Pear Sapphire Halo Pendant Big Enough?

[prs]

I was wondering if any of you have seen IRL a pear sapphire with uniform color saturation? The stone in my OP seems very typical of the pears we have been shown, with areas of increasing darkness towards the apex.

 

[prs]

I think I know why nobody has answered my question. We took another trip to the LA jewelry district and every dealer we talked to admitted that all pear sapphires come with significant dark areas at the pointed end.

This put us off the idea of using sapphire in our pendant, and so we decided to take a look at tanzanite. We came across this stone and would appreciate your opinion.

 

[qubitasaurus]

That is spectacular. Regarding the earlier question I think it has something to do with the optics. The longer the optical path length inside the stone the deeper the colour. If the rays exiting near the tip have a longer path inside the stone then they'll be a different colour/tone to the rest of the stone. Could be wrong, but I suspect that is what is happening. Of course you might still find one which avoids these issues. But probably it will carry a commensurate price tag.

 

[prs]

Thanks @qubitasaurus, we thought this tanzanite looked pretty good although we haven't yet seen it in real life. I wonder if the faint line running down the center might be a reflection of the cutlet?

The stone is 9ct, 17x10 mm, do you think it's too big, or is that a silly question?

It's amazing how one's perception of "too big" changes when the price drops from $2,500/ct to $400/ct

 

[Bron357]

I’m all for the big bling! Tanzanite are a very pretty blue purple colour - quite magical actually. More “neon” than sapphires and that gem would look spectacular in white gold with decent size white diamonds halo around. One problem with going up in size is the little melee diamonds can’t cut it! That baby is going to need nice .10 points around. Don’t worry, people on the other side of the room will see that one coming through the door!
One thing I thought of, and I don’t know who might do it these days, but back in the 40s and 50s it was a “thing” to have cocktail (ie big and glamorous) pendant / ring conversions. By that I mean, the “spectacular piece” either clipped and fitted into a specially made ring mount to wear as a ring or could he detached and worn as a pendant. Fabulous 2 for 1 deal.

 

[qubitasaurus]

I think too big or too small are all a matter of personal preference. Since it is a pendant I would just buy whatever you like best. Going off the first picture, the facets in the cullet might be a little shallow -- but I really don't have enough experience with pears to know. So I would remain agnostic, and wait to see it in person. What worries me more is that it might have a bowtie (destuctive interferance in the centre of the stone, this tends to happen in stones which are elongated in one axis so again you might be going to see that a lot due to your shape requirements) but again I would want to see it in person. And wouldn't be too stressed before that point.

 

[T L]

Thanks @qubitasaurus, we thought this tanzanite looked pretty good although we haven't yet seen it in real life. I wonder if the faint line running down the center might be a reflection of the cutlet?

The stone is 9ct, 17x10 mm, do you think it's too big, or is that a silly question?

It's amazing how one's perception of "too big" changes when the price drops from $2,500/ct to $400/ct

It depends on you or the person you're asking. Some people might think it's too small (i.e. Liz Taylor). It's totally subjective. I've worn 17x10mm rings, so I would say no, but others would think it's garish. As far as I'm concerned, great color can never be too small or too large!! That Tanzanite is very pretty, and its softness is better suited to a pendant.

 

[Seaglow]

I think I know why nobody has answered my question. We took another trip to the LA jewelry district and every dealer we talked to admitted that all pear sapphires come with significant dark areas at the pointed end.

Not true! Though pears usually darken at the tip, I've seen bright pears all throughout the stone without darkening at the tips such as this (2.10 carats Ceylon sapphire):




If you are pertaining to darker stones such as medium blue and up, keep in mind that sapphires may have some color zoning, and cutters may orient a stone where there is a lighter color near the tip (or at the bottom near the tip), and such orientation may not darken the tip face up so sweeping statements that all sapphires darken at the tip is something I would refrain from.

Thanks @qubitasaurus, I wonder if the faint line running down the center might be a reflection of the cutlet?

The stone is 9ct, 17x10 mm, do you think it's too big, or is that a silly question?

The line is called the keel line. Looks like a reflection of the keel line, indeed.

Nice stone and very rich color! IMHO, 9 carats is not big at all for a pendant.

 

[prs]

@Seaglow, sorry for my sweeping statement, but it did seem that all the deeper color pear sapphires we saw suffered from a dead zone near the tip. We were shown sapphires that varied in price from $2,000/ct to $5,000/ct and they all had it, no dealer offered to find us a stone without it. It's true we did see a paler stone, similar to yours, that didn't have it, looked very similar to an aquamarine.

Strangely it appeared that blue sapphire was the material most effected by this phenomenom. We saw pear rubellites and red spinels that had no darkening at all, and some tanzanites had it, but others didn't. I'm guessing it's caused by a combination of the color blue, and the refractive index of sapphire.

 

[Seaglow]

@Seaglow, sorry for my sweeping statement, but it did seem that all the deeper color pear sapphires we saw suffered from a dead zone near the tip. We were shown sapphires that varied in price from $2,000/ct to $5,000/ct and they all had it, no dealer offered to find us a stone without it. It's true we did see a paler stone, similar to yours, that didn't have it, looked very similar to an aquamarine.

Strangely it appeared that blue sapphire was the material most effected by this phenomenom. We saw pear rubellites and red spinels that had no darkening at all, and some tanzanites had it, but others didn't. I'm guessing it's caused by a combination of the color blue, and the refractive index of sapphire.

As I understood it, it was the jewelers you saw that made such statement.

I checked old posts here on PS on pear shaped blue sapphires and there are photos of stones that doesn't show a darkened tip:

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/git-certified-pair-of-pear-sapphire-is-here.146234/

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/heated-vs-unheated-sapphire.202584/

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/pear-shaped-blue-sapphire.232181/page-2

 

[Sabrina31]

@prs I think that tanzanite is lovely, the color is beautiful. If you're worried about size i have an amythest about that size i can take a picture of next to like a quarter to give you a reference?

 

[prs]

As I understood it, it was the jewelers you saw that made such statement.

I checked old posts here on PS on pear shaped blue sapphires and there are photos of stones that doesn't show a darkened tip:

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/git-certified-pair-of-pear-sapphire-is-here.146234/

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/heated-vs-unheated-sapphire.202584/

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/pear-shaped-blue-sapphire.232181/page-2

@Seaglow, I stand before you humbled and corrected. There are obviously some very out of the ordinary gem hunters on this board !!!

 

[prs]

@prs I think that tanzanite is lovely, the color is beautiful. If you're worried about size i have an amythest about that size i can take a picture of next to like a quarter to give you a reference?

@Sabrina31 thanks for the offer but I was only joking about the size. It didn't take me very long to figure out there was no such thing as "too big" on this board.

I already made a life size sketch in blue ink and my wife held it in position in front of a mirror. She loves it !!!

 

[prs]

I’m all for the big bling! Tanzanite are a very pretty blue purple colour - quite magical actually. More “neon” than sapphires and that gem would look spectacular in white gold with decent size white diamonds halo around. One problem with going up in size is the little melee diamonds can’t cut it! That baby is going to need nice .10 points around. Don’t worry, people on the other side of the room will see that one coming through the door!

I've printed out photos of a number of haloed pears, including the wonderful mahenge spinel ring in @chrono 's avatar. The diameter of the diamonds varies between 15% and 25% of the width of the center stone, so for this tanzanite that would be between 1.5 and 2.5 mm. If my math is right Chrono's plots out at around 15% and it looks really good.


The diamonds in my OP pendant were at 25% and we really liked that pendant too. @Bron357, your 010 pointers would be around 30% but I know your motto is "the bigger the better".

 

[Bron357]

I've printed out photos of a number of haloed pears, including the wonderful mahenge spinel ring in @chrono 's avatar. The diameter of the diamonds varies between 15% and 25% of the width of the center stone, so for this tanzanite that would be between 1.5 and 2.5 mm. If my math is right Chrono's plots out at around 15% and it looks really good.


The diamonds in my OP pendant were at 25% and we really liked that pendant too. @Bron357, your 010 pointers would be around 30% but I know your motto is "the bigger the better".

Yes, I’m a “go HUGE or go home” type gal.

 

[prs]

Here's the original pendant with the diamond diameter measuring out at 25% of the width of the stone.


This 14ct tanzanite ring measures out at around 20%



And again, here's chrono's at 15%


Which one do you prefer?

 

[T L]

Chrono's diamonds are also ideal cut on that mahenge ring, and as high quality diamonds, they sparkle to the moon. That probably makes them look bigger as well.

 

[Seaglow]

@prs you are right with out of the ordinary. Many members at PS are more particular than the usual buyers so many nice stones here. But you are also right that many dark sapphires in reality darken at the tip.

On your halo, both sizes would look good with top quality melees. The D-F (maybe even to G) VVS-VS with good cuts tend to look bigger and brighter even at 1mm.

 

[prs]

We will certainly use high quality diamonds in the halo. The only purpose of those diamonds is to sparkle, and the best cut ones will sparkle the most!

One consideration in the size of the diamonds is their effect on the final shape of the pendant. My wife preferred a stone with an L/W at the high end of the range, so the 1.70 of the tanzanite stone is perfect.

If we use 1.0 mm diamonds in the halo the final shape becomes 19/12=1.58, but with 3.0 mm diamonds we get a chubbier 23/16=1.44

FWIW fully 2/3 of the pears we saw had L/W of less than 1.5, presumably because this allows the cutter to maximize carat weight.

 

[prs]

I found another photo of a haloed pear. I think Bron might like this one, it is really HUGE!!



14.28 Ct with a 21.1x13.2 tanzanite center stone and 2.6 mm, 6 point diamonds. So the diamond diameter is exactly 20% of the stone width.

 

[prs]

David Klass is going to set our pear and Amy, their extraordinarily talented designer, has been guiding us thru the process. Here is her latest CAD of the pendant design.

 

[Bron357]

Well that is going to be jaw droppingly beautiful.
Wow.
AND we will all be expecting many photos of this beauty when received.

 

[prs]

Thanks Bron, I don't know if it's standard practice for ring halos but Amy has set the diamonds at a 30° angle looking outwards so there will be more sparkle when the pendant isn't being viewed straight on. A great idea for a pendant IMHO.

We discussed putting diamonds on the basket, but the metal would have to be wider to support them, reducing the light getting to the center of the stone. Also they wouldn't be very visible, so we decided against. My wife much preferred a clean and simple basket structure without any filigree, and that too helps get more light into the stone.

Amy said if we wanted more bling we could make the diamonds bigger, but she did point out, that at it's current size, the pendant would be drawing attention from ten tables away!

 

[qubitasaurus]

I am sure it will be stunning. I think a tilt on the halo is generally a good idea anyway, as it stops the finished piece looking like a 'flying saucer'. Please share pictures when it is finished!

 

[prs]

We visited with David Klass today and picked up the pendant. Here's the video.

It actually looks better in real life!!!

Many thanks to all those PriceScopers who helped us on this journey from complete gemstone ignorance to total blueliciousness.

 

[Bron357]

Well that is gob smackingly beautiful.
Wow.

 

[qubitasaurus]

Congrats, that turned out phenomenal!

 

[suzanne2]

Gorgeous!! A stunning pendant!

 

[Acinom]

Gorgeous!

 

[Bluegemz]

A very timeless piece! Congratulations!