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Engagement ring sapphire

Jbows

Jbows

Shiny_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 18, 2017
Messages
113
I was wondering if I could get some feedback on this stone as I anxiously await it. I love vibrant, saturated sparkly blues but want to go in with more experienced eyes. Thank you!

https://gemfix.com/gems/sapphire-blue-11-1112
 
I would agree the photos look grey and muted and don’t match with the descriptive words you like.
 
chrono said:
Doesn't look particularly vibrant nor saturated.
Click to expand...
Hi Chrono,

This saturation thing gets me every time.:wall: I guess I confuse dark with saturation. For example, I would have said this was saturated (but not vibrant):
sapphire_blue_1112-2.jpg


and this wasn't (but very vibrant):

sapphire_blue_1264_A.jpg


Where am I going wrong?
 
Top: Dark and not well saturated
Bottom: Light and not well saturated

Vibrancy to me, is how well it sparkles due to the cut.
 
chrono said:
Top: Dark and not well saturated
Bottom: Light and not well saturated

Vibrancy to me, is how well it sparkles due to the cut.
Click to expand...
This?
sapphire-blue-11-1289-250x250.jpg



vs this?

sapphire-blue-11-1157-250x250.jpg
 
Hi Chrono

How much can a cutter do to make a stone look a lot better than it should? Say if one was on a major budget, can you buy a dark stone and get a good cutter to "fix" it to a certain point?
 
Top: A medium to medium dark tone with excellent saturation
Bottom: Medium light tone with excellent saturation

Just my opinion of the two compared to each other.

There is only so much a lapidary can do to a "lump of rough". A dark stone can only be improved so much. The darker it is, the fewer design options and less improvement are to be had.
 
Hmmmm... I see what you are saying. Although at least by my eye it has been impossible to tell what the sapphire will look like in person, which is why it’ll be here on Wednesday. I will update with more pictures. I guess when I was judging it, I was looking at the video simply because the pictures don’t clue me in very well. I liked that the entire stone sparkled and that it looked, or I thought it did, like a very saturated blue.
 
I have a question about judging sapphires online and I would be most grateful for @chrono or @Niel or anybody elses’s input. I noticed in many of the pictures on GemFix (and on other websites, but this is just an example) that the pictures of stones, even some posted above, look bright, even, and saturated in the pictures and then in the hand video they have dark spots or are a different color entirely. My question is... which do I trust? Do I trust the pictures or the video? I really liked the video of the one I chose because, to me, it looked like a true blue, was not color zoned, and was (I thought, erroneously) saturated. I guess I’m just frustrated with my inability to discern what it is I want. I don’t want a light stone, but I also don’t want it to be dull and dark. Again, I decided to get it and send it back if I don’t like it but how do I evaluate it correctly when it shows up?
 
View it under various light conditions (sunny, shaded, away from light, various indoor lights).

Most of all, do so with the stone in hand but also do not drop it (stay very low to the ground and have a soft or padded surface underneath).
 
@chrono thank you! I hope when I get the stone tomorrow or Thursday morning you and the rest of the experts on here will give their opinions. I’ll be honest, I’m holding out hope that it looks the way the video showed it but if not, then I will get to start the new year off with a sapphire hunt! Again, thank you for your opinions... they have been incredibly valuable to me!
 
Which one did you buy?
 
suzanne2 said:
Hi Chrono,

This saturation thing gets me every time.:wall: I guess I confuse dark with saturation. For example, I would have said this was saturated (but not vibrant):
sapphire_blue_1112-2.jpg


and this wasn't (but very vibrant):

sapphire_blue_1264_A.jpg


Where am I going wrong?
Click to expand...

Can you give me the link to the light one? (Want to look at it-- not buying until January)...
 
whitewave said:
Which one did you buy?
Click to expand...
I bought the darker one. Always have had a soft spot for darker gems with bright flashes. But not too dark...... :wall: ugh I’m so nonspecific. Normally I’m a super precise person.
 
Jbows said:
I bought the darker one. Always have had a soft spot for darker gems with bright flashes. But not too dark...... :wall: ugh I’m so nonspecific. Normally I’m a super precise person.
Click to expand...

Please follow up because I am also looking for a sapphire and would like to know how it looks in person compared to the pics....
 
will do! FedEx says it should be here tomorrow evening... And I will take pictures and post them in the daylight Thursday! @whitewave
 
D8EC8966-10AE-49F4-9786-A98DEF75D518.png I’m sitting at work, waiting for a test to run and I thought I’d post a screen grab of why I fell in love with the original sapphire. I would like to ask anybody with a more trained eye to please take a look and tell me what I’m missing. Again, many thanks for your help! (Obviously I’ll still post the pictures when I get it in hand!)
 
https://gemfix.com/gems/sapphire-blue-11-1264[/QUOTE]

Thank you! I really like this one-- is anyone considering it? I don't want to scoop anyone..

I was just grabbing pics to ask chrono about saturation. I'm not looking to buy.
 
Jbows said:
D8EC8966-10AE-49F4-9786-A98DEF75D518.png I’m sitting at work, waiting for a test to run and I thought I’d post a screen grab of why I fell in love with the original sapphire. I would like to ask anybody with a more trained eye to please take a look and tell me what I’m missing. Again, many thanks for your help! (Obviously I’ll still post the pictures when I get it in hand!)
Click to expand...

From this hand shot I like it. Let us know what you think when you open the box this evening. Also check it out in different lighting situations. If it's going to be worn mostly in florescent lighting check it out in that lighting.
 
Stone Hunter said:
From this hand shot I like it. Let us know what you think when you open the box this evening. Also check it out in different lighting situations. If it's going to be worn mostly in florescent lighting check it out in that lighting.
Click to expand...
I’m so excited, even though I’m preparing for the worst. I really appreciate everyone’s input!
 
9DFA5998-752C-401E-8547-9FA38885ADC9.jpeg F91B9F1C-DB5C-4CE9-BB31-141FD6C0C185.jpeg ED99031F-39E7-478C-89B6-2EACE6106E27.jpeg D5EE8694-0807-4864-829F-8916678C85AA.jpeg

First picture is what I see, sitting on my couch under weird fluorescent lights. Second is same lights with flash. Third and fourth are in my kitchen. I will be sending it back, as I thought I would. But! This morning I had sent off an email to Roger Dery, thinking maybe I’d get a response after Christmas and long story short tomorrow (weather permitting) two stones will be here and I will need more advice. If they don’t work out, I will need to re-evaluate how to find what it is I want.
 
76A01EA1-70B9-4A00-8D16-26CEE42E9BDF.jpeg E939BE12-BDBA-485B-AD18-8FB81E42164D.jpeg
 
Yeah, it's too dark. My friend spent a lot of money on a sapphire ring and when set and in low light it is so dark it is almost black with no life... it's a sad ring and I know she paid a lot of money for it.

Let us know when you get the new ones!

Edit! Mine will be here tomorrow, so we will see pic vs. real stone with a medium blue ceylon color
 
I think the issue is that I somehow am failing to translate what I want into what I’m choosing. Bright, intense, sparkly, and a medium blue that doesn’t get gross in all but the best lighting. Sighhhhhh I guess we’ll see what tomorrow brings for both me and @whitewave
 
I think this is what Chrono meant when she described the stone as dark and undersaturated. To me the vendor photos look greyish which is the opposite of what you just described. Also most sapphires shift colour depending on lighting -- you will have to work out how much change you will tolerate vs how much you want to spend and how long you want to wait to find one which won't. And you really need to communicate this to the vendor -- as they will help you.

On the plus side Roger Derry's stones are generally lovely, so I hope you find a winner this time.
 
qubitasaurus said:
I think this is what Chrono meant when she described the stone as dark and undersaturated. To me the vendor photos look greyish which is the opposite of what you just described. Also most sapphires shift colour depending on lighting -- you will have to work out how much change you will tolerate vs how much you want to spend and how long you want to wait to find one which won't. And you really need to communicate this to the vendor -- as they will help you.

On the plus side Roger Derry's stones are generally lovely, so I hope you find a winner this time.
Click to expand...
I believe so as well. When I used those words to describe what I wanted to Roger, he suggested the two I’m looking at. If these two don’t work, I am going to ask the community here to help me accurately gauge what it is that I am looking for while looking at pictures online.

And you are right, sapphires do shift and I was prepared for that, just not a shift to complete black.
 
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