:)
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2006
- Messages
- 1,864
Hi, I am hoping you can help me with a possible sapphire ring purchase. I went to the International Gem and Jewelry Show in Santa Monica today. It is a traveling show. I thought I was just going to look at pretty items as I have had such an interesting time learning about stones while on pricescope. I was not looking for anything in particular, I just wanted to see what the different stones look like in person. While browsing, I ended up finding a ring I am seriously considering purchasing - the problem is that I have not had enough time to research sapphires to make sure I am making an informed purchase. The jeweler pulled the ring from his stock (the stock gets shipped to the next stop, so he pulled it out and will place it in his office which happens to be here in LA), and will await my phone call about whether I will purchase or not in the next day or two. I cannot find a listing for his company (La Rador Gem House) with the BBB, but it appears from internet searching that he does gem shows all over the country - the name, address and phone number is consistently mentioned on multiple sites. Initially I thought I could drive down to his ''store'' tomorrow to view the ring again, but I am now not sure if the address listed on the cards, etc is an actual store front or not (it is on Hill street at an address smack dab in the middle of LA''s ''diamond district'').
The ring that caught my eye is a 2.65 oval Ceylon sapphire with two round diamonds on either side - 0.51 tcw. The diamonds sparkle like crazy and do not have any visible inclusions. It is mounted in 18kt white gold. I could not see any visible inclusions (to the naked eye) in the sapphire either. The blue was a very uniform blue (he pointed that out to me, I did not know specifically to look for it), a lovely blue that he showed me to take out from under the bright lights to make sure it was not too dark (he wanted to be sure that I could appreciate that it did not lose the blue color out of bright light). He said that I should never buy one that will look black when taken out of bright light. The blue was a med-dark sort of ''brightish'' blue, but not too dark. Indeed when I placed it in darker light it still appeared blue and did not appear black at all. Later, walking around the show I could see what he meant about many black appearing sapphires. He mentioned that it would come with papers. I cannot recall if he mentioned if it is heat treated or not. He did go a little bit into the regions of sapphires when I asked about Ceylon, and mentioned that Ceylon is prized, and he only carries Ceylon sapphires.
His price is $3250 for the entire ring. He was not pushy at all, and all of the stones he had (emeralds, rubies, etc) appeared to be somehow to my untrained eye (and my friend who was with me) of a higher quality than what we were seeing at the other booths. He seemed very on the level and very knowledgable. None of that ''very best price'' wheeling dealing stuff that was annoying me at the other booths. He just gave the price, and did not try to pressure me or chase me with another offer, just wrote the info down for me.
I have been reading pricescope on sapphires now, but am not sure if I have a total grip on the most prized colors of blue, and have looked at cherrypicked.com and naturalsapphirecompany.com for pics too.
From reading, I realize I need to ask about heat treating, what else do I need to know? I have a feeling it is not heat treated. If it is, would that pose a structural integrity problem? Would it help if I had him give me details from the certificate that he mentioned? If so, what should I ask for from the certificate? Does $3250 sound like an appropriate price if this is a high quality sapphire? I realize that may be difficult to answer without you being able to see it for yourself. Any help or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!
Also, would you be hesitant to purchase something if you could not find a BBB listing, or is this normal in the gem industry for some people to keep overhead low by just traveling from show to show? Thanks again!
The ring that caught my eye is a 2.65 oval Ceylon sapphire with two round diamonds on either side - 0.51 tcw. The diamonds sparkle like crazy and do not have any visible inclusions. It is mounted in 18kt white gold. I could not see any visible inclusions (to the naked eye) in the sapphire either. The blue was a very uniform blue (he pointed that out to me, I did not know specifically to look for it), a lovely blue that he showed me to take out from under the bright lights to make sure it was not too dark (he wanted to be sure that I could appreciate that it did not lose the blue color out of bright light). He said that I should never buy one that will look black when taken out of bright light. The blue was a med-dark sort of ''brightish'' blue, but not too dark. Indeed when I placed it in darker light it still appeared blue and did not appear black at all. Later, walking around the show I could see what he meant about many black appearing sapphires. He mentioned that it would come with papers. I cannot recall if he mentioned if it is heat treated or not. He did go a little bit into the regions of sapphires when I asked about Ceylon, and mentioned that Ceylon is prized, and he only carries Ceylon sapphires.
His price is $3250 for the entire ring. He was not pushy at all, and all of the stones he had (emeralds, rubies, etc) appeared to be somehow to my untrained eye (and my friend who was with me) of a higher quality than what we were seeing at the other booths. He seemed very on the level and very knowledgable. None of that ''very best price'' wheeling dealing stuff that was annoying me at the other booths. He just gave the price, and did not try to pressure me or chase me with another offer, just wrote the info down for me.
I have been reading pricescope on sapphires now, but am not sure if I have a total grip on the most prized colors of blue, and have looked at cherrypicked.com and naturalsapphirecompany.com for pics too.
From reading, I realize I need to ask about heat treating, what else do I need to know? I have a feeling it is not heat treated. If it is, would that pose a structural integrity problem? Would it help if I had him give me details from the certificate that he mentioned? If so, what should I ask for from the certificate? Does $3250 sound like an appropriate price if this is a high quality sapphire? I realize that may be difficult to answer without you being able to see it for yourself. Any help or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!
Also, would you be hesitant to purchase something if you could not find a BBB listing, or is this normal in the gem industry for some people to keep overhead low by just traveling from show to show? Thanks again!
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