Need Help with a Yellow Sapphire Please..

[ccuheartnurse]

Hi Everyone,

I've been pining for a yellow stone ring for some time now & have primarily been looking at diamonds. Although I've been told the shallow dark edges of the stones are nothing to worry about, I dont like it. I see completed rings in their settings & right away I zero in on the sides that are darkened. So I decided to expand my search to yellow sapphires. Well...if I thought this was going to be easy, I quickly found out it wasn't going to be! As fast as I can call or send an inquiry, the stones are gone.

So here is the one Gary at Firewater has available. It's the Radiant one in the middle of this pic. The other 2 are too dark for my preferences. He said there is no tilt window as the stone is cut well & is deeper stone. The dark spots at 12 & 6 he said is the stone touching his hand & won't be visible when mounted. The 2nd pic shows a larger dark spot at 12 but none at 6 which was noted when he was moving the stone around in the video. Thoughts? ** the stone is reserved for me while he's on vacation. I've bought from Gary before. Awesome customer service **

Octogonal cut...
7.22 X 5.69 x 6.27 depth, untreated as per AGL report, IF clarity.

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I also had been looking at this stone that Africa Gems had on their site. Marc had a video taken for me a couple days ago which you can find on their You Tube page. I did take a pic of a pic so it isn't super accurate but you get an idea. I think it's too brown-golden even though it's larger & much cheaper than Garys stone. LOL I forget the dimensions of it but I thought I would pop it up here in case someone was looking for an Oval & there's a new vid to check out.

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I had also considered this U-V OEC from Diamond Zone but after seeing some of the lower coloured OEC's, especially Acinom's large 5ct one, I dont think a yellow cup or bezel will darken it enough. A nice large one though at 1.5ct. It's not for me but in case someone was looking for a pale yellow stone, this might be one to look at. Price is pretty good too.

Although I'm considering #1 primarily, if you have any words of wisdom about the other 2, I would like to hear it. I'm not sure how I want to set this stone if its in fact the stone I end up with. Gary said it would not be a problem to bezel it. So perhaps a bezel & shield or trap sides. Still working this part out.

Judy

 

[ccuheartnurse]

I forgot to add the Africa Gem stone is 1.64ct, 7.6 X 6.0 stone. For some reason I couldnt edit this on my original post. **shrugs** Also tried to link the You Tube vid & I couldn't do that either.

 

[chrono]

The main thing I'd like to clear up is that you are using tone and saturation interchangeably as "dark" so at times, I am unsure which one you mean.

Tone - light to dark
Saturation - washed out (almost colourless) to vivid (bright and eye popping)

Finewater yellows
Left - not dark at all but is the most saturated yellow (has a very tiny window?)
Middle - middle ground between the left and right sapphires in that the colour isn't as good as the Left but is cut better so it looks brighter. It is also cut very deeply and requires a custom mount to accommodate the nearly 100% depth (you are paying for a lot of carat weight that you don't see - small spread). The 2.67 ct sapphire faces up like a 1.75 ct sapphire.
Right - the least saturated of the trio.

Gary's explanation about the dark spots are correct.

Africa Gems
It is cheaper because the saturation level is a lot lower, and the cut isn't the nicest (could be passable but cannot tell due to the stone being tilted).

What an FCD has over a yellow sapphire is POW dispersion. It makes up for the less intense yellow with wonderful sparkle and often times, multi-coloured sparkle.

 

[Niel]

I'm a big fan of that finewater one. I have bought a few stones from him and I have always found his photography accurate if not slightly less appealing than real life.

O think the cut and color are lovely. I'd be all over that if I was in the market for that type of stone.

I know you said you didn't have setting ideas,but any general styles you like?

I'm always inclined not to bezel colored stones. Though I love the look I see too many people here say its changed the color of the stone

 

[iLander]

I don't know what your budget or size preference is, but this roger dery stone looks remarkable. It's in the $5K range, I asked him (as suspected, I can't afford it). I'd check and see if it's still on hold.

http://www.spectralgems.net/sapphire/sapphireyellowsqemcut7_78ct_9196-2/#main

Otherwise, the stones you posted look lovely.

 

[evergreen]

If you're willing to move outside of sapphire/diamond, and you are veeeeeery nice to your rings / this would be occasional-wear-to-fabulous-events only, would you consider a sphene? This one from The Gem Trader is pretty snazzy and going to be way under budget compared to others. Not to mention dispersion like whoa



"A somewhat starting bodycolor for Sphene, we can honestly say that we have never seen such a 'lemon' yellow gem before. Green is almost always highly evident, and if not that, then brown. There is very little green here and the yellow dominates - we found this in a parcel of much more mundanely colored stones and had to test it to make sure as it is so different. Very dispersive as you would expect. Outstanding color, great size and US cutting too!"

11.5 x 8.5mm... $421.

But Mohs hardness is only 5-5.5, so you would have to be VERY VERY careful with it in a ring. Sigh. I'm realizing this might not be so helpful after all, but it is a gorgeous stone.

 

[Marlow]

A fine yellow zircon?

Or a fine chrysoberyl - better for a ring. And easier to find.

 

[ccuheartnurse]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for weighing in. Before I get going with my response. I'd like to thank Apple auto correct for being ** absolutely ** sure that FineWater is Firewaters. Much appreciated.

Chrono..You're right, I have been mixing up my terms. I should know better after all this time but I really don't know coloured gems all that well. Thank you for clearing that up. Yes, ** sigh** I know it's pretty deep. Normally I would never buy a colourless diamond that had so much weight on the bottom but in the world of yellow sapphires, there are so few good ones out there. I have checked. I do realize I can buy a slightly smaller FCD for the same price, albeit a bit smaller in size. I haven't ruled the FCD out yet.

Neil... Thanks for the vote for the stone. I recall coming across your Yellow sapphire incoming thread & thought the stone looked gorgeous. I'm not sure if it was for yourself or your sister in law , but was a lovely stone. I love bezels, & so when I start researching styles, I gravitate towards them. I'm considering Tab Prongs. Perhaps they might be a good compromise. I'm not that fond of a half halo, oddly enough. My favourite setting is the Victor Canera one with a blue zircon I think it is with side shields & a gorgeous pave shank. I would bezel it. LOL I did inquire about pricing & Page was quick to respond. However, she suggested I should use at least a 3 ct gem for the best look. The sapphire does qualify but the setting is way over budget for a right hand ring. LOL I also love Caleb Meyers settings. I agree about his pics, vervie wn

I'll tell you why I'm so gung ho for bezels. My original wedding band had 3 x .25's, G, H&A, AGS certed & engraved stones mounted in platinum. Gorgeous, made me smile all the time. So when I changed settings & bought a 3/4 eternity, I decided to wear the 3 stone on my right hand. One day, after running around doing errands, I lost a diamond. The prongs on the end were ripped apart. Obviously I had snagged it & they Really really gutted me. I still haven't replaced it to this day & I haven't worn the ring afraid if I did replace it, I would just rip the prongs off of a new stone.

iLander...how fun. I had talked to Roger about that stone a few months ago. It's over budget plus I am not that fond of the square shape.

Evergreen... thank you for the Sphene suggestion. I had looked at them initially but once I found out how soft they are I gave them up. The ring would be a right hand ring so I'm going to pass knowing hard I'm like on my rings.

Marlow...I have looked at some yellow zircons but always found them to have quite a bit of brown in them. I'm not opposed to them so if you have any that you might direct me to, that would be great. I'd follow up. I have asked another vendor to look into a few Chrysoberyls. As I understand it, ones that are very yellow are extremely hard to come by, either cut or to obtain rough. One vendor said it was like finding a needle in a haystack. I like both the neon & green ones. Basically, it will come down to size & budget. I have a gut feeling this is the best of both worlds & I should concentrate solely on Chrysos.

BUT, I'm not giving up hope for a yellow diamond. I know...I'm a glutton for punishment!!

** please excuse any typos. Again, Auto correct has been going to town & I'm falling asleep. I'm not catching the errors.