Lab help: Kashmir sapphire - SSEF or Gubelin??

[AzadKashmir]

Hey all! I have a 3.23 ct. Kashmir sapphire (photo of stone & GIA cert attached); I'm lucky in that I work at a university and have access to...instruments...so I know it's not a Madagascan stone (although to be honest, I love the finest Madagascan stones more than Kashmiri!)

I have a GIA cert which, due to the timing of 2017 and the influx of material from Madagasgar, is worthless for resale. So is the IGI cert it came with (IGI Mumbai, bleh).

So that begs the question: SSEF or Gubelin? I've dealt with both and never had a problem with either. However, this is the first Kashmiri sapphire I'll be submitting myself that wasn't already certified by SSEF or Gubelin.

Will the $400 price difference and anxiety of shipping it to SSEF really make any difference in resale? Help!

P.S. - the GIA photo looks like trash, I know. It does have that cool silky twinning thing going on in the center, though! (Does anyone know what that is called?)



Thank you guys!

 

[LilAlex]

Looks lovely. Symmetric, deep, small crown. Can't say much about the color or light return from any photos. If I were looking at that stone in person and it looked exactly like the image I see on my screen right now, I would not have guessed classic Kashmir -- it's a little darker and a little less saturated -- but a beautiful stone for sure!

If it were me, I'd do AGL -- what country are you in? If you're selling for six figures, you will need any two (imo) from: GIA, AGL, SSEF, Gubelin. But I don't know who would buy from you unless you are in the trade.

If you know it pre-dates the Madagascan material (and I do not know when those finds were) and you are not planning to sell, I would not bother to get another report. Five or ten years from now there will be another geographic or treatment-induced mimic that will necessitate yet another report...

I have access to lots of university imaging instruments and analytic equipment and I could not be counted on to prove Kashmir origin.

 

[AzadKashmir]

Looks lovely. Symmetric, deep, small crown. Can't say much about the color or light return from any photos. If I were looking at that stone in person and it looked exactly like the image I see on my screen right now, I would not have guessed classic Kashmir -- it's a little darker and a little less saturated -- but a beautiful stone for sure!

If it were me, I'd do AGL -- what country are you in? If you're selling for six figures, you will need any two (imo) from: GIA, AGL, SSEF, Gubelin. But I don't know who would buy from you unless you are in the trade.

If you know it pre-dates the Madagascan material (and I do not know when those finds were) and you are not planning to sell, I would not bother to get another report. Five or ten years from now there will be another geographic or treatment-induced mimic that will necessitate yet another report...

I have access to lots of university imaging instruments and analytic equipment and I could not be counted on to prove Kashmir origin.

Thank you!!! The light return is pretty good, color is very deep. It's a long story on this one, but I bought it as a 6 ct stone and a good friend cut it back down. The original had lots of pargasite inclusions that were messing up the color. Unfortunately, recutting has cost it the classic velvety color. It is super brilliant and fiery now, so not a classic Kashmir look.

I'm in the U.S., so AGL is a great recommendation--thank you I will send it their way this week.

P.S. - I have access to an Agilent LA-ICP-TOF-MS Luckily there were a few small (0.05 ct.) pieces from recutting I was able to ablate with the ICP and match to the standards that SSEF published. My conclusion could very well be wrong, though. I am by no means a gemmologist or even a geologist...yikes haha!

Thank you again for the reccomendation!

 

[LilAlex]

Thank you again for the reccomendation!

You're miles ahead of me, technically. Kudos on the fine outcome!

Maybe wait for a few more folks to weigh in here. I do not have six figures worth of confidence in my answers. I wrote what I would want as a buyer. The biggest is confidence in the seller. A pro may prefer SSEF or Gubelin for an overseas market, etc.