My newest stone--Unheated blue sapphire

[OTL]

Here is a 2.7ct unheated blue sapphire comes with an AIGS certificate stated no indication of heat process. This will be my second unheated sapphire, third in total.
My first one is a blue heart and Tan called it cornflower blue, but it only has an AIGS cert, which never use trade color names.
This new sapphire is from a different seller, who also said it's cornflower blue. I do not know for sure but the two stones do have same color and tone. I didn't pay cornflower price for them so who cares?
They both shift to violet blue under fluorescent light.

 

[ingrid518]

i love the color! congrats on the purchase

 

[marcy]

Very pretty. Great color.

 

[minousbijoux]

I very much like the color of both - your new cushion looks to have good light return as well. Good for you!

How about a picture of the whole family - that is, all three?!

 

[Quennoo]

Beautiful colours...can I ask who you purchased the stones from? Thanks...I am on the hunt myself!!

 

[hippi_pixi]

stunning! thats my favourite color

 

[Efriede]

Wow, that would be pretty much my dream color for sapphire! Congratulations!

 

[Afterglow]

That color is devine!

 

[JewelFreak]

Beautiful colors on both. Great finds! I especially love the cushion.

--- Laurie

 

[lknvrb4]

I really love the color, gorgeous!

 

[kgizo]

Beautiful blue! Do you plan to set them?

 

[gemtastic]

Wow Please post more info.......like does your stone have a sister

 

[petit_bijou]

Wow Please post more info.......like does your stone have a sister

gemtastic you took the words right out of my mouth

LOVELY stones! I especially love the cushion

 

[Jereni]

Wow, those are GORGEOUS!!! Really digging that color!

 

[OTL]

Thank you all for the kind comments! I bought the stone on ebay lol Somehow the listing is still live , I'd share more about this vendor when I contacted him to end the listing.

Minou, I do not have all three in a photo right now, bad day to take a picture. But I shared it before, it is a 2ct heat only pear from Tan. He is a little shy on color comparing to these two brothers

Kgizo, yes, I want to set it with a lot of melees

 

[LD]

Very pretty and love the colours. Just so you're aware, throw out the term cornflower blue because it means nothing. Interestingly there was a thread about 2 or 3 years ago that asked people to post a colour they thought was cornflower blue - you should have seen the different shades that were posted up! It was amazing. Whatever you call them however they're lovely!

 

[pandabee]

Oohh they're electric!!

 

[minousbijoux]

LD - you raise an interesting point, as I bet there a bunch of different varieties of batchelors buttons or cornflower that come in various hues of blue! I should go find a seed catalogue and see what colors they have, lol!

 

[minousbijoux]

OTL: can you tell me a bit about your camera, lighting and how you were able to get such great detail and such sharpness on your photos? I am striving to be a better photographer, but am having a hard time with closeups. Is your camera a point and shoot? What is the lighting you use, and how to you keep from obstructing the light source with the camera/your head? You see to consistently get sharp pictures with decent lighting without a photo studio type setup. How do you do it, as I would like to replicate it (if you don't mind). Thanks.

 

[SapphireSun]

Hi OTL, love your blue sapphire!! Is "cornflower" blue considered a premium? When I first started my sapphire search I knew that I wanted a lighter blue sapphire and was told that was good because prices drop from the "coveted" royal blue. I was shone a cornflower that was beautiful (though I don't know if it was heated as it was from a local jeweler and priced at $1200 for around 2ct - last summer). I was also told that my sapphire is considered Cornflower blue, so I knew right away that it's very subjective. However, I would say that yours is a perfect cornflower blue! It really is lovely and glowy! Can't wait to see the outcome of your ring! Enjoy!

 

[OTL]

OTL: can you tell me a bit about your camera, lighting and how you were able to get such great detail and such sharpness on your photos? I am striving to be a better photographer, but am having a hard time with closeups. Is your camera a point and shoot? What is the lighting you use, and how to you keep from obstructing the light source with the camera/your head? You see to consistently get sharp pictures with decent lighting without a photo studio type setup. How do you do it, as I would like to replicate it (if you don't mind). Thanks.

I don't have any lighting equipment setup. My camera is not a point and shoot, it is Canon 5D Mark||, with a 100/2.8 macro lens. I like taking photos near the balcony, stand against the window so there is no direct sunlight.

ISO, aperture, shutter speed are all three parameters that you use to get a correct exposure. If the light is too strong, then you adjust the aperture to a larger number which is a smaller aperture such as from 4 to 8. You can also adjust shutter speed from 1/100 s to 1/200 s. If the light is too weak, vice versa.

But if you have done that and the image is still dark, this is when you use a high ISO.
I do use a high ISO when there is not enough light. The thing is when there is not enough light, images can get really blurry, especially when you use a slow shutter speed, with your handshake when clicking the button, it does not help with the sharpness. If you use a high ISO such as 800 or 1600, it does not affect the color of the stone and give you a choice to use a faster shutter speed. For example, 1/150s to 1/200s. For most people, that's fast enough to avoid handshake blur.


manual focus also helps with getting a clear image. I usually adjust my lens to the cloest focusing distance, which is 0.3m, holding the camera close to the stone, and just move a little bit back and forth until I see the stone is in focus and click the button.

 

[OTL]

Hi OTL, love your blue sapphire!! Is "cornflower" blue considered a premium? When I first started my sapphire search I knew that I wanted a lighter blue sapphire and was told that was good because prices drop from the "coveted" royal blue. I was shone a cornflower that was beautiful (though I don't know if it was heated as it was from a local jeweler and priced at $1200 for around 2ct - last summer). I was also told that my sapphire is considered Cornflower blue, so I knew right away that it's very subjective. However, I would say that yours is a perfect cornflower blue! It really is lovely and glowy! Can't wait to see the outcome of your ring! Enjoy!

Yes, I think cornflower blue is a premium trade color. The most beautiful cornflower blue sapphire photo I have seen is this one. I think mine are short of saturation and has a little violet color in it. May not be close enough to be a cornflower

 

[Jemsy]

I love blue sapphires . . . and both of yours are just so lovely. I would love to see how you plan (if you are) on setting them!

 

[pregcurious]

Here's a "cornflower" thread, for those interested:

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/what-exactly-is-cornflower-blue-royal-blue.144776/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/what-exactly-is-cornflower-blue-royal-blue.144776/[/URL]

 

[SapphireSun]

It might just be me, but I tend to think that cornflower has a very light tint of violet in it. I think of cornflower to be like faded blue jeans. OK, sorry for threadjacking your post!! Still think your sapphire is brilliant!

 

[SapphireSun]

Just opened Pregcurious' link and obviously I don't know cornflower blue!! It was always my impression it was a lighter blue, but those flowers are gorgeous!

 

[minousbijoux]

If you'll notice earlier in the thread, LD makes the point that "cornflower" is subjective and means different things to different people. I could not agree more. Cornflower is not a technical term and will not appear on any lab report. The variety of opinions on what is "cornflower" in the cornflower thread is a perfect example of why its not a standard. What is used is tone (light, medium, medium dark, dark), level of saturation (light, medium, strong, vivid), and hue (greenish blue, blue, violetish blue). Some also use a number scale for greater accuracy. Even so, it is still subjective, as from time to time we see with vendors who describe stones a certain way, which sometimes is not consistent with how PS buyers would describe it.

 

[chrono]

OTL,
Are these keepers? I know in an older thread you mentioned that your camera does blue all too well so is this the case here? Are the colours representative of what we see?

This is precisely why I dislike the term cornflower and pigeon's blood and etc. It varies from person to person and even the flower and blood itself comes in a varieties of blue and red. Although breaking it down to hue, tone and saturation isn't always 100% accurate, it sets an understandable standard that is measurable and consistent.

 

[pregcurious]

Just opened Pregcurious' link and obviously I don't know cornflower blue!! It was always my impression it was a lighter blue, but those flowers are gorgeous!

The term cornflower blue is subjective. There's no reason to think one person's opinion is more correct.

On the other hand, the examples that RW posted in the other thread are considered top color by the trade, and I would describe them in terms of hue/modifier, saturation, tone, not in terms of flower names. Top color also does not indicate that everyone should like that color; it indicates that it is associated with a top price.

Nice blues OTL.

 

[OTL]

If you'll notice earlier in the thread, LD makes the point that "cornflower" is subjective and means different things to different people. I could not agree more. Cornflower is not a technical term and will not appear on any lab report. The variety of opinions on what is "cornflower" in the cornflower thread is a perfect example of why its not a standard. What is used is tone (light, medium, medium dark, dark), level of saturation (light, medium, strong, vivid), and hue (greenish blue, blue, violetish blue). Some also use a number scale for greater accuracy. Even so, it is still subjective, as from time to time we see with vendors who describe stones a certain way, which sometimes is not consistent with how PS buyers would describe it.

I agree that we should use tone/color/saturation to describe a stone . Although I have seen GRS use this term quite often on their certificate. Based on my limited knowledge, I would describe cornflower blue as medium tone strong saturation and has as little violet as possible. But that's just my opinion