Mystery Star Sapphire

[Rubymal]

This little star sapphire has me stumped. Granted, I know very little about star sapphires. I recently stumbled across this ring on ebay and it wasn't too expensive and looked very pretty. Seller said he took it to a jeweler and they confirmed it was real (but I took that with a grain of salt) because the jeweler also said the side stones were not diamond but had no idea what they were.

The ring is stamped sterling silver which was another thing that made me think it's synthetic. Underneath, it looks like the stone was painted with a blue layer so I can't really tell if there are inclusions.

But I haven't really seen any synthetic stars around that look like this. The star definitely does move around a lot.

I'll try to get it cleaned up and take more pics but... initial thoughts? Synthetic or natural?

 

[LilAlex]

can't tell from looking but it has all the stigmata of a synthetic. not sure it would even matter if it is painted blue on the bottom, etc.

"Took it to a jeweler" means nothing, really. Most can not test for gem type let alone synthetic vs. natural.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Its so pretty

 

[Burmesedaze]

What's the underside of the star sapphire like?

 

[Django74th]

What's the underside of the star sapphire like?

Agree! The back of a star sapphire can tell you a lot. The back may be uneven or show striations if it’s natural. Also, the legs of a natural star typically aren’t perfectly straight. For a gem set in silver, if it were a real sapphire, it expect to notice some natural irregularities in the straightness of the legs.

 

[pokerface]

Natural star sapphire does not show or photograph with giant fat star legs, as shown in the last photo. Maybe it's some kind of weird doublet or the star is painted on the bottom. I agree it doesn't look like a typical Linde star, but I also don't think that the quality is higher than that.