my $0.02 on who should seek a yellow sapphire...

[corundum_conundrum]

Hi everyone,

I joined this forum many months ago in search of a really top quality yellow sapphire. I failed to find it and have, sadly, largely given up on yellows and am now entertaining substitutes. I thought I might offer some of my thoughts on who should try to find a top quality yellow sapphire, in, say, 6 months or less. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are you open to many cuts or shapes?
2. Are you open to treatments, including heat, and possibly beryllium?
3. Are you open to and have the budget for a large variation in carat size?
4. Are you open to yellows with pleasant modifiers, such as orange, gold or green?

Those answering affirmatively to most of the above should be able to find a top quality stone in under 6 months. If you answered negatively to all of these questions, then you are in my position, and it will be difficult to find what you are looking for in a short period of time. I would recommend you either compromise on some of your criteria, or seek a different stone.

 

[kenny]

Perhaps consider yellow diamonds.
They are among the most abundant and affordable of the hues of colored diamonds.
Plus only a diamond has that high index of refraction for a light show that only a diamond can put on.
Being harder than sapphire they are very durable for daily wear.

 

[chrono]

In actuality, the questions posed is applicable to all gemstone searches. The more stringent the requirements, the longer and less successful the search.

 

[corundum_conundrum]

I totally agree with Kenny and forgot to mention it--if you have the budget, go for a yellow diamond. There are many more to choose from, and GIA will help you with the leg-work of an evaluation!

I also agree with Chrono. Specific to yellow sapphires, however, are the green modifier (unheated) and green and orange modifier (heated). If greenish yellow or orangish yellow are objectionable to you, it will be very hard for you to find a great yellow sapphire, since these modifiers are exceedingly common.

 

[innerkitten]

Perhaps consider yellow diamonds.
They are among the most abundant and affordable of the hues of colored diamonds.
Plus only a diamond has that high index of refraction for a light show that only a diamond can put on.
Being harder than sapphire they are very durable for daily wear.

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[digdeep]

I guess I've never been that particular and my stone's personality won me over! I have a yellow unheated sapphire, and in sunlight it has beautiful green flashes. The color of the stone doesn't change, but there is green fire that is gorgeous. It also fluoresces like crazy when I go from sunshine to shade---sometimes my own hand made shade. For me this stone carries it's origin front and center.....it is not flawless (that's the nature of nature) and I'm happy with it. I see it as a storyteller about geologic history and then watch it put on a light show glowing just for me!

 

[Edward Bristol]

I am surprised that you should single out yellow sapphire.

I always think they are the easiest to find when compared with other sapphire colours (try Kashmir blue or hot pink or even pure white).

It will always be hard to find something naturally grown that is exactly as you want it. That comes with the, well, 'nature' of the product.

It is true that many have green and orange in them but they are pretty nevertheless.

Inclusions in yellow are a different topic. A clean yellow is difficult to find because the colour won’t hide much.

 

[LD]

In actuality, the questions posed is applicable to all gemstone searches. The more stringent the requirements, the longer and less successful the search.

+1 - this is what a normal gemstone search should consider.

If a buyer is picky about having an exact tone/hue then of course the search will be problematic especially if you then add in size and cut constraints. It's actually the same for any gemstone.

 

[pregcurious]

In actuality, the questions posed is applicable to all gemstone searches. The more stringent the requirements, the longer and less successful the search.

I agree. When searching for one of my holy grails, I had to change from cushion to oval, and 3 ct to 2 ct. I did not compromise on color or clarity, and for that I am glad.

 

[corundum_conundrum]

by Edward Bristol » 25 Apr 2013 02:51
I am surprised that you should single out yellow sapphire.

I always think they are the easiest to find when compared with other sapphire colours (try Kashmir blue or hot pink or even pure white).

It will always be hard to find something naturally grown that is exactly as you want it. That comes with the, well, 'nature' of the product.

It is true that many have green and orange in them but they are pretty nevertheless.

Inclusions in yellow are a different topic. A clean yellow is difficult to find because the colour won’t hide much.

Some modifiers might be more irksome to some than others. The green modifier really bothered me in yellows (it sounds like it doesn't bother you, ed), whereas a good dose of purple in my blue or a bit of orange in my red doesn't bother me. I guess what I'm suggesting is that yellow saphs will be a difficult find for the yellow purist--They might be easy to find for those who don't mind some orange or green in their yellow.

I totally agree with your point about yellow showing off inclusions. I also found that yellow also showed off poor pavilion faceting more than some other colors. Something else to be on guard about when looking for yellow sapphires.

 

[innerkitten]

In actuality, the questions posed is applicable to all gemstone searches. The more stringent the requirements, the longer and less successful the search.

+1 - this is what a normal gemstone search should consider.

If a buyer is picky about having an exact tone/hue then of course the search will be problematic especially if you then add in size and cut constraints. It's actually the same for any gemstone.

+2
We've also seen very long difficult searches for things like rubies, spinels etc...

 

[Edward Bristol]

Some modifiers might be more irksome to some than others. The green modifier really bothered me in yellows (it sounds like it doesn't bother you, ed), whereas a good dose of purple in my blue or a bit of orange in my red doesn't bother me. I guess what I'm suggesting is that yellow saphs will be a difficult find for the yellow purist--They might be easy to find for those who don't mind some orange or green in their yellow.

I totally agree with your point about yellow showing off inclusions. I also found that yellow also showed off poor pavilion faceting more than some other colors. Something else to be on guard about when looking for yellow sapphires.

Personally, I like most color combinations (well, not all, but many, also brown and mix-orange and weird off-colors).

I am more a fanatic when it comes to a good crystal.

From a market point of view I hear more complains about purple and orange in red, or purple and violet in blue than about green in yellow.

 

[velouriaL]

I think it's always hard when an ering quest is also holy grail quest. The latter is something that collectors search for on the side for years, often picking up other stones that arent perfect but just "speak" to them for some reason.

When you're looking for a holy grail for an ering, well, lucky recipient (in the long run, though maybe not the short), but unlucky searcher!

 

[velouriaL]

I do wonder, though, if yellow sapphires are more routinely heated than blue because unheated blue tends to be more sought-after.

 

[chrono]

I think it is because naturally well saturated yellows are rare and need some help in the form of heating to look better.

 

[digdeep]

I think it is because naturally well saturated yellows are rare and need some help in the form of heating to look better.

"Better" is in the eyes of the beholder and the absence of heating with yellows (like most sapphires that are unheated/untreated) adds a premium on price. I do believe that a lot of stones are heated to get the 'better' color, that in turn, get's a better profit and moves gems faster. It's the tradeoff in most cases..... 'good' heated yellows are easy to find (everywhere), pay a premium for good 'au natural' (unheated) stones (fewer and farther between), pay a BIG premium for a bull's eye yellow all natural sapphire (needle in a haystack two fields over).....

 

[LD]

I am really really bemused by this thread! Why on earth are yellow sapphires being separated out as being more difficult to find? It's nonsense. It's just as hard to find a great sapphire that is untreated in a certain cut or weight as it is with other colours.

The wide ranging variety of tones/hues in yellow is the same as blues or pinks - so why on earth is finding a yellow sapphire more difficult? It's not. It's only difficult if you're looking for a certain set of criteria and don't want to compromise!

 

[kenny]

I am really really bemused by this thread! Why on earth are yellow sapphires being separated out as being more difficult to find? It's nonsense. It's just as hard to find a great sapphire that is untreated in a certain cut or weight as it is with other colours.

The wide ranging variety of tones/hues in yellow is the same as blues or pinks - so why on earth is finding a yellow sapphire more difficult? It's not. It's only difficult if you're looking for a certain set of criteria and don't want to compromise!

With diamond the supply, and price, of various hues varies tremendously from Brown to Red.

Are you saying the earth supplies equal quantities of all hues of sapphire?

 

[Euphony]

Comparing coloured diamonds to sapphires doesn't really work as there is a lot more disparity between availability of certain colours of diamonds than there is with any given colour of sapphire. And even taking into account that some colours occur more frequently than others in nature, yellow is not actually one of the more rare ones. A pure, untreated red is usually the worst with any stone, in my opinion.

 

[LD]

Comparing coloured diamonds to sapphires doesn't really work as there is a lot more disparity between availability of certain colours of diamonds than there is with any given colour of sapphire. And even taking into account that some colours occur more frequently than others in nature, yellow is not actually one of the more rare ones. A pure, untreated red is usually the worst with any stone, in my opinion.

+1 - couldn't agree more. If you want to end up bald (assuming you have lots of hair in the first place), try finding a true red gem. Not a brown or purple or orange one but a true red one with just a tiny modifier.

 

[chrono]

And add unheated into the equation means major moolah in addition to major time involved to find a well saturated true red.

 

[NKOTB]

CC - just saw this and thought I'd throw it out there, in case...Could be recut? Just a thought...

http://www.litnon.com/index.php?page=viewgem&id=9564

 

[chrono]

Not enough depth and risks an end colour that is less saturated and / or bring out a modifier that CC might not want. It's an interesting stone though.

 

[T L]

If you don't mind a little green in the stone, there is always chrysoberyl which is almost as hard as sapphire and takes on a beautiful polish, luster, and sparkles like mad when well cut. They are also untreated (as far as I know), which is a nice perk, and very reasonably priced, especially next to untreated yellow sapphires.

This is mine, and it's more yellow than green. Some can shift to a more greenish color, and some contain brown (I would avoid those). It's a diamond cut stone, and I plan on setting it one of these days. It's more saturated in yellow color IRL. The saturation got washed out when I uploaded this photo to PS. Well, it's a really beautiful stone, at least to me, and it's really well cut and sparkles so much that it's almost impossible to get a photo of it without tons of light blurring the gem.



There are many vendors that carry them.

 

[corundum_conundrum]

Thanks for the suggestions New Kid and TL!

The yellow sapphire from litnon is intriguing (though still a bit too lemony for what I was looking for). Add to that the risk of a recut, and I think it would be too much of a nail-biter for this newbie.

Chrysos are great, and I plan to buy a nice one for myself at some point as a sort of consolation for failing to find a yellow sapphire. I think some of the more neon yellow/green ones can be fantastic. I also go gaga for the elusive yellow yellow chryso, a la:

http://www.simplysapphires.com/othe...chrysoberyl-5.22-cts-8.8x8.1x6.7mm?cPath=139&

But I think I need a slightly more well-known species of stone for this project.

 

[minousbijoux]

If you don't mind a little green in the stone, there is always chrysoberyl which is almost as hard as sapphire and takes on a beautiful polish, luster, and sparkles like mad when well cut. They are also untreated (as far as I know), which is a nice perk, and very reasonably priced, especially next to untreated yellow sapphires.

This is mine, and it's more yellow than green. Some can shift to a more greenish color, and some contain brown (I would avoid those). It's a diamond cut stone, and I plan on setting it one of these days. It's more saturated in yellow color IRL. The saturation got washed out when I uploaded this photo to PS. Well, it's a really beautiful stone, at least to me, and it's really well cut and sparkles so much that it's almost impossible to get a photo of it without tons of light blurring the gem.



There are many vendors that carry them.

Oh, TL, I know you've had this one for a while, but even though I have a bunch of chrysos, if I could find one with faceting like that one, I swear I would love it, I really would! Any suggestions on finding one cut like that?

 

[T L]

If you don't mind a little green in the stone, there is always chrysoberyl which is almost as hard as sapphire and takes on a beautiful polish, luster, and sparkles like mad when well cut. They are also untreated (as far as I know), which is a nice perk, and very reasonably priced, especially next to untreated yellow sapphires.

This is mine, and it's more yellow than green. Some can shift to a more greenish color, and some contain brown (I would avoid those). It's a diamond cut stone, and I plan on setting it one of these days. It's more saturated in yellow color IRL. The saturation got washed out when I uploaded this photo to PS. Well, it's a really beautiful stone, at least to me, and it's really well cut and sparkles so much that it's almost impossible to get a photo of it without tons of light blurring the gem.



There are many vendors that carry them.

Oh, TL, I know you've had this one for a while, but even though I have a bunch of chrysos, if I could find one with faceting like that one, I swear I would love it, I really would! Any suggestions on finding one cut like that?

Hi Minous,
I bought it from Tan a while ago. My suggestion would be to find a nice chryso from ebay and have Jerry Newman recut it for you, or ask a precision lapidary if he has any like this in stock, without the brown. Maybe you can ask Tan if he has any like this in stock?? He diamond cuts various stones like this from time to time. Thanks.

 

[T L]

Thanks for the suggestions New Kid and TL!

The yellow sapphire from litnon is intriguing (though still a bit too lemony for what I was looking for). Add to that the risk of a recut, and I think it would be too much of a nail-biter for this newbie.

Chrysos are great, and I plan to buy a nice one for myself at some point as a sort of consolation for failing to find a yellow sapphire. I think some of the more neon yellow/green ones can be fantastic. I also go gaga for the elusive yellow yellow chryso, a la:

http://www.simplysapphires.com/othe...chrysoberyl-5.22-cts-8.8x8.1x6.7mm?cPath=139&

But I think I need a slightly more well-known species of stone for this project.

I don't know if it's the photography on that stone, but it looks to be doubly refractive and chrysoberyls are singly refractive. I think it's a sphene (looks like the color of a yellow sphene too), so I would double check with them before considering that stone. It's not the first time I've seen chrysoberyls mistaken for sphene or vice versa.

Good luck on your project.

 

[corundum_conundrum]

Thanks TL. I did notice what appeared to me to be double-refractivity, but I thought it was just a clarity issue. Its also soooo yellow that it seems like it might not be a chryso...I would guess your suspicion is correct.

 

[chrono]

Hmmm....Yes, it could be an error. I think Tan once listed a chrysoberyl as a sphene or vice versa as well.

And TL, I covet your round chrysoberyl. I'll bet with that spectacular cutting, it is amazingly brilliant and we all know chrysoberyls are already showy as it is.