Gathering info on Padparadscha; found this...

[Coralkey]

Hello! I've been creeping this site for a while and have gathered a lot of great information. That said, I've come to find out exactly how difficult it is to track down a padparadscha sapphire. I've entertained peach colored sapphires; most of which I'm kind of sketched out by the sellers, pad colored spinels, etc., And I just love the color so much I think I would regret not having "the" stone with "the" color.

I have time, oodles of time. I'm planning a big move with my BF and wedding bells aren't on the radar for at least another year, probably more. I'd like to make this as easy on us as possible. So , I've been doing my research, looking up all the recommended sellers I see here and then some, reading what the ideal specs of a pad are, deciding where I can compromise on said specs, etc. But I feel like pads are such unicorns that I don't know what a fair price for one would be,(I've seen 5,000-15,000 per carat), and I also don't really know how to recognize a good cut. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:
http://www.thenaturalsapphirecompany.com/p-33933-cushion-padparadscha-sapphire-pa198/

I don't plan on buying this. But I think the color is beautiful. When I see killer pads via interwebs I feel like the pavilion is cut deeper? Am I totally wrong? Also, do you think this would appear dark in real life? I don't want to think I got an awesome stone, only to find it looks brown in some lights. It's hard for me to say because the stone looks warmer in some pictures.

I know that I will end up paying for the name. I know it's going to be expensive. Unless I can find a "peach" or other sapphire with similar color without it being certified pad then I'm just going to have to deal. I have looked at other colored sapphires. While I love colored stones of all varieties, the pad color/color spectrum speaks to me.

Please let me know what you think, thanks in advance!

 

[chrono]

Although pricing seems wild (and yes, it does vary), it is still based on colour first and foremost, with treatment, carat weight, clarity and cut all playing a role as well. Because 2 stones are rarely similar, it can be difficult to make a price comparison.

The NSC sapphire, whilst not terribly shallow, is on the shallow end. If cut properly, it would have such a huge window, but in an attempt to save weight, the angles are not complementary and the stone exhibits a bay door. This particular sapphire will be lively around the perimeter but dead and dull at the table area due to the cut. There are many reasons why a stone is cut with a deeper or shallower pavilion. A deep stone can exhibit a window too if the angles are not right. Given that it is heated and is from Sri Lanka, I would make sure it comes with either an AGL or GIA lab report. In-house appraisals and reports are a clear conflict of interest.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

Coralkey- In general in round and oval shapes you want a stone that has a depth of at least 60% and no more than 80%. Too little depth creates a windowed stone. Too deep of a depth may make the stone look too dark, and you will be paying for more carat weight on a stone that appears smaller than it is. When looking at stones on the Internet I use this formula to quickly rule out stones- Depth divided by average girdle diameter. We will do the stone that you linked. That stone is 6.53L x 6.12W x 3.69H. Add length and width together ( 6.53 + 6.12 =12.65). Divide that by two to get the average girdle diameter (12.65 divided by 2 = 6.32). Next divide the depth by the width (3.69/6.62= .557). Multiply .557 by 100 and you get 55.7%. That stone is a bit shallow and you can see from the pics of the stone that it will not be sparkly and the color will not look even. Here is a link with some basics on cut. As for color it is a matter of preference and you will need to view the stone you choose in different lighting conditions to see if the stone holds it's color.

http://gemstoneartist.com/gemstone-articles/gemstone-geometry/

 

[chrono]

I only just noticed a typo where I meant the opposite of what I wrote but it is too late to correct it now. Fortunately, the mistake is obvious enough where it is easy to understand what I meant to write. Oh well.

I think LD coined the "bay door" terminology where the window is so large that it becomes a bay door that one can drive a car through it. Rounds and trilliants can get away with being in the 60-ish % depth. Ovals can sometimes fall into the mid 60s too but with that comes other issues. Although the calculation Lisa presented is best for rounds only, it can be approximated for other shapes. Again, there is no guarantee that a certain depth = no window, because it is all about how the pavilion angles interact with the crown angles, but it is a good start.

For all the bashing that NSC gets here in CS, they do have a few positive points, as Diane pointed out.

 

[T L]

I don't plan on buying this. But I think the color is beautiful. When I see killer pads via interwebs I feel like the pavilion is cut deeper? Am I totally wrong? Also, do you think this would appear dark in real life? I don't want to think I got an awesome stone, only to find it looks brown in some lights. It's hard for me to say because the stone looks warmer in some pictures.

I know that I will end up paying for the name. I know it's going to be expensive. Unless I can find a "peach" or other sapphire with similar color without it being certified pad then I'm just going to have to deal. I have looked at other colored sapphires. While I love colored stones of all varieties, the pad color/color spectrum speaks to me.

Please let me know what you think, thanks in advance!

While the color is lovely, the cutting is such a deterrent for me, and I'm not even a stickler about well cut stones. The only gems where I really don't mind a giant window are those with such enormous saturation, that they look "plugged in" and literally glow. Padparadschas are not such stones. Their saturation is more delicate.

If you're on a budget, check out orangy pink spinels too, you may find something.