Can anyone give me a ballpark blue Sapphire value?

[Tribalypredisposed]

I took a gamble on an online estate sale on a lot described as a "grab bag of vintage jewelry." No description, bad photos, but, it was an estate of really old money going back to 1710...Main attraction was this ring, which I have gotten a couple tests and know it is platinum and a Sapphire. I assume untreated unheated and natural because most of the estate was from 1920 and earlier. If it is, and somewhere in the 4-5 carat range, I think, what is a ballpark value and should I ship it to those rating companies? I cannot see any inclusions, definitely eye clean at least. Sorry my crappy cell phone won't focus if I get any closer. Sorry about duplicate photos...not sure how to edit them out.

 

[chroman]

Hard to say without knowing what it actually is. One option would be to see if you have a local GG to check if its synthetic. Or send it off to a lab for a report.

 

[ForteKitty]

Synthetic sapphires have been around for a very long time. If you don't see any inclusions, it could be synthetic. If you think it's natural, send it in to GIA. They will test mounted gems and tell you if it's natural or not.

 

[seaurchin]

The type of metal it's set in can be a clue. What do the markings on the inside of the band say?

 

[Tribalypredisposed]

Synthetic sapphires have been around for a very long time. If you don't see any inclusions, it could be synthetic. If you think it's natural, send it in to GIA. They will test mounted gems and tell you if it's natural or not.

Yes, I understand that synthetic sapphires exist...but if this ring is from a similar time as the rest of the lot it predates synthetics or is from shortly after the first ones. Other items included five mourning lockets, a pair of Tiffany turquoise cufflinks with turquoise from the Royston Tiffany Tunnel that closed in 1908, a mesh sterling change purse and a gold plated one...the patent for synthetic sapphire was granted in 1911.

My question is, if the stone is natural, untreated, and unheated, what kind of price range would it have, and does that price justify sending it to GIA? I am seeing a wild range of sapphire prices, and I am not an expert. I took it to a place that buys gold and melts it just to get the metal tested and the owner was trying to tell me it was Tanzanite at first, then tested it and it tested sapphire, then told me it was worth $200-400 a carat because it was too light. I have seen elsewhere here someone paying $2300 a carat for a similar color and size sapphire that had visible inclusions, and I have seen prices suggested in the $14-16,000 range per carate for a clean large stone with no or little grey, even color, and good bling. It is not worth sending away if it is worth $2,000 total...if it is worth $10,000 then sure worth it.

 

[Tribalypredisposed]

The type of metal it's set in can be a clue. What do the markings on the inside of the band say?

I just had it tested yesterday and it is set in platinum. They also said it was marked some number I did not write down, best I can read it is 3195.

 

[chroman]

..but if this ring is from a similar time as the rest of the lot it predates synthetics or is from shortly after the first ones

Flame fusion dates back go the late 1800s, stones can be swapped out of mounts, pieces can be repop, all sorts of things.

Assume its synthetic until evidence proves otherwise

 

[ForteKitty]

There are too many variables. Pricing depends on weight, treatment, origin, color. Price difference between Burma and Sri Lanka is significant, and the difference in their pricing vs Kashmir is even bigger. I think you need to start by figuring out if it is synthetic first. Mountings may or may not be original to the stone, and even if it is original, it doesn't mean the stone is natural since synthetics have been around a long time.

 

[seaurchin]

If it's a genuine sapphire, here are some trusted sites where you can get an idea of it's value. Of course, these are higher because they're retail prices, but without the setting or side diamonds.

Blue Sapphire Gemstones | JamesAllen.com

Natural blue sapphire, all viewable in 360° HD. Rotate every sapphire up close and see its true color, then design the perfect gemstone jewelry at JamesAllen.com.

www.jamesallen.com

Buy Natural Blue Sapphires | Loose Blue Sapphire For Sale | Gemfix

Large Selection of Fine Quality Loose Blue Sapphires for Sale | Unheated and Heated Blue Sapphires | American Cut Sapphire Gemstone from Gemfix in San Diego

gemfix.com

Buy Gemstones: Gemstones for Sale, Natural and Certified Gems

Buy Gemstones online by size, cut, shape, origin, color, price and more. We ship natural gemstones worldwide. Precious and Semi-Precious Stones for Sale.

www.gemselect.com

 

[ForteKitty]

Since we don't know the qualifications of the person who evaluated the ring, here's a little something about ways to tell real from fake sapphire, if you're interested. If you're not sure about what you were told, perhaps it could at least serve as a starting point. I don't know how good it is but maybe someone else can weigh in. I just thought it was interesting, so for what it's worth...

Real v. Fake Sapphire Comparison Chart - wikiHow

Use our sample "Real v. Fake Sapphire Comparison Chart" for free. Read it or download it to your device. Learn with wikiHow.

www.wikihow.com

please don't try to scratch a sapphire, it's not that hard! (personal experience, I've scratched and chipped plenty on normal not that pointy things)

 

[chroman]

From that comparison chart:

“Will have tiny bubble because they are made of glass”

Um, no.

 

[seaurchin]

Thank you @ForteKitty and @chroman. I deleted the link.

 

[Tribalypredisposed]

Since we don't know the qualifications of the person who evaluated the ring, here's a little something about ways to tell real from fake sapphire, if you're interested. If you're not sure about what you were told, perhaps it could at least serve as a starting point. I don't know how good it is but maybe someone else can weigh in. I just thought it was interesting, so for what it's worth...

Real v. Fake Sapphire Comparison Chart - wikiHow

Use our sample "Real v. Fake Sapphire Comparison Chart" for free. Read it or download it to your device. Learn with wikiHow.

www.wikihow.com

The owner of a chain of stores that buy jewelry looked at it. He tested it with some handheld device and deemed it a sapphire. He tried to hide how interested he was in it, but he was very interested. Asked me how much I wanted for it. Told me his number per carat but did not mention clarity, size, untreated or unheated or country of origin as potential factors in the value. Took pictures of it with his loop and a cell phone to send to his friend he said was an expert in sapphires. Gave me his card to call him if I decided to sell it. Never mentioned it being possibly synthetic. Suggested I go to another one of their stores where they have a certified gemologist, but I have an appointment to see someone else tomorrow so I passed on that. As the person I am seeing tomorrow referred me to this guy, I am not feeling a lot of trust there so I am looking for some other opinions. Seems like I just have to send it away though to get any kind of meaningful answers.

 

[Skyjems]

I just repaired a similar ring.

Platinum and diamonds with a synthetic sapphire center from the 20s.

Synthetic sapphires have been around since the late 1800s.

My best guess is synthetic, but obviously impossible to say for sure.

Enjoy it, it's beautiful.

Or if you want, you can replace the center with a natural gem if you want to for as little as a couple of hundred dollars.

 

[seaurchin]

Good luck with it, @Tribalypredisposed. I agree that it really is hard to know who to believe and who to trust. Please keep us posted.

 

[motownmama]

DO come back when you know more. I’m very curious! Good luck. I hope it’s worth a lot!

 

[chroman]

Seems like I just have to send it away though to get any kind of meaningful answers.

Yeah, labs are good for getting an external opinion from someone without a retail position.

Also note that all gemologists are not apprasers, and all apprasers are not gemologists. One set of skills to identify stones, another to do valuations. So the folks you’re meeting may be in one camp or the other, both, or maybe neither.

Just curious - are you thinking of keeping this because you like it, or looking to resell it?

Sometimes things do come back as natural from chance buys (i can think of a few ppl here this has happened too), so there’s always a chance its natural.

Good luck with the adventure!

 

[oodlesofpoodles]

I find it beautiful in both color and design of the ring. I will be excited to see what you discover about this ring. Either man made or natural it is a treasure

 

[partgypsy]

It's definitely worth sending to GIA and AJS if you suspect it is a natural sapphire, otherwise you don't know what you have and no way to evaluate it..

 

[Tribalypredisposed]

Just curious - are you thinking of keeping this because you like it, or looking to resell it?

Sometimes things do come back as natural from chance buys (i can think of a few ppl here this has happened too), so there’s always a chance its natural.

Good luck with the adventure!

I am looking to resell it, I buy at estate sales to resell mostly, I have never worn jewelry, and I am a man so it is not fashionable to wear large gemstones for me. It is lovely though, but someone else will love it much more than I do if it is what I hope. This lot has been mixed so far, some pieces 22K or platinum, one gold plated, one gold filled, some 18K, some 12K...but mostly I gambled on this sapphire being real which there was no way of knowing at all from photos online. I have never bought anything for this much in my life, so I hope I was right. That said, I think I can still eek out about what I paid for it if the stone is synthetic from the other items it came with...maybe. Thanks for wishing me luck, I may need it!

 

[Tribalypredisposed]

I just repaired a similar ring.

Platinum and diamonds with a synthetic sapphire center from the 20s.

Synthetic sapphires have been around since the late 1800s.

My best guess is synthetic, but obviously impossible to say for sure.

Enjoy it, it's beautiful.

Or if you want, you can replace the center with a natural gem if you want to for as little as a couple of hundred dollars.

I just took it to an appraiser who said it is 7.5-8 carats, Ceylon, natural sapphire. If you are selling natural sapphire stones with this even color and clarity and size for as little as a couple hundred dollars, consider me interested. Also, probably everyone else here is interested. She said wholesale on it was $8-9,000, maybe more depending on the exact rating.

 

[JackTrick]

How did the appraiser verify it as Ceylon and natural?

 

[Skyjems]

I just took it to an appraiser who said it is 7.5-8 carats, Ceylon, natural sapphire. If you are selling natural sapphire stones with this even color and clarity and size for as little as a couple hundred dollars, consider me interested. Also, probably everyone else here is interested. She said wholesale on it was $8-9,000, maybe more depending on the exact rating.

Nice score!

Send it to GIA or a comparable lab, you won't be able to get what it's really worth without a certificate from GIA/AGL/GUBLIN/SSEF etc.

When I noted replacing the gem, I didn't mean with a sapphire! I meant that you could find an amethyst/citrine/blue topaz etc to change the center with. Sorry for the sloppy communication of that!

 

[seaurchin]

@Tribalypredisposed - I don't know the qualifications of whoever you are getting info. from in real life but just to let you know, @Skygems is in the gem trade as well (see the blue bar on the right under his screen name).

Also, not sure if it relates to you but just so you know, we get a constant stream of people on here who got a piece of jewelry from an estate sale or inheritance and ask its value, then get mad when told it may not be as valuable as they hoped. Just saying, please keep in mind that it's possible the stone is not a genuine sapphire.

Finally, I found this, for what it's worth. I have not sent a stone to the GIA so maybe others can weigh in. It looks like it costs $120 for a sapphire report. If the GIA says it's real, nobody can argue with that.

https://www.gia.edu/doc/Colored_Stone_FS_USD_2020_0101.pdf

 

[whitewave]

No offense, but it’s likely synthetic. Synthetic sapphires were very popular around the turn of the century.

It’s a pretty ring, though.

 

[Tribalypredisposed]

How did the appraiser verify it as Ceylon and natural?

She had a spiffy fancy microscope thing and she examined it using that. Said Ceylon based on the color. Neither of the people I have shown it to so far have mentioned having any suspicions that it is synthetic. But I have not pried for details about why they think it is natural. She did recommend sending it off to a lab to be officially looked at for treatments and origin and size, hard to get an exactly accurate size while mounted. So that is my next step.

 

[JackTrick]

She had a spiffy fancy microscope thing and she examined it using that. Said Ceylon based on the color. Neither of the people I have shown it to so far have mentioned having any suspicions that it is synthetic. But I have not pried for details about why they think it is natural. She did recommend sending it off to a lab to be officially looked at for treatments and origin and size, hard to get an exactly accurate size while mounted. So that is my next step.

Glad to hear you're going with a lab. A GIA report with origin will answer most of our questions with certainty. When last I checked the turnaround time of the Carlsbad lab was about 1 month.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

She had a spiffy fancy microscope thing and she examined it using that. Said Ceylon based on the color. Neither of the people I have shown it to so far have mentioned having any suspicions that it is synthetic. But I have not pried for details about why they think it is natural. She did recommend sending it off to a lab to be officially looked at for treatments and origin and size, hard to get an exactly accurate size while mounted. So that is my next step.

This is getting really excitting.
Fingers crossed for you
its a beautiful stone no matter what it is

 

[Tribalypredisposed]

No offense, but it’s likely synthetic. Synthetic sapphires were very popular around the turn of the century.

It’s a pretty ring, though.

No offense taken, but it is interesting to me that this is fairly popular opinion on here when the two professionals who have seen it in person have not had that opinion and have been eager to help me have one sapphire less. The woman I saw today was eager to give me her friend's phone number if I want to sell it quickly. The jewelry store owner on Saturday was using his loop and cell phone to send pictures to his friend who he says is a sapphire expert, asked me how much I wanted, told me what he wanted to pay, gave me his card in case I want to sell it to him in the future...

I understand that the usual is not "hey, I stumbled on a real large good quality sapphire in an online auction just listed as a 'grab bag of vintage jewelry.'" I get it. But this was an estate sale people will talk about for years. I could not go to the in-person sale and it is a deep wound for me, because there were literally several pieces of furniture I have seen examples of on Antiques Roadshow, and they were in the storage shed. The cluttered up storage shed. Early colonial furniture, the best of it, in the storage shed. Estate sales do not charge a lot for stuff in the storage shed. So yeah, seems the estate sale person missed some value she should have realized for the client.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

No offense taken, but it is interesting to me that this is fairly popular opinion on here when the two professionals who have seen it in person have not had that opinion and have been eager to help me have one sapphire less. The woman I saw today was eager to give me her friend's phone number if I want to sell it quickly. The jewelry store owner on Saturday was using his loop and cell phone to send pictures to his friend who he says is a sapphire expert, asked me how much I wanted, told me what he wanted to pay, gave me his card in case I want to sell it to him in the future...

I understand that the usual is not "hey, I stumbled on a real large good quality sapphire in an online auction just listed as a 'grab bag of vintage jewelry.'" I get it. But this was an estate sale people will talk about for years. I could not go to the in-person sale and it is a deep wound for me, because there were literally several pieces of furniture I have seen examples of on Antiques Roadshow, and they were in the storage shed. The cluttered up storage shed. Early colonial furniture, the best of it, in the storage shed. Estate sales do not charge a lot for stuff in the storage shed. So yeah, seems the estate sale person missed some value she should have realized for the client.

I don't like to see people getting their hopes up and then being dissapointed but im still an optimist at heart
I look forward to looking back at this thread and your estate sale find was an investment worthy of envy !
Its a beautiful colour and i do not understand why that one person that you saw told you it was too pale