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Cushion cut sapphire

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karenleah15

karenleah15

Shiny_Rock
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Jun 19, 2005
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I have a 1.56 carat cushion cut ceylon sapphire. I finally picked out a setting for it and it is being set as we speak (type.) The jewler that is setting it commented that it was a "native" cut cushion. He said it has a large belly. It is a beautiful stone and sparkles like I have never seen a sapphire do. It is just perfect to me. I asked him if I should have the stone recut. He thought I should leave it alone and that the stone is perfect the way it is. His comment was just that it is a native cut cushion. Anyone have any input on this?
 
Karen Leah...can''t wait to see the sapphire and the finished ring!

I used to think that the term "native cut" was some kind of put-down, but Vincent Pardieu (formerly known as "Modok") straightened me out on that.

He said that some native cutters are true masters at getting every bit of color and beauty out of a stone, even though they don''t necessarily stick to the "cutting rules" that Westerners have come to expect and define as "well cut".

Hopefully he''ll weigh in here and elaborate..

Congratulations! Can''t wait to see it!
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Date: 10/29/2005 1:39:54 PM
Author:Karen Leah
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If you think your stone is "perfect the way it is," I think you should leave it alone too. Those "native" cutters aren''t dumb. They often leave "bellies" on stones to deepen color, not just to increase weight. It''s hard to evaluate any stone sight-unseen but I''ve seen many "native cut" stones and have come to greatly admire the shrewdness and skill of many of the original cutters.

I have a 4.5 carat blue sapphire oval I''m going to make into a ring for myself. It has several "problems:" inclusions and a profile from the side that makes the pavilion look like a tooth root. Yet it has fantastic color and the shimmering brilliance/scintillation do a great job of masking inclusions. The original cutter did a great job with a difficult piece of rough. I''m going to make a gypsy-style setting for it to accommodate the depth. I love the stone and I won''t need anyone else''s approval to wear it proudly and with great satisfaction.

Richard M.
 
I will leave the stone as is. It is very stunning. I will be happy to up a pic when it is done. It should be around Wednesday. The jeweler is having to put a new head on the setting I chose as the original is not quite right so it is taking some extra time.

Can''t wait to get it.

Thanks for your input!
 
I look forward to seeing it next week Karen. I''m sure it''s beautiful. I love cushion cut sapphires!!
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2 more days until I get my sapphire!!! I am so excited. This is almost harder than when I was waiting for my diamond ring to come in!!! UGH!
 
I have a ruby e-ring that is native cut, and it is stunning. It sparkles and has so much brilliance. I wouldnt worry about it at all. Cant wait to see it!
 
Hi msflutter,

Yes it is right: if you like your stone with its native cut, keep it like that. To my opinion, it give a stone more personality than if the stone was recut with perfect symmetry and proportions. If it is nice you can imagine that this is the result of the work of some knowledgeable cutter in the country were the stone was mined. Gemstones are same people, beauty is not something that is fixed. Currently the color stone world is influenced by diamonds concepts like "cut" to become that the first quality factor, but personally if a stone is too "well cut" I feel that it is tasteless...
Anyway if you are happy with it keep it as it is as recutting a stone is also taking some risks.
I love my girlfriend and she is a beautiful girl... She does not like her nose and was thinking to make some chirurgy as it was not "perfect". I think her nose is very charming and if she does some chirurgy on it, I will probably feel that something went wrong, that there is now some blemish on her "perfect face"... I will hate her to be "recut". Gems and people...

All the best,
 
beautifully said, vincent!

peace, movie zombie
 
Hello,

Regarding to colored gemstones and cutting there are different visions of the things.
Some people (traditional colored gemstone lovers) put an empahsis on color and diamond people think first about cut.

Traditionally in the colored gemstone trade, which is historically Asian dominated by Burmese, Sri Lankan and Indians, the main quality factor was color. The western people had on the gem trade a strong influence as they developped cut and especially cut for diamond which is a colorless stone. To get all the beauty out of diamond, they developped very precise cut to emphasise brillance (light return) and scintillation to take advantage of diamond dispersion and transparency.
When you study the situation as the early days of the XX century you notice that the 3 colored stones that were seen as precious were ruby, sapphire and emerald. To be more precise the stones that were pleasing people were : Rubies from Mogok that have a very strong fluorescence and a very strongly saturated red, sapphires from Kashmir that have a very strongly saturated blue and some microscopic inclusions diffusing the light, emeralds that has a very strongly saturated green with so many inclusions which were called artistically "jardin" or "garden".
The fact is that the strong red fluorescence of Mogok rubies, the microscopic inclusions in the Kashmir sapphires and the emerald garden are 3 ways that mask the cutting imperfections which are mainly known as "window" and "extinction". Thus people dealing in color stones following the traditional way were not emphasising their research and concern on cut... The main quality consern was color and feeling. Colored stones were artistic gems.

But as diamond became the major gem in todays gem trade, the quality concepts ruling the appreciation of Diamonds are now influencing the colored gemstone trade as thanks to diamond marketing, people want now to have their rubies, sapphire and emerald perfectly cut and if possible "clean"... They want "brilliancy", "flawless" and "perfect cut" gems.

This is somewhere non-sense as each stone should be appreciated for its own qualities. Emerald is as an example a stone with a very low refractive index and as a result trying to get some 98% brillancy for such a stone is not an easy thing. The stone will need to be clean in order to be able to benefit from this brilliancy. At the end if an emerald is cut following this concept: clarity and brilliancy, if the material will still be an emerald, it might not look anymore as an emerald! And possibly performing this work could have waste so much material that at the end the potential value of the rough gem would have been wasted...
For people willing to have a nice green stone with some brilliancy I will advise them to move their choice to an other gem: A green gem that fit more to this new trend within the gem trade were colored stones are asked to present "diamond type" qualities. This ideal modern green stone is for me Tsavorite: It is a single refractive stone as diamond, has a higher refractive index than emerald and can be clean with a very saturated green... But please leave emerald its particlular charm and dont ask this gem to look like a diamond: Beauty can be appreciated in many different ways and this is one of the strong points of the colored stone world: Each stone has its particularities that make it different and many things that could be seen as flaws or blemishes for a diamond are a natural gift for a given gemstone...

If you have a nice sapphire, a nice emerald, a nice ruby which is not 100% perfectly cut but is a beautiful gem, why to spend money to take the risk to make it less beautiful and for sure smaller? May be it will become more beautiful to other people like cutters or diamond dealers who are appreciating beauty a different way... But for you?
I believe that each gem can be appreciated its way. I like the traditional beauty of a fine burmese ruby with its slightly imperfect shape, which give the stone some wonderful "natural and genuine Character" Other people hate that...
Well may be they also like standart product and to live in a standart world?
May be for them good food is either a "big mac" with a "coke" or a "whooper" with a "pepsi" but I might have the right to say that I prefer to continue to take my girlfriend to a diner in a small restaurant in Paris where the chief Antoine will prepare for us his favorite "tete de veau" we will be able to enjoy with one of his special wine. May be my choice for this restaurant, this food and this wine will be subject to discussion by others people who appreciate something else but well: As long as I enjoy it and as I'm able to enjoy it my way it is fine... I would hate Chief Antoine to tell me that from now he will prepare only "Big Mac" and Coke as they were said the best food of the year by a pannel of the best food experts!

The great thing in the colored gemstone world is that there are such a diversity of interesting gems that there are now some "new gemstones" very well adapted to this new way to appreciate colored gemstones: Spinels, tsavorites and some other garnets like malaya or color change garnets are color gemstones that have for me a bright future as their qualities make them perfect stones for people who appreciate diamond concepts but want a colored stone. They are single refractive gems that looks bad if they are badly cut but that can be beautiful when they are perfectly cut. They are no known treatment for them and... they are truly rare but still affordable as not very well known.

Hoping that I did not bored you too much with my 0.02$ personal opinion.

All the best,
 
Karen,
Just checking in did you get your ring yet?? I can''t wait to see it!!
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Hello Vincent,

You are very passionate about color stones. It is very nice to hear someone with that sort of enthusiasm. I have to admit I have recut wonderful gems in the past. Ussually to close a window or try and lighten a darke tone. The stone in my avitar is one of those stones. It was a 7.2ct unheated Burma Sapphire I had Richard Homer recut to close a window. This is now a much nicer 5.2ct stone with a better color, brilliance, clarity (since most of the inclussions were cut out) and no window (This is the stone in Wink''s Gallery). I think it all depends on the stone if it should be recut. If it a nice color and clarity then leave it alone. If it will improve the appearance, color and tone, without loosing the table size it should be concidered.

Regards,
Maurice
 
No ring yet. They called me to let me know that the head they ordered was not right. The sapphire fit in it Ok but it wasnt right. They had to order another one. It is OK. I am sad I couldn''t pick it up but I want it done right, not just done. I want to be able to see the culet of the stone while it is in the prongs. So, this Tuesday I should have it. The new head will be in Friday, depending on what time of day it comes I could have it Saturday but I don''t want to get my hopes up. I am sure all the waiting is worth it.
 
Hi Maurice,
I agree that in some cases recutting a gem is a good possibility and is indicated, especially when the face up size does not change and if there is a way to improve the overall beauty of the stone. But it is all the time a risky job especially in the case of sapphire having some uneven color distribution...
Anyway I just try with these post to make some people affraid to have an "imperfectly cut gemstone" think that these imperfections are possibly not a bad thing. They can give their gem some character and there are other ways to appreciate beauty than to look at colored gemstones through the vision of a diamond cutter.
All the best,
 
Vincent,

You are right about always a risk. I had a 9ct tsavorite sent to recut. It fractured and I got t very nice 1.9ct stone out of it
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Maurice
 
Sooooooooooooo, it''s Tuesday, any pics? I can''t wait to see this, it sounds scrumptuous!
 
Ugh no pics yet! They still have the ring. The new head came in and they set it but it still wasnt right! We both agreed that the stone looked like it was being "squished" in the prongs. It just wasn''t right. The jeweler has now made a wax model of the sapphire and has been sent out to have a custom head casted just for MY stone. She feels so bad now that she isn''t charging me for this extra effort. The price will stay as she quoted it in the start. I am so glad.

SO......now it should be done Friday or Saturday. I PROMISE as soon as this ring is done the first thing I am doing is taking pics! I am sure it is all worth it!
 
It''s here!!!

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:)

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:)

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:)

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Oh my that is just gorgeous!!! The color is amazing. I''m so sorry about your ering, but hopefully getting this will help to lift your spirits a bit. It came out great. If you have time can you give us a hand pic Karen???
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That is one very blue sapphire! If the real thing is like the picture, good for you
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I''m not the best picture taker but boy she is pretty!!!!!

I love it!!!

It is 1.56 carats
6.54X5.79X4.74mm

BEAUTIFUL!!!!
 
It IS that blue!!!!

Thank you about the ering. I am kicking around the idea of using this sapphire as my new ering. My original ering was a smaller sapphire. It is kind of fitting that a larger nicer sapphire would be my new ering. Sometimes things just work out. I don''t know. I need to think about.
 
Ugh the hand pic is not working. I can''t get it clear. When hubby gets home I will have him take it.

It really is beautiful. I have it on my e-ring finger right now. It looks very pretty as an ering. I am going to have to think about this. Is it wrong to go from a sapphire to a beautiful diamond to a very very beautiful sapphire. This stone really is something.
 
I don''t think there is anything wrong with doing that at all, but give it some time. It is such a beautiful blue, enjoy!!!
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Oh, My!!! Karen Leah...that sapphire is gorgeous!!!
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The color is to die for, and it''s so lively! WOW!!!

Congratulations!
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O-H-M-Y-G-O-O-D-N-E-S-S! That is one of the most amazing sapphires I have seen! And I love the elegance of the setting, MORE PICS!!
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Hand shot

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