Opinion on potential padparadscha sapphire

[ilovegemstones]

The sapphire is 4.82 mm deep.

 

[suzanne2]

@Jbows I know the original stone was more baby pink, but after seeing it in person and looking at more photos online, I definitely like the orange-pink coral color more (or so I think, since I haven't seen any of those in person!).

Exciting news! My SO and I realized that we just needed to see the Finewater in person because we kept going back to it no matter what pads we saw online. We couldn't stop thinking about the fact that it's round -- round is what I originally wanted, but we had resigned ourselves to ovals or cushions since round pads didn't seem to exist. And everything we got from Gary showed the gem on fire. SOOO, he bought it! I was concerned about overpaying since AGL doesn't call it a pad (and it does look peachy orangey at certain angles), but he thinks if I love it and we can't find it anywhere else, then it's fair to him And it's gorgeous!

Here are some some quick indoor daylight shots...

in the gem box
**edited at OP request**

Now THAT'S a pad!!! Reading through this thread made me realize that, like you, I prefer the orange pink as well. Your stone is incredible!

Years ago I was in a department store and saw a ring of this exact color, but without the fire that yours has. The stone was huge, maybe 12 x 12 square, for only $100.00! Had to be genuine at that price lol. In yellow gold no less. Anyway, I bought it and wore it everywhere and had people stopping me to ask about it. I loved that ring. It's gone now, I don't know where...

Yours is amazing! Congratulations!!

 

[Acinom]

Thanks for sharing your rings @ilovegemstones and @Acinom! @ilovegemstones -- how deep is your gem?

@Acinom I especially love the first and fourth settings - I definitely want an interesting basket/gallery. Do you have any more photos of the shank of the fourth ring (red gem)?

We're currently looking at Joseph Jewelry or David Klass for the setting based on the reviews we've read here, so we'll try to get some quotes, which should also help us get a sense for who we click better with.

Sure! Here are some more views of my red spess ring (which is made by David Klass): https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/6-06-ct-spess-lipstick-ring-by-david-klass.211491/
David is great to work with! Especially if you have a clear view of what your are looking for or if you work with pics of inspiration rings.

 

[bcandy]

Thank you @ilovegemstones! That doesn't sound bad at all compared to the 7mm of this one.

And @Acinom that ring is gorgeous! I love the shank and the basket. My other top choice gem for the-ring is a ruby so I love that red.

Unfortunately, I had to delete a bunch of photos from my posts because I realized there was some metadata in there I didn't want out in the wild I'll try to reupload them after fixing. After spending a week with the gem, we still love it. It's definitely more "orange with a splash of pink" - it actually looks more pink in the photos than in real life. The only downside is it looks just orange under certain lighting.

We went to a local jeweler to talk about settings and they brought in some pads for us to look at, and now we have a choice to make! One of them is an unheated 8x8.2mm that's super pretty (it's less pink/more orange than the photos show). It's such a different color from the FW gem, but I love that it's slightly bigger and more sparkly. It's not the pink I was originally looking for based off photos I've seen, but it is gorgeous IRL.

outdoors


indoors (with a 3rd oval pad - I like its saturation it might be too pink for me)


indoors in the shadows


indoors under bright jewelry store lighting

 

[bcandy]

And here's a video:

Just for fun, here's all the pads he brought in - some were really dark! The FW is second from the right, the oval on my hand is the third from the right.

 

[T L]

Please don't use those stone holders!! So many people have had the stone ricochet out of those and chip. It gave me a heart attack seeing such an expensive rare stone in one of those. I warn everyone about them.

BTW, your stone from FW is the most unique of the bunch of padparadchas, some of which don't look like true padparadcha anyways.

 

[Jbows]

I love them all!!!! (One for each finger, right? )

But TL is right, the FW gem is so unique and commands every picture it’s in. It is my favorite! But it matters what you like!

 

[suzanne2]

Sunsets come in so many colors! You said that the 8mm has more orange IRL and is more sparkley. From the pictures it looks like a plain pink...
I looked at the video over and over and the FW stone is still my favorite as well. The coral color is just amazing. It blazes out from your finger.

 

[Sunstorm]

OP just based on your photos/videos and objectively the oval is gorgeous. It has orange in addition to the pink with great saturation. It is closest to the color a pad should be especially if I look at the last pic. No, it is not too pink and there definitely is a secondary orange tone. Is it unheated? With this color that would be unusual. Not sure how much it matters to you.

The pink round seems more lavender pink than with orange. Do the stones they brought in have GIA or AGL pad reports? Perhaps the photos show the wrong color.

The stone with the orange and yellow seems very color zoned and not really a pad. It is a sunshiny, happy color though. Is it treated?

Now prices matter a lot too, how they compare. Also whether there is treatment and whether there is a pad report as I stated above. Weigh all factors in and of course your subjective opinion on what you truly love. This will be a lovely ring? Good luck with your search!

I second TL; while ring holders are ok mostly, you have to hold them over a soft pad (no pun intended) on a table closely or something similar and never swing them around like you do on the video because yes they can jump and yes you can greatly damage or lose a stone. Just best to beware.

 

[T L]

And here's a video:

Just for fun, here's all the pads he brought in - some were really dark! The FW is second from the right, the oval on my hand is the third from the right.

I just saw the video, and I own spinels the same exact color as the vendor's round sparkly "padparadcha." If you're ever in the market for that color, also check out spinels, which are durable and a lot less $$$.

 

[Nosean]

Please don't use those stone holders!! So many people have had the stone ricochet out of those and chip. It gave me a heart attack seeing such an expensive rare stone in one of those. I warn everyone about them.

BTW, your stone from FW is the most unique of the bunch of padparadchas, some of which don't look like true padparadcha anyways.

Esp. if you want to return a stone never use these ring holders.

They are risky - a soft and/or brittle gem like apatite, emeralds, tourmaline or zircon can easily chip and it is def. not part of a good return policy to accept a damaged stone.

 

[Nosean]

Is it a pad or a bicolored sapphire?

In the pics I see a large yellow patch...

But a beautiful stone no doubt.

 

[Frost]

Please don't use those stone holders!! So many people have had the stone ricochet out of those and chip. It gave me a heart attack seeing such an expensive rare stone in one of those. I warn everyone about them.

+ 1. They're not too horrible for 1-2 caraters if you're really, really careful about how you set them up, but anything smaller or bigger is a catapult disaster waiting to happen.

 

[bcandy]

Yeah, the FW gem photographs very bicolored/color zoned, but the colors are more blended in person and I don’t see any yellow. We took the gem to a local lab, and the owner said the gem is really well cut to highlight a cloud of orange inside, with just a blush of pink coming through. Of course, he also noted how deep the stone is, and his opinion is the gem is overpriced.

Yikes @T L @Sunstorm @Nosean @Frost! Good to know about the ring holders. The jeweler was using them quite freely.

And thank you all for your feedback. Since we’re so new to the world of colored stones, it’s been so helpful to to hear your opinions on the various stones. We agree that the FW color is so special, even though it’s not as brilliant as the pinkish pad that’s already set in the ring.

@Sunstorm the orangey one is heated and comes with a cert from Richard Hughes’ Lotus Gem Lab. The set pad is GIA certed to be an unheated pad, ~14k. The oval is heated, cert from GRS, ~17.5k.

 

[bcandy]

My SO and I need to decide whether the FW one is a keeper since the return window's almost up. What we don't love about the FW is that it sometimes is completely orange under certain lighting, so we're having second thoughts and figuring out if it's something we can learn to love. Tried to capture it on camera but it's tough since the camera always picks up a little pink that's not visible to the eye.



We ended up going back to the jeweler because they got a new oval in that looked great in photos, though not so great on me. However, we did end up looking at the round brilliant pad again and it looks better than I remember. Wanted to get everyone's thoughts on this one now that I have better photos:

under overcast skies:

indoors:


We even got to look at it under a loupe -- there's a big inclusion by the top left prong that is visible to the naked eye but the jeweler said the gem could be mounted to have a prong cover it. This is probably closest to the true color.


It reminds me a bit of this ring: https://www.omiprive.com/jewelry/padparadscha_sapphire_diamond_ring-611.html

 

[bcandy]

I just saw the video, and I own spinels the same exact color as the vendor's round sparkly "padparadcha." If you're ever in the market for that color, also check out spinels, which are durable and a lot less $$$.

T L -- any chance you have a photo of your spinels? Would love to see them.

 

[Acinom]

Gemstones are all about love, so listen to your own feelings is the best route. Based on your post, I would recommend to go for the jewellers’ round. It also looks stunning with your skintone.

Stones seldom look great in al. Lighting conditions, but it should look good in the places your are in mostly.

 

[valeria101]

.


Hint: WWW

 

[suzanne2]

Ah what a journey this has been and it's not even over. Now that we are down to emotions I feel I can chime in...

Searching for such a rare and beautiful stone can't be done in a hurry. If the FW is no longer making you gasp when you look at it, then return it and wait patiently for the next stone to come along. As you have discovered, not all pads are on the internet. Your eye is getting better and better and there is PLENTY of time to find another. Your jeweler alone pulled out 5 or 6 for you to look at. The round is gorgeous, but don't buy it simply because the FW return window is almost up. Buy it because it's the one.

 

[ShinyPink]

we're having second thoughts and figuring out if it's something we can learn to love

If you have to learn to love it, I would say it's not for you. Your ring should make you happy, happy, happy every time you look at it. You're the one who is wearing it, so go with what you truly love, not what you are "eh" about and are hoping to love.

 

[bcandy]

Gemstones are all about love, so listen to your own feelings is the best route. Based on your post, I would recommend to go for the jewellers’ round. It also looks stunning with your skintone.

Stones seldom look great in al. Lighting conditions, but it should look good in the places your are in mostly.

Thank you Acinom! That's good perspective. With such expensive stones, I feel as if I'm trying to find a reason not to like them by trying out them out in as many possible lighting situations as possible. The orange shows up in the bathroom and sometimes the bedroom.

Ah what a journey this has been and it's not even over. Now that we are down to emotions I feel I can chime in...

Searching for such a rare and beautiful stone can't be done in a hurry. If the FW is no longer making you gasp when you look at it, then return it and wait patiently for the next stone to come along. As you have discovered, not all pads are on the internet. Your eye is getting better and better and there is PLENTY of time to find another. Your jeweler alone pulled out 5 or 6 for you to look at. The round is gorgeous, but don't buy it simply because the FW return window is almost up. Buy it because it's the one.

And thank you suzanne2 for the reminder to be patient Looking back, it's been less than 3 months since we started reading all about pads and less than a month since we started viewing in person.

 

[Frost]

However, we did end up looking at the round brilliant pad again and it looks better than I remember. Wanted to get everyone's thoughts on this one now that I have better photos:

under overcast skies:

indoors:


We even got to look at it under a loupe -- there's a big inclusion by the top left prong that is visible to the naked eye but the jeweler said the gem could be mounted to have a prong cover it. This is probably closest to the true color.

It's completely up to you and you should definitely buy what looks good to you personally, but... To put it this way, if those photos are accurate then you'd be very hard pressed to find an honest lab to call it a pad. It's obviously brownish, pale pinkish, and doesn't exhibit anywhere close to enough of both colors (or all three - yellow, pink, orange) to be called a padparadscha.

I'm sure it's partially because of the light and it's not lit up in the photos, but I can kind of guess what it'd look like in daylight since I get offered this type as 'pads' on a daily basis (and invariably say 'no it isn't').

The same thing goes for the stone in your link - while it's closer to what a pad should be, less brownish and has an ever so slight orange tint, it still doesn't have enough orange to be honestly called that.

But the range varies - there are people who like the pink (lotus) type and those who prefer the orange (sunset) one. To me, perfection is a blend in between - but that's just me and judging by the amount of stones on both ends of that spectrum which actually get sold online, people seem to be a lot more open minded than that.

 

[Nosean]

I don't like the inclusion around the left prong in the last pic....

And pad....mmmh

 

[bcandy]

@Frost Thanks for chiming in. My eyes still need training because I don't see brown except maybe in the second pic The first photo is outdoors in the evening, second and third are indoors at the jeweler's. The gem is cert’ed pad by GIA, but based on what everyone has said here and what I'm seeing (see below), it seems like such a large range of colors are considered pads, even by GIA.

Here's the vendor's photo of the same ring



@Nosean Yeah, unfortunately the inclusion is visible to the naked eye. We think we're okay with it -- the gem is so brilliant it took us a while to notice.

We've had such a tough time mapping online vendor photos to what gems look like in real life, and then going from there to what they look like on me. I love TravelingGal's ring here, especially how orangey it looks in some of the photos, but of course, who knows how the same stone (if we're lucky enough to find one!) looks against my skin stone.

@Frost (and others): since you have a good eye for translating color, do you think any here at atggems would be a more orangey pink than the ring above? I'm confused by some of the cert pics because the gems look very dark, e.g. 1.64ct oval, 1.19ct oval

 

[Nosean]

The round stone in the ring is not a pad in my opinion.

Padparadscha MUST have a uniform color and not bicolored or pink spotted with orange patches. Such a stone should be much cheaper.

It has to be a padparadscha in daylight and incandescent light.
Some look great in incandescent light ( like other chromian corundum - ruby/pink sapphire) but the daylight color is brownish or washed out.

You will pay a very high price so no compromise.

Maybe this is helpful

http://ruby-sapphire.com/padparadscha-sapphire.htm

The atggems stone are quite expensive and I think you will not see this color in real life.

 

[Frost]

@Frost (and others): since you have a good eye for translating color, do you think any here at atggems would be a more orangey pink than the ring above? I'm confused by some of the cert pics because the gems look very dark, e.g. 1.64ct oval, 1.19ct oval

The gems looking very dark are, from what I can see, mostly just bad photos - not many of them seem to have enough 'darkness'/blackish tones tones to actually look like stones (in images) that will appear like that in real life. One or two do, but the rest would probably all light up as corundum normally does. But of course it's impossible to be certain without seeing them in real life or at least seeing how light behaves in them in a video.

Most of the stones on that page are not padparadscha to me, but these three I think would be, in order from 'the most pad' to 'the least pad but still pad':

http://atggems.com/certs/sapph_PAD_161pt_oval_pinkish-orange_awa-17-01.pdf
http://atggems.com/certs/sapph_PAD_119pt_oval_H_GIA_cert_awa-18-01.pdf
http://atggems.com/certs/sapph_PAD_102pt_oval_N_GIA-cert_egaj-15-31.pdf

Also, just to tell you - report images are largely useless for judging color since labs don't have the time to take accurate pictures of anything because they print hundreds of reports in a day and photography is literally point + shoot + brighten the image/color it and stick it on a cert. Gem photos are time consuming and perhaps some effort is put into rare and unusual stones, but generally speaking their business is noting a stone's physical characteristics rather than portraying it in photos.

That said, they can sometimes be used to derive added info which the vendor photos may not show - as an example, the stone in the first link (1.61) seems to show very little if any pink in the vendor pics, but the GIA image paints it pink over half the stone. So noting the GIA's description of 'pinkish orange' and assuming the truth is somewhere in between their photo and that of the vendor, the stone would most likely look like a pad in reality.

That's just generally speaking. I won't comment on the price or anything else, I'll leave that to others.

 

[Seaglow]

The labs has a color chart/range they follow to be considered a pad. If the stone is in the color range, they can’t designate the title to the stone.

The best pads though has a good, even, body color with no brown tint and highly pleochroic, shifting the colors. With a good budget, I’d aim for this type of pad where the color doesn’t wash out in sunlight/daylight. So great advice from @Nosean, always check in sunlight.

The round to me is not a pad but a bi-colored sapphire as well. But if you are happy with it and you think it goes we’ll with your skin tone, go for it. Many people have likings for bi-colored stones but many will not consider it a pad if you are fine with it. Also, big difference in appearance of stones that has a brownish tint and without. Seriously, big difference. Also, if with a purple modifier, I wouldn’t consider a pad.

When I ask people what color my pad is, they are confused. They cannot say if it’s pink, peach, or orange. Yellow appears also in some light. Funny some even see “red”.

 

[T L]

T L -- any chance you have a photo of your spinels? Would love to see them.

Spinels are one of the most popular and photographed stones on PS. If you search on google images for "pricescope padparadcha spinels," or "pricescope light pink spinel," you will probably see lots of examples. I'd post pictures of mine, but they're in the bank right now and I can't photograph them. I found one bad pic though of one of mine.

 

[bcandy]

@Frost thank you for the thorough response! Good to know about report images - the explanation makes total sense but it's disappointing we can't use them as some calibrated source of truth. SO is inquiring about those 3 but I'm not hopeful about the prices. The 3.52 ct one is over $50k

Thank you @T L for the image. I definitely see the similarities after Googling 'pricescope padparadcha spinel' - the color of this one here is close to the round: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/padparadscha-spinel.161341/

The round stone in the ring is not a pad in my opinion.

Padparadscha MUST have a uniform color and not bicolored or pink spotted with orange patches. Such a stone should be much cheaper.
...
The atggems stone are quite expensive and I think you will not see this color in real life.

Thanks @Nosean. Orange with pink patches is actually what the FW gem looked liked to us and why we ultimately decided to return it. The atg prices are definitely more expensive per ct than we've seen at other online vendors as I mentioned above.

@Seaglow Does the round look different to you in the indoors vs outdoors photos? And do you also see brown or purple in this one? Maybe it doesn't matter too much even if there is and we find it beautiful, but I'd like to learn BTW, your pad is gorgeous! It is much more saturated than most I've seen in person.

SO and I went back to see the round again and we both love it. We keep saying to each other the color label doesn't matter, except it does matter when it comes down to price! We don't want to pay a premium if we can get the same thing cheaper under another name. We're still thinking, but SO is happy with this one as long as I am. I got some better photos yesterday so I'll upload in a bit.

 

[bcandy]

We took a ton of photos to try to accurately capture the color so we can look at it more at home. We also were able to get a jeweler to bring in this Omi Prive ring I linked earlier - it was breathtaking by itself (the setting helps), but for my SO and me, the color and size both pale in comparison to the round. It's in some photos below.

Indoors:





Outdoors: