My newest stone--Unheated blue sapphire

[OTL]

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?

My camera likes to bring out the blue out of blue spinel. But not so much for sapphire. I would say it is pretty close to real stone, may have made it appear a bit lighter in tone and less saturated.Looks quite like the picture on the AIGS cert.
The last photo was taken by a point and shoot camera which I rarely use.

 

[OTL]

Sorry for the blurry ipad images, but they show the true color.
I am suprised that my ipad mini took the most true to life photos in my car yesterday.
They have the perfect medium tone, and a saturation I love.

 

[pregcurious]

GRS has an example of what it means by "velvet cornflower" here, which they are now calling "Kashmir-Blue". You can click on the example report to see the color, which has both color designations on the report.
http://www.gemresearch.ch/news/NewColor/NewColor.htm

 

[minousbijoux]

Arrrghhhh! This is why GRS frustrates so many of us - terms are USELESS because they are so subjective! I do not see why they continue to perpetuate this practice of using flowery and meaningless descriptors (actually, I don know why - its because they cater to the retail trade and consumers like us)!

 

[OTL]

Arrrghhhh! This is why GRS frustrates so many of us - terms are USELESS because they are so subjective! I do not see why they continue to perpetuate this practice of using flowery and meaningless descriptors (actually, I don know why - its because they cater to the retail trade and consumers like us)!

With all respect, I don't think they are completely useless though. I think it does help when tone/color/saturation just not enough to describe a stone. I have gotten better at judging these trade colors only to compare to myself. I could be easily fooled by a seller a year ago if he told me that was a cornflower blue, this was a pigeon blood red. But I know for myself, after seeing other people's or vendor's stones with a certificate that stating these colors, I learned a lot and have a better understanding now.

Even Gubelin accept trade colors, and builds a strick standard for the terms. True, color is pretty subjective, but what we see and interpret color should still fall into a certain range and maybe that's why the standards are used for.
http://www.gubelingemlab.ch/Important-Information/Trade-Colours.php

Just my 2 cents

 

[minousbijoux]

OTL: its interesting to see that your latest photos are different than the ones on the prior page (the closeup hand shots). These new ones show lower saturation - not nearly that leaning-towards-vivid-blue we saw earlier. Still learning about the effects of the camera and lighting.

Thanks, btw, on your quick tutorial on your camera! Unfortunately, I was hoping you would have said your camera was a point and shoot! Mine is and I wish it had the versatility and options yours does. I have limited apertures (biggest is only f5.6), but I am learning slowly - playing with white balance, ISO setting, timer, lighting, blah blah. It sounds like you know what you're doing when it comes to photography so I'll take any pointers when I'm showing my latest photos soon...

 

[minousbijoux]

Arrrghhhh! This is why GRS frustrates so many of us - terms are USELESS because they are so subjective! I do not see why they continue to perpetuate this practice of using flowery and meaningless descriptors (actually, I don know why - its because they cater to the retail trade and consumers like us)!

With all respect, I don't think they are completely useless though. I think it does help when tone/color/saturation just not enough to describe a stone. I have gotten better at judging these trade colors only to compare to myself. I could be easily fooled by a seller a year ago if he told me that was a cornflower blue, this was a pigeon blood red. But I know for myself, after seeing other people's or vendor's stones with a certificate that stating these colors, I learned a lot and have a better understanding now.

Even Gubelin accept trade colors, and builds a strick standard for the terms. True, color is pretty subjective, but what we see and interpret color should still fall into a certain range and maybe that's why the standards are used for.
http://www.gubelingemlab.ch/Important-Information/Trade-Colours.php

Just my 2 cents

No, OTL, I think this is great - if they help you "crack the code" of what the true color will be to you, then great! I think after a while we also build up certain rapport with vendors and we then understand each other's terminology and definitions. That helps a lot too.

Btw, has the ebay vendor removed the sapphire you bought from his pages so that you are willing to share the vendor?

 

[OTL]

CERTAINLY. It's from exportgems on ebay.

 

[minousbijoux]

Fwiw, I think you've done very well! That was a good gamble.

 

[pregcurious]

GRS says that stones only get these "top" color designations if they are over a certain carat weight. It sounds like this is a way to identify the best colored sapphires and rubies for marketing purposes.

I can see a usefulness in this because it takes the guessing game out for consumers, and it's an easy way for vendors to say, I have a stone designated as "Kashmir-blue" or "Majestic red" from GRS. I don't think the target consumer is for people like us, but people who are less price sensitive and do not want to spend their free time learning about the subtleties of colored gems. I would guess that such a GRS designation would increase the price on a gem.

 

[chrono]

There is no question that these trade colour names make it much easier for the vendor to sell the gem at a premium price and for the consumer to know what they are getting if they select stones that come with a GRS or Gubelin report but it also makes it easier for unscrupulous vendors to continue calling their stones "blood red" and "Kashmir blue" on just about anything they want, further muddling the waters for most people. I don't know about Gubelin but I know that GRS does not take tone into consideration in their nomenclature (from the site that shall not be named). I am very sure that behind the scenes, both labs have certain hues and saturation ranges (and to some degree, tone) that the stone must meet at a minimum in order to qualify for such a name or for each category. The difference is that these are all hidden from us.

 

[LD]

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]

I rest my case!

 

[NKOTB]

Holy cow, I love that colour!! Lucky, lucky!

 

[OTL]

Holy cow, I love that colour!! Lucky, lucky!

Thanks NKOTB, I Love your chrysoberyl!!

 

[ChrisA222]

I think this was an excellent find, regardless of whether it resembles the first set of pictures or the last set. Great score, OTL!