Blue fluorescence in an Unheated "Velvet Blue" Sapphire from Sri Lanka (365nm LWUV)

[mellowyellowgirl]

@Dr_Diesel ahhh so it’s not personal taste! It is actually damming!!! Haha I just thought they didn’t look good to me that’s all!

It’s the colour I think of when I tell people “I really don’t like blue.”

My love of giant stones means that I have to settle somewhat. I can’t have 8 carats if I want everything. Oh why did I quibble about heat on the peacock????!!!!!! Why???????? It was an 8 carats plus peacock.

Vendor kept calling it Royal which made me paranoid it was dark. That plus heated resulted in a lot of balking.

 

[Dr_Diesel]

@Dr_Diesel ahhh so it’s not personal taste! It is actually damming!!! Haha I just thought they didn’t look good to me that’s all!

It’s the colour I think of when I tell people “I really don’t like blue.”

My love of giant stones means that I have to settle somewhat. I can’t have 8 carats if I want everything. Oh why did I quibble about heat on the peacock????!!!!!! Why???????? It was an 8 carats plus peacock.

Vendor kept calling it Royal which made me paranoid it was dark. That plus heated resulted in a lot of balking.

Did it have a Lotus Certificate stating "Peacock Blue"?

The only reason I can imagine that a seller would call a Peacock Blue "Royal Blue" is because it is THE color designation that Asian (particularly Chinese) markets tend to demand and will pay the highest prices for.

True Peacock blue is so rare that most people have never heard of it, including the vast majority of sellers. Most sellers wouldn't recognize it if it bit them on the nose. Many sellers often do not see beyond "Royal Blue" and "Cornflower Blue" because they are sellers. Those are the 2 color designations that customers ask for most. Most sellers are merely running a business and trying to meet market demands so that they can earn a living.

Sellers are not necessarily gem nerds (like us) nor do they necessarily have any gem-related expertise beyond buying and selling. Market expertise is more valuable than gemological expertise when it comes to running a business!

I regularly find myself asking for "Peacock Blue" and getting the response "What's that?" Mind you, there are sellers that are located literally across the alley from Lotus Gemology Lab.


"Peacock Blue" a connoisseur's color. There is not enough of it around to have significant market exposure.

25 years ago, nobody wanted spinel because they never heard of it. People would literally give away top-color, clean stones <1ct because they had no market value.

Same with heated blue-purple zoisite and green grossular garnet from Kenya. They were worthless until Tiffany's branded them "Tanzanite" and "Tsavorite" and backed those names with a well-funded marketing campaign.

Peacock Blue Sapphires are just such a rare breed that most people wouldn't even know how to identify it, nor would seeing that designation on a lab report mean anything to them.

"No Thanks. I'm looking for Royal blue or Cornflower Blue [because that's all I've ever heard of]"

For people in the know however, they are among the most desirable colors that mother nature produces.


***BTW, I updated my last post with an example certificate. It's the stone from one of my sapphire rings that I've posted elsewhere.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

@Dr_Diesel yup it said Peacock on the Lotus report! Ah well, live and learn.

 

[HockeyMama]

This was super helpful @Dr_Diesel . Thank you. My uncle grew up in Sri Lanka when it was Ceylon. He feels very strongly I should get a cornflower blue stone and for sentimental reasons I shall. I will make sure I find one with the intense descriptor. I really wish there was a “super ideal” one stop shop for sapphires like there is for diamonds. I am not a fan of ambiguity and subjectivity.

 

[Dr_Diesel]

UPDATE:

Another hypothesis was posited by a gem cutter whom I discussed this with.

She said that titanium, which is responsible for the blue color in sapphire, does fluoresce blue.

Her thinking was that the iron content of the stone is so low that it fails to quench it.

So maybe this is genuine blue fluorescence after all?

@fredflintstone, would you mind weighing in on this?

 

[Dr_Diesel]

This was super helpful @Dr_Diesel . Thank you. My uncle grew up in Sri Lanka when it was Ceylon. He feels very strongly I should get a cornflower blue stone and for sentimental reasons I shall. I will make sure I find one with the intense descriptor. I really wish there was a “super ideal” one stop shop for sapphires like there is for diamonds. I am not a fan of ambiguity and subjectivity.

If it’s possible to attend a tradeshow, I highly recommend it. You don’t have to be a trade member to go to most of them. I just go on days that are open to the public.

You’ll probably see more variety and have more of an opportunity to compare stones there than you would anywhere else.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Fantastic DrD.
FYI color change blue / mauve sapphires also fluoresce.

 

[Dr_Diesel]

Fantastic DrD.
FYI color change blue / mauve sapphires also fluoresce.

Thanks Garry!