Avondale
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2021
- Messages
- 1,592
This is going to age like fine milk, isn't it.
I know, I know, I said I'm on ban island, I said that I'm not doing any new projects because the price of gold decided to climb Mt. Everest. The Lily ring was going to be it for the year. That aged like fine milk, too.
And the culprit is this little fella, who sneaked up on me:
(Those are tiny rubber hair ties wrapped around the tweezer tips. We're DIY-ing it here.
)
And when I say sneak up, I do mean it. Bought it preloved so it was a one hell of a deal. The previous owner is an internet acquaintance who got it six years ago and it's been sitting in a box ever since, abandoned. They know I'm easily tempted by blue sapphires, they also knew what I wanted in one, and just offered it to me. One day, out of the blue, here, check this out! Do you like it? Have it! What was I supposed to do?
The sapphire is 2,09ct., 7,00 x 6,12 x 5,41mm. Heated, of course, ain't no one got the budget for unheated while on ban island. It has a lab report from AIGS from 2018 and it was freshly repolished because it was pretty digned up before. I didn't ask for a new report, it's not necessary. The stone has some very characteristic inclusions that are perfectly visible in the AIGS video (yeah, they do those with their reports, did you know?), it's obvious it's the same stone. Origin is unknown, but I'm considering dropping by the office of the local gemologist to get their opinion at some point.
The first thing I did when it arrived was put it to the test - how is it going to hold up against my original 2ct sapphire? That one is my benchmark for saturation.
I've been chasing the same level of intensity in a lighter coloured sapphire and have slowly come to realise it's probably never going to happen (or at the very least, if it does, it won't be within my price range). This level of saturated blue seems to be intrinsically tied to a darker tone, a darker stone.
So I was very happy to see this little one hold his own. It doesn't disappear next to the other one. They share the spotlight.
Just to be clear, it's still not as saturated, and it shows in lower light.
By the way, when taking this picture I incidentally discovered the best angle to observe the pleocrhoism, but I was only able to successfully photograph it once:
Looks cool, eh?
Anyways, the big advantage of this new sapphire over the old one (and the reason I was still looking for a sapphire) is this one retains the blue without blacking out better when there isn't much light available:
I mentioned characteristic inclusions above.
There is a very sizable veil that is easy to see only through the pavilion. Through the crown you need strong focused light source and the right angle. Next to it are two other round inclusions but I can't see them well enough under the loupe to guess what they are.
It also has colour zoning:
You wouldn't have guessed by the previous photos.
And while we're on the subject of colour zoning, look what happens to the clear part of the stone under LWUV:
I've never had a sapphire with orange fluorescence before. Managed to track down some info from articles published on GIA's website. Apparently orange fluorescence occurs in clear or very light blue zoned areas, and it's common in all metamorphic sapphires. As per the sources, there's more on the subject in Hughes's book Ruby and Sapphire, so if anyone's curious, I guess that's the place to look.
I've saved the best for last - the photos in sunlight. I spent a fair bit of time on the balcony this morning, just... staring. Yes, it really does look like this. Yes, I find it hard to believe, too.
Okay, the phone maybe overdid it by a tiny bit on the last one.But boy, does this gem love the sun.
So this is it, folks. For the first time I'm not wishing for something more in a blue sapphire. It is beyond me how this one slipped through the cracks in order to eventually reach me. Yes, it's flawed, but it's still stunning. For the time being I don't know what I'm doing with it, aside from putting it in a ring with a more open setting, to allow all the possible light to flood it. In any case, that will 100000% have to wait till next year. I am going back to ban island.
I know, I know, I said I'm on ban island, I said that I'm not doing any new projects because the price of gold decided to climb Mt. Everest. The Lily ring was going to be it for the year. That aged like fine milk, too.
And the culprit is this little fella, who sneaked up on me:
(Those are tiny rubber hair ties wrapped around the tweezer tips. We're DIY-ing it here.
)And when I say sneak up, I do mean it. Bought it preloved so it was a one hell of a deal. The previous owner is an internet acquaintance who got it six years ago and it's been sitting in a box ever since, abandoned. They know I'm easily tempted by blue sapphires, they also knew what I wanted in one, and just offered it to me. One day, out of the blue, here, check this out! Do you like it? Have it! What was I supposed to do?
The sapphire is 2,09ct., 7,00 x 6,12 x 5,41mm. Heated, of course, ain't no one got the budget for unheated while on ban island. It has a lab report from AIGS from 2018 and it was freshly repolished because it was pretty digned up before. I didn't ask for a new report, it's not necessary. The stone has some very characteristic inclusions that are perfectly visible in the AIGS video (yeah, they do those with their reports, did you know?), it's obvious it's the same stone. Origin is unknown, but I'm considering dropping by the office of the local gemologist to get their opinion at some point.
The first thing I did when it arrived was put it to the test - how is it going to hold up against my original 2ct sapphire? That one is my benchmark for saturation.
I've been chasing the same level of intensity in a lighter coloured sapphire and have slowly come to realise it's probably never going to happen (or at the very least, if it does, it won't be within my price range). This level of saturated blue seems to be intrinsically tied to a darker tone, a darker stone.
So I was very happy to see this little one hold his own. It doesn't disappear next to the other one. They share the spotlight.
Just to be clear, it's still not as saturated, and it shows in lower light.
By the way, when taking this picture I incidentally discovered the best angle to observe the pleocrhoism, but I was only able to successfully photograph it once:
Looks cool, eh?
Anyways, the big advantage of this new sapphire over the old one (and the reason I was still looking for a sapphire) is this one retains the blue without blacking out better when there isn't much light available:
I mentioned characteristic inclusions above.
There is a very sizable veil that is easy to see only through the pavilion. Through the crown you need strong focused light source and the right angle. Next to it are two other round inclusions but I can't see them well enough under the loupe to guess what they are.
It also has colour zoning:
You wouldn't have guessed by the previous photos.
And while we're on the subject of colour zoning, look what happens to the clear part of the stone under LWUV:
I've never had a sapphire with orange fluorescence before. Managed to track down some info from articles published on GIA's website. Apparently orange fluorescence occurs in clear or very light blue zoned areas, and it's common in all metamorphic sapphires. As per the sources, there's more on the subject in Hughes's book Ruby and Sapphire, so if anyone's curious, I guess that's the place to look.
I've saved the best for last - the photos in sunlight. I spent a fair bit of time on the balcony this morning, just... staring. Yes, it really does look like this. Yes, I find it hard to believe, too.
Okay, the phone maybe overdid it by a tiny bit on the last one.
But boy, does this gem love the sun.So this is it, folks. For the first time I'm not wishing for something more in a blue sapphire. It is beyond me how this one slipped through the cracks in order to eventually reach me. Yes, it's flawed, but it's still stunning. For the time being I don't know what I'm doing with it, aside from putting it in a ring with a more open setting, to allow all the possible light to flood it. In any case, that will 100000% have to wait till next year. I am going back to ban island.
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