mount, and these ones are already mounted, it would be a nice idea to buy one. When I asked about certificates, they said they had them, but when I asked to look at them, they said they did not have them but could certify them with an independent appraiser. I do not know if there is something like a GIA in Russia; they told me there was (some Board, I believe), but none of their independent appraisers was a member of the board. Given the fact that the area is kind of Moscow Diamond Quarter, I assume these appraisers have certain experience. I do not feel that the antique dealer has switched the stones - rather, he doesn't know much about them. (He said that my interests were different from those of his customers'. I was interested in the stones, while people here were buying jewelry, "for the looks").

So. If the sapphire is unheated (it is round cut, about 1+ct at least by the way it looks), set in melee, and costs $ 1600, maybe it is inexpensive. But should I risk my money? As I said, from my visits of different Moscow jewelry stores I got an impression that they were not like ebay stores, or vendors in Thailand. Moscow vendors, surprizingly, appeared quite honest and pretty much OK with spending a lot of time with me. They just had no clue about their stones.
So what would you advise?

P.S. BTW, I saw a pair of stunning emerald earrings. I think emeralds came from Ural mountains, they just had this color. Cabs, but did not appear to have cracks (I heard it many times about Russian emeralds - they appear included, not clean, and the color is on the lighter side, but they have none or very few cracks. I do not know if it is true). But I am not prepared to invest the asking price. It is a lot.

 

[RockHugger]

I do not buy from sellers who dont know anything about their stones w/o having my equipment with me to check it on the spot. I am not ashamed to do a quick RI and use a filter or two and flouresance check a stone I am interested in at the store. If I dont have my stuff, and I am not 90% sure what the stone is, I pass on it if it costs more then 100$.

I wouldnt use an appraiser that isnt certified. If they are on the stores ''list'' you dont know who is being paid off if you know what I mean. Take it to your own appraiser or lab.

 

[ma re]

I''ll let others advise you about the sapphires, but I just wanted to mention that somewhere (can''t remember where anymore) I read that in Russia, demantoid is sometimes sold by the name of "Russian emerald". Wanted to warn you, so be sure to check and make sure that what you''re buying is really what you think you''re buying. There are many such trade names for various gems used in different countries.

 

[chrono]

I wouldn’t do it for two main reasons.
1. If the vendor doesn’t know the stone, how can he set the asking price? That doesn’t make sense to me.
2. A regular appraiser will not cut it because he may not have the necessary tools and skills to determine treatment (or lack of)

 

[LD]

Ditto to Chrono''s advice.

Look at it this way - without proper testing equipment what can the appraisers tell you? Can they tell you if the gem is BE heated? Unlikely (although if they are very experienced then they might have a good guess) but you don''t want a good guess. You want assurances. At the end of the day, if you bought one of these, you''d have to have them tested by a lab and then if they''re not what you thought, would you be able to return them?

I hope that Joshua will chime in but I''m pretty sure that finding Siberian Emeralds (they''re not called Russian Emeralds as Mr Ma Re has alerted you to) is very difficult. I believe they haven''t been mined for many years. I could be wrong and am happy to stand corrected.

 

[Indylady]

If it is a true period piece, it should not be BE heated as that is a relatively recent treatment. Does the sapphire look like it has an "older cut" as well? However, $1,000 is a lot to risk in my opinion.

 

[movie zombie]

i''m with Chrono and LovingDiamonds. i thought the siberian emerald mines....along with the siberian amethyst....had not been producing anything in a very long time. however, the russian labs create some of the best man-made stones to be had.

mz

 

[serenitydiamonds]

Diamond Districts and high traffic tourist areas are a very risky place to try and get a deal. I would recommend extreme caution. It''s also alarming that he''d say he sells things mainly for the look not knowing what they are... like almost like someone letting you make the assumption of what it is to give him a clean conscience.

Are you sure it''s not synthetic Sapphire? Have you examined the color zoning and crystal structure?

On Emeralds from Russia without lab reports. Run, run away. Most Emeralds from Russia (unless they are VERY old) are synthetic.

We all like to get deals, but gemstones have very established prices and dealers who carry them know what they are exactly how much they are worth.

--Joshua