Do sapphires come in this color?

[chrono]

Date: 10/2/2009 12:52:29 AM
Author: Chrometsav
A bit of a shock to see this hotly debated stone here after I purchased it!

I wish to be 100% fair to the seller and it is an ongoing sale, but will report the outcome. I will say though that I would pay about $10 a carat for a BE treated sapphire and for now, leave it at that!

Chrome,
I highly recommend having the stone checked out for BE treatment when you get it. Please keep us posted.

 

[AustenNut]

Yes, Chrometsav, please keep us posted on this stone. I''m intensely curious about it and would love to see pictures of it in real life, Be treated or not. Hopefully though, everything will work out well. Have you received any indication as to if it has been shipped yet? (I bought the pink stone from the same seller and on ebay there hasn''t been any mention of mine being shipped and was just curious.)

 

[Chrometsav]

No not as yet AustenNut. I'll let you know.

 

[AustenNut]

Well, my stone came in today. And apparently the vendor description was more accurate than their photo. Everyone here said, "Where''s the orange?" Well, it''s all over this sapphire. In fact, I''d call the sapphire orange before I''d call it pink. And even though it''s not my idea of a padparadscha, I did see people submit stones of a similar coloring on the pads thread a while back. In fact Zeolite''s shield sapphire is very similar in coloring to mine, though mine is almost certainly beryllium treated.

As I had said earlier in the thread, I based my purchase on the picture rather than the description, so I am a bit disappointed that the color isn''t what I anticipated. I don''t blame the seller, however, because I''m fairly decent at taking pictures and couldn''t get any to show the orange. The ones I''ve included below did the best job, but that was trying different lights, altering the white balance, etc. I''ll also post this in the vendor photo thread. Chrometsav, looking forward to seeings your sapphire when it comes in!

 

[AustenNut]

This handshot is also one of the best at showing the orange color of the stone, though it's still more orange than this picture shows.

 

[AustenNut]

Here''s one last picture, which shows a bit of the orange as well as flashes of light.

 

[Arcadian]

well thats certainly interesting! I''ve been watching this thread to see the outcomes. its kinda cute though considering you didn''t pay that much for it Austen Nut. So whatcha gonna do with it?

-A

 

[chrono]

It''s a decent stone for the price you paid, but it''s definitely no where near what the vendor''s picture looks like.

 

[AustenNut]

I''m not 100% sure what I''m going to do with it. I''ve had a brief thought of keeping it loose, just to remind myself of what to ask and pay attention to when buying a stone. But I don''t need to keep the stone loose to do that. I''ve also thought about keeping the stone until I find a multi-stone project where it would be useful, but I don''t anticipate a project anytime soon where orange would be one of the colors. So I''m thinking that I''ll probably send it off to Kyle Anne Metals to do an inexpensive silver ring setting to test out how often I actually would wear a ring as the ones I have now I wear 100% of the time and were gifts from family. So it would be a test to see how often I''d wear occasional jewelry. And the orange color is perfect for fall, so perfect timing!

 

[serenitydiamonds]

On a general note, it''s very important to know that getting the color in a photo to match the real gemstones color and feel is almost impossible, hence the need for a good description and return policy. While it''s tempting to rely on a picture, most digital cameras cannot capture the color accurately as each sensor is typically more sensitive to certain color, so it''s only good for a general approximation.

This does not, however, excuse vendors who purposely adjust images to make the gem appear better than it really is. Unfortunately that practice is very common.

--Joshua

 

[AustenNut]

Chrometsav, any news on your sapphire? I''m still quite curious about it. While I was leaving feedback for the seller I saw someone had left positive feedback about this sapphire. Please, let us know what you think when you get the stone. And post pictures!

 

[Chrometsav]

Hi AustenNut and all those who were interested in this story. Very sorry it took so long but it was quite a lengthy process via testing, return and refund!!

As for the stone, it was delivered to a very highly reputable lab (one of the world''s best IM0)and as the seller had to wait before he made a trip to the city it obviously delayed things.

It came back totally clean without any trace of treatment whatsoever! The ebay seller sent it to me and it was only what I can describe as ''teal'' blue. None of the flashes of green/aquamarine were actually visible under normal light and probably came out during the flash photgraphy used to capture it. I presume these unusual colours were what actually enchanted some including myself to take a liking to it.

That is not to say it wasn''t a nice looking stone in its own right. However, it was too deep for the setting I had in mind and would have stuck way above what one would consider an elegant ring setting, so I returned it even though it was no doubt worth considerably more than what I paid.

The seller acted as well throughout the whole process as any high-end store I have ever dealt with and gave me a complete/full no quibble refund for the stone a day after receiving it back.

I know it appears some knock ebay for the sake of it, but in this case the seller was totally impeccable in his dealings throughout. He wouldn''t even allow me to pay for the cert even though I insisted.

If you want any questions answered by all means fire away and sorry if it ended up being a bit of a disappointment!!


Chrome Tsav

 

[chrono]

Thank you for the update, Chrome. So the stone tested as natural and untreated, but did not appear as represented in the photograph? Also it was overly deep for the standard setting?

 

[haagen_dazs]

Date: 9/30/2009 2:06:40 PM
Author: lelser
I will sometimes buy an Ebay stone as a ''pre-form'' to recut, but never the sapphires. T

hi lisa
what do you buy from ebay to recut?
how to you protect yourself from all the potential fraud that ebay has?

 

[haagen_dazs]

Date: 11/20/2009 5:05:10 AM
Author: Chrometsav
As for the stone, it was delivered to a very highly reputable lab (one of the world''s best IM0)and as the seller had to wait before he made a trip to the city it obviously delayed things.

He wouldn''t even allow me to pay for the cert even though I insisted.
Chrome Tsav

did you get a photocopy or a image copy of the cert/grading report?
if not, how do you know if the seller really sent it to a lab for grading? (not knocking you or the seller.. being a cautios consumer, these are just questions that comes to my mind, )

 

[lelser]

Date: 11/20/2009 2:08:03 PM
Author: haagen_dazs

Date: 9/30/2009 2:06:40 PM

Author: lelser

I will sometimes buy an Ebay stone as a ''pre-form'' to recut, but never the sapphires. T

hi lisa

what do you buy from ebay to recut?

how to you protect yourself from all the potential fraud that ebay has?

I buy mostly large Spinel. I can often get a poorly cut Spinel for far less than quality large rough material. As for how I avoid fraud, being a gemmologist helps




The stone below was a little over 5 carats and very sad looking. I can''t seem to attach a second file, so I''ll post the after photo separately.

 

[lelser]

This is the after stone. It''s now 3.85 cts but lost very little face-up size. The colour is a lovely mauve.

 

[haagen_dazs]

wow lisa
thanks for the great example
pictures paint a thousand words

 

[AustenNut]

Thanks, Chrometsav, on the update. I haven''t been around much lately, so sorry I missed your update.

And Lisa, wow, what an amazing makeover! A bit off-topic, but any newsletters coming out soon?

 

[lelser]

Date: 11/25/2009 11:44:51 AM
Author: AustenNut
Thanks, Chrometsav, on the update. I haven''t been around much lately, so sorry I missed your update.


And Lisa, wow, what an amazing makeover! A bit off-topic, but any newsletters coming out soon?

Funny about that 35% off anything green or red starting Friday. 50% off some stunning Demantoids that I cut for a friend. The email with download link will go out to my list late tomorrow.

Cheers,

Lisa

 

[Chrometsav]

Date: 11/20/2009 2:21:09 PM
Author: haagen_dazs

Date: 11/20/2009 5:05:10 AM

Author: Chrometsav

As for the stone, it was delivered to a very highly reputable lab (one of the world's best IM0)and as the seller had to wait before he made a trip to the city it obviously delayed things.


He wouldn't even allow me to pay for the cert even though I insisted.

Chrome Tsav

did you get a photocopy or a image copy of the cert/grading report?

if not, how do you know if the seller really sent it to a lab for grading? (not knocking you or the seller.. being a cautios consumer, these are just questions that comes to my mind, )

The report was genuine/original in the plastic sleeve and authenticated via the lab website!

Thing is with ebay H.D, the way to buy successfully is know people in the trade who have dealt with certain dealers many times and know what they are buying and even then photos are not 'in the hand'; as long as you are prepared to accept this the bargains are there and you may end up returning a few times of course. Blind trial and error can cost you dear and I wouldn't recommend it.

I have a small list of ebay dealers that I know will send what I bid on (factoring in that it is a photo) and will take a return with no fuss. The seller in this case was one. I am not going to say he mis-represented the stone as I think (and it is just my opinion) that the stone was bound to look different in a flash taken photograph where many stone facets and colours are captured and firing all at once.

The colour was consistent teal blue with no bleeding. Cut was round but not diamond, so a little deep which is very normal for sapphire and weight retention tricks. I could have had it recut and did consider it, but that would have opened up another can of worms in regard what might happen to the stone in other ways, considering the size and lack of any treatment it was still what I consider ridiculously low in price, but I don't like to hoard things for the sake of it, so returned it!!

What I should have done was asked a little more in regard cut but got hung up on treatment and forgot other factors, I'll try and remember in future