ideas on value of large red ruby and large blue topaz?

[ephemery1]

Hi everyone...

I have two beautiful family rings that are currently set in yellow gold (one is actually a man''s setting), and I am looking to get them appraised and hopefully reset into something more wearable for me.

The first one is an enormous ruby, that my grandmother gave to me before she passed away. It is a translucent light red color, round, and over 20mm in diameter. I''m certain it is genuine, as my grandfather worked with jewelry and this was a cherished piece of his, and I know there was something rare about it.

The second piece is either blue topaz or aquamarine, from my uncle, who was a world-traveler and collector of all sorts of valuable things. When he passed away, his estate consisted of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry/watches/artwork/other items he had accumulated over the years. I know blue topaz is typically very common, so it will be interesting to see if this is actually a more valuable aquamarine. But can an aquamarine be a darker greenish-blue color? It is a roundish-oval shape and about 14mm diameter.

Basically I''m just wondering if: A) anyone has any idea where in the Philadelphia area might be a good place to get colored stones evaluated and set? and, B) if anyone has any approximate ideas on value, particularly for a ruby of that size? Just curious... I hate walking into the jewelers knowing absolutely nothing.

Thanks for your help!

 

[colorchange]

Hi,

About the topaz, yes, such color may also be an aquamarime, you have to check.
About the ruby, we have to know how translucent it is and how good the color is, do you have a photo ?

Anyway, apparaising on photo, and particularly non professional photo is almost impossible.

Rgds

 

[valeria101]

Date: 4/6/2006 1:37:44 PM
Author:ephemery1



But can an aquamarine be a darker greenish-blue color? It is a roundish-oval shape and about 14mm diameter.

Well, how can I know what you mean by 'darker greenish blue'? Anyway, better quality aqua (i.e. more intense color) is not common at all, and sure enough... greenish blue.



Basically I'm just wondering if: A) anyone has any idea where in the Philadelphia area might be a good place to get colored stones evaluated and set? and,

Hope other chime in... no idea...



B) if anyone has any approximate ideas on value, particularly for a ruby of that size?

Oups... see next posts. Missed the clarity description.

My 2c

 

[colorchange]

Wow, we are still very far away from hundreds of thousands on translucent rubies, anyway, a very fine translucent ruby can make a very good cabochon up to $1000/Ct and this one may easily be 40 Ct so that's serious money, as well as translucent with many inclusion, clarity enhanced ruby of this size with not good color will sell for well below $1000 so...
But more or less translucent will make an enormous difference, as color, clarity enhancement etc etc.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 4/6/2006 3:50:06 PM
Author: colorchange

Wow, we are still very far away from hundreds of thousands on translucent rubies

I had missed the 'translucent' part... edited the post.

I'd be quite pleased with a nice cab that size! Wonder what the 'translucent' description means

 

[valeria101]

Btw.

Any chance for pictures?

Both soud quite exotic. The ruby would be larger than anything I have ever seen anywhere near precious quality! Even good cabs... around 10cts are quite something (for me at least), let alone a couple of times that!

And it wouldn''t be the first time that fine cabochon-garde ruby (i.e. translucent smooth texture, good color) would be faceted.

 

[colorchange]

Hum indeed would the ruby be good it would be typicaly the kind if things I do buy

, unfortunately, most rubies are glass or flux filled now days even when the improvement is very limited and I don''t buy such material.
Indeed translucent is cabochon quality, but may be fine cabochon quality, such ruby in fine quality will mount in broach typicaly.
Will go from $50/Ct to $1000/Ct untreated or heat only. If semi transparent, may go higher.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 4/6/2006 4:20:10 PM
Author: colorchange
Hum indeed would the ruby be good it would be typically the kind if things I do buy..

Oh... your typical 40 carats nice ruby

Something makes me think that the law of large numbers is not going to hold !

 

[ephemery1]

Thank you so much for your replies... you are all so knowledgeable about all this! I wish I had more details to give you about the stones right now... I travel for work so I will have to wait til I am back at my parents'' home again to get pix of the ruby. My grandmother had written some information about it and put it on an index card in the box with it, so after I am there again, I may be able to pass along some more details. It is translucent to the eye, and a lighter red than I typically envision rubies to be. From what I remember, it was similar to this in both color and cut: http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?-121618832, but round instead of oval. And like I said, very large... though I can''t imagine it would be 40cts. Is that really what a 20mm diameter would be??

As for the blue topaz/aquamarine, I certainly was not implying the stone itself was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars!

Just that my uncle was a collector and had amassed quite a few objects of value over the years, so I am assuming the ring was of good quality, even if just a "regular" blue topaz. Either way, it is beautiful and has sentimental value being a family piece, so I am excited to get it reset so I can wear it! I did try and take a few pix with my digital camera, I will post this then see if I can figure out how to upload them...

Again, I know it is impossible to judge exact value without having any real info, I was really just curious if anyone had any input for me before I just walked into a jeweler''s totally unknowing.

 

[ephemery1]

Also, before I keep throwing around the term "translucent", can somebody explain what that would mean in jeweler-speak? I was merely using it to imply that you can essentially see right through the stone. I just remember being surprised that it was a ruby, because I always pictured rubies as darker and more opaque... this one just seemed so... clear. Again, I apologize for not being an expert in all this... if anyone had any pix that would illustrate these terms more clearly, I would love to see them!

And I promise to post pix of the stone in question as soon as humanly possible!

 

[widget]

Well, I for one can''t wait to hear what your grandmother wrote about the stone, and of course, to see pictures!

VERY VERY interesting!!!
widget

 

[nicky newark]

http://www.gemappraisers.com/Index.asp

 

[ephemery1]

Picture of the blue ring, if my newfound picture-posting skills work...

 

[ephemery1]

Wow... I guess it works. Apologies for all the gross finger-prints... I had nothing worthwhile to clean the ring with when I was snapping the pix this afternoon. Anyway, does this give anyone a better sense of color? I know I''ll have to take it to be appraised to know for sure, just curious. I was thinking blue topaz or possibly aquamarine... but are there any other options this could be?

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Blue topaz.

 

[Richard Sherwood]

I''d love to see a picture of the red stone.

 

[ephemery1]

Unfortunately I won''t be able to post pix of the ruby until I''m home again to take them next week.

But thanks for your interest... I''ll definitely put them up ASAP!

As for the blue ring, is it maybe not worth being appraised/evaluated then if we''re assuming it''s "just" blue topaz? I don''t really want to spend $$ on that for a stone that''s not going to be worth the cost of the appraisal! Although I''m still planning on having it set in white gold... anyone have any suggestions for settings, while we''re at it? I like simple but delicate!

 

[riogems]

Hi - I wouldn''t bother with the appraisal of the blue topaz.

14mm is quite a big stone for a "simple and delicate" ring setting. That will require some thought. What about a pendant?

 

[colorchange]

Date: 4/6/2006 4:56:47 PM
Author: valeria101

Date: 4/6/2006 4:20:10 PM
Author: colorchange
Hum indeed would the ruby be good it would be typically the kind if things I do buy..

Oh... your typical 40 carats nice ruby

Something makes me think that the law of large numbers is not going to hold !

No but I'm typicaly buying those rubies and sapphires that don't exist in very large numbers.

For ephemery1 :
Transparent : You can see through, light is not distorted "glass clear" (facet quality)
Semi Transparent : Imagine you had a 5 mm slide, and you put it on a sheet of paper, you would read through but it would be foggy. (top cabochon quality)
Translucent : covers the whole range between Semi-Transparent and opaque.

Then there is the problem of inclusions : what can you see at the naked eye ?

 

[ephemery1]

Well, "law of large numbers" or not, it''s not for sale anyway.

I was really just trying to figure out if the stone is something I should get insured before wearing it around. I can''t imagine my grandmother would have had a piece of that value without having insurance on it herself (or having told me more about it before handing it over), so I figure at this point it''s safest to assume it''s NOT natural. I really had no idea about the value of a natural ruby of that size.

I also checked with my mom and she recalls that the ruby was from a laser... I would guess government-related, as my grandfather was in the navy. From what I can find online, it seems like that would make it synthetic for sure, though likely of a higher quality than a regular flame-fusion synthetic ruby? It would have been cut at least 30-40 years ago, as my grandfather passed away in 1978, if that gives anyone a better idea of what kind of process would have been used for creating laser-quality rubies back then.

Sorry for all the vague-ness... I really do appreciate everybody''s input even without knowing any more details yet!

 

[strmrdr]

ah that explains it... its laser rod.
not worth a whole lot $$ wise.
Wear it and be happy :}

 

[glitterata]

A few random thoughts:

I think that blue topaz is very attractive in its gold setting. Too bad you''re not a man, then you could wear it as is. (You''re a woman, right?)

Huge, clean, red rubies usually turn out to be synthetic.

People can own valuable items AND items they''re very fond of but which are worth less money. Just because someone has valuable things doesn''t mean all his things are valuable. And often the less expensive ones have more sentimental value or get worn more often.

 

[ephemery1]

I am female, yes... and unfortunately all of my current jewelry is silver or white gold, so that tends to be my preference. I agree the blue stone does look nice with the yellow gold though!

And being a less-than-wealthy grad student, I certainly understand the value of sentimental items over merely "expensive" items! Personally, the things I treasure most are simple cards and notes from my grandma that I''ve saved over the years. But as I mentioned before, my uncle was a world-traveler and very passionate about his "collections". So for him, some of his most sentimental items have often turned out to be the most monetarily valuable as well... in other words, he became quite attached to certain things after the complicated processes he went through to obtain them!

As for the ruby, I''m definitely assuming it is synthetic at this point, now knowing what I do about the laser... just wondering if anyone had any info about how common it is for stones to be cut from laser rod? And if there was a certain type of synthetic process typically used in rubies for lasers around this time? Regardless of value, basically, I just like to know things... and this is a topic about which I''m obviously interested in learning more!

 

[strmrdr]

do a google search for ruby laser rod and you will find more info than you could ever read :}

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Synthetic ruby used for lasers is flame fusion (Verneuil type) ruby, the most inexpensive (and internally cleanest) kind. Beautiful stones, but no great value. A 20-40 carat stone would probably retail for 20-40 dollars.