Find your diamond
Find your jewelry
shape
carat
color
clarity

Enlisting help on sapphire selection...

Status
Not open for further replies. Please create a new topic or request for this thread to be opened.
Bing The Cheeser

Bing The Cheeser

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jan 24, 2009
Messages
12
Ok been lurking for about a week it''s time to get some help. I am having an engagement ring made for my sweetheart and need some help selecting the center stone, maybe just need to feel better about my choices. My avatar is a near final sketch of what the ring will look like, if you have good eyes yes those are skull and cross bones... I will have tapered baguettes set in the shank next to the center stone, euro corners with black diamonds set in the lower corners, and feature mil-grain edges and hand engraving. For a center stone I want between a 6-6.5mm round cut sapphire. I definately like medium to deep blue. I have found these two stone to give an idea and see what the experts here think of them...

Both sapphires are from NSC the first is 1.07ct and I really like the cut of this stone but the price seems a bit high?
http://www.thenaturalsapphirecompany.com/nscnet/expandedstones.aspx?stoneid=B3068

The second stone is lighter blue and is a shallower cut but I still like the look what effect will the shallower cut have?
http://www.thenaturalsapphirecompany.com/nscnet/expandedstones.aspx?stoneid=B3103

Well thats it for now I look forward to getting some input and many thanks!
 
The first stone has better symmetry. And the price is inexpensive in my opinion, certainly for an untreated stone. I prefer the first of the two.
 
I think I prefer the second stone. I imagine it will reflect more light. The culet is off center, but in the face on photo, you can''t really tell. Perhaps one of our experts will weigh in.
 
The second stone has an off-centre culet. A shallow stone may have light leakage, resulting in less brilliance.
 
I prefer the second stone - symmetry is better - cut is better, if you look at the maps you can see it's a completely different cut used on the pavillion of each stone. I like the smaller table on the second stone as well. I don't see any real problems here at all.

The first stone is a more 'desirable' colour - hence the price difference - but colour is very subjective and it's more important that you go with what you like.

If non-heat treated is the direction you are going in, then I would say that this is a good stone to consider.

ETA: On my screen, the first stone has an 2.4% off-centre culet, the second is only 0.9% off-centre. I think it's a problem with the photographs where the first stone shows less of this than the photo of the second does.
 
Thanks you all very much for the replies! I am glad that the prices seem relatively in line. I like the idea of unheated, I think I have read every post and website I can on heated vs. unheated and understand both side of the fence. I just received images (hopefully the picture shows up) of this stone its 1.15ct Round Cut Royal Blue Sapphire 6.02 x 6.08 x 4.05mm it''s been heated and they are asking $1668, that''s insane for a heated stone no?

1_15Sapphire.jpg
 
Take a look at this website, and see if you can find a comparable stone and how much it costs: www.simplysapphires.com
 
Date: 1/24/2009 3:44:27 PM
Author: Harriet
Take a look at this website, and see if you can find a comparable stone and how much it costs: www.simplysapphires.com
Click to expand...
Haha, yeah I have been there (I think I''ve been to every site in about 10 different countries) they have two rounds about the same size one heated one not both < 1000 that''s why I had to ask, is there anything that could make a heat treated sapphire cost that much, origin maybe (I am trying to get more info).
 
Short of it being from Kashmir, that is a huge price difference.
 
I got an email from them, they're having a valentines day sale, so I would wait.

My email stated the following:

"To take advantage of this ONE DAY sale, purchase online and reference VALENTINE'S SALE in the comments section at checkout or call us directly to place your order.

10% off any sale under $5,000
12% off any sale from $5,000 to $10,000
15% off any sale over $10,000

some restrictions may apply."

I have always thought they had higher prices for an online vendor. Even though you do pay a premium for untreated stones, those prices seem very high for such small sapphires per carat. JMO.
 
@ tourmaline_lover: Thank you very much for the info!
 
I like the color on that one MUCH better than the other two. The only issue is that it's cut a little shallow so you might not have that much sparkle factor, but the good thing is that it will face up larger than another sapphire that is more deeply cut. There's more of a grey mask in the first two you showed.

Unfortunately it's out on memo, so someone is thinking about it, so it might not be available.
 
It could very well come back. Go for it! Tell NSC that you''d like to be next on the list.
 
Oh, I love the third stone! gorgeous!
 
The first one seems to have a lot of dark areas. And I''m not too crazy about the symmetry. The second one has a bright medium-blue saturation that I like, and it seems to face up brighter than the first. It also seems to have a better cut.

I''d go with the second one because I prefer medium-blue over deep blue.
 
Thank you all again!! Yeah the last stone is definately the one that jumped out at me and yeah I noticed the "Out on Memo"
7.gif
Got my fingers crossed though!!
 
Remain optimistic! I've gotten my paws on "out on memo" stones a number of times.
 
The third stone is an obvious winner, and if that doesen''t work out (somebody else snatches it), I''d only suggest that you go with deeper colors i.e. avoid light stones. The reason is the ring design, which would more easily incorporate a deeper/darker color since it already contains a strong contrast in the form of black and white diamonds in platinum. Of course, pay attention not to "sail into the inky blue watters" i.e. don''t go too dark, blackish blue.
 
I like the third one as well. I hope "memo" returns it.
1.gif
 
Love, love, love the third one. Can''t wait to see which you decide on.
 
Did you see the one carat Ceylon untreated stone on finewatergems.com for around $1,000. It''s expertly cut, and a nice medium hue. It''s around 1.2 carats. There''s a thread lurking around here with a picture, but it is a very nice and well priced stone.
 
Bing - when will the sapphire arrive? I really do like the 3rd one from the NSC, however, finewater gems does have nice stones there too.

PS...I have to ask this question, which is off topic. Is your screen name in reference to an episode of South Park? Many apologies if you do not know what I am talking about.
 
Date: 1/27/2009 12:29:56 PM
Author: omieluv
Bing - when will the sapphire arrive? I really do like the 3rd one from the NSC, however, finewater gems does have nice stones there too.

PS...I have to ask this question, which is off topic. Is your screen name in reference to an episode of South Park? Many apologies if you do not know what I am talking about.
Click to expand...
I am actually at home awaiting the arrival of the sapphire now. Believe me if it doesn''t blow me away I will still be looking, I do however have high hopes after talking on the phone with Keviin at NSC.

Haha, actually I do know the reference to South Park but that''s not where the name comes from. I have used that name for many years and is actually a reference to a character in a book by James Blaylock called "The Elfin Ship" published in 1982.
 
I have to make a quick plug for Gary at Finewater gems. I just emailed him based on what you all have mentioned and I have to say I think he responded before I even sent the email!!! The sapphire he has is BEAUTIFUL, he and that sapphire will definately be a back up if I am not blown away by the sapphire from NSC. Thanks to everyone for the suggestion to look there.
 
Date: 1/27/2009 2:16:30 PM
Author: Bing The Cheeser

I am actually at home awaiting the arrival of the sapphire now. Believe me if it doesn''t blow me away I will still be looking, I do however have high hopes after talking on the phone with Keviin at NSC.

Haha, actually I do know the reference to South Park but that''s not where the name comes from. I have used that name for many years and is actually a reference to a character in a book by James Blaylock called ''The Elfin Ship'' published in 1982.
Click to expand...
If you can, post pictures of the sapphire when you get it. I am glad to hear you have established a relationship with Gary at Finewater.

Sorry about that South Park question! I had just seen that episode the other night, which is why I associated your screen name with it! :)
 
Well I just received the sapphire, it wasn''t easy due to UPS but that''s another story. I am attaching some quick pictures I took so sorry about the quality. Let me say this, the sapphire is beautiful, it doesn''t photograph well (at least for me) but in all the light conditions I have put it in it never goes black, goes from a vibrant (electric) blue in bright light to a beautiful violet blue in low light. My only hesitation I have at all is the size, it''s about 5.6mm square and I was originally looking for closer to 6.5mm I think when set though this sapphire is going to look amazing (Dang it why can''t we always get what we want). Well anyway lets see what everyone has to say.

SapphireInHand.jpg
 
The one unfortunate thing about sapphires is their high density. This means that a one carat sapphire will look smaller than a one carat emerald or diamond. They''re very dense stones, so that''s probably why you''re in a bit of a shock of the mm size for the weight. It is cut somewhat shallow, as indicated by the pictures, so it could potentially look even smaller if it were cut with more perfect proportions.

I think it''s a beautiful color, and if you look at it in various settings, the size might not matter as much. A nice setting can really make up for the lack of size, but the most important thing with any colored gemstone is the color. If it''s a fine color, it will look beautiful no matter what the size.

Do you also see significant zoning in there (bands of color) or is the color very even? Sapphires are notorious for zoning. For that price, I would expect a sapphire of very even color. Is there any windowing in the stone that bothers you (an area where you can see down through the table of the stone). How is the cutting? Are there black areas of extinction? Just a few additional questions to ask yourself. If a sapphire is really beautiful, I don''t expect perfect cutting, but decent cutting with good symmetry and an insignificant or small window. JMO.
 
Status
Not open for further replies. Please create a new topic or request for this thread to be opened.
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP

Featured Topics

Jewelry Blog
PriceScope-Concierge-Ad
Find prime cuts.
Top