Questions about Yellow Sapphires

[Eudora]

I really like the idea of yellow sapphires, but I have never seen decent ones in real life. I tried to look a jewelers in my area, without, no surprise, much luck. Perhaps as a result of this inexperience, I really can't tell what yellow sapphires will look like in person from pictures. I remember reading on a thread somewhere that sometimes yellow sapphires look permanently dirty? I don't really know how to determine that. I don't mind some orange or even brown ("golden"), but I wouldn't want one that looked like a citrine. Are yellow sapphires pretty? What should I look for in photos to identify a good one?

 

[T L]

I really like the idea of yellow sapphires, but I have never seen decent ones in real life. I tried to look a jewelers in my area, without, no surprise, much luck. Perhaps as a result of this inexperience, I really can't tell what yellow sapphires will look like in person from pictures. I remember reading on a thread somewhere that sometimes yellow sapphires look permanently dirty? I don't really know how to determine that. I don't mind some orange or even brown ("golden"), but I wouldn't want one that looked like a citrine. Are yellow sapphires pretty? What should I look for in photos to identify a good one?

I too have never seen a yellow sapphire that knocked my socks off. Many of them are very washed out, or too brown. If they are highly saturated, they're probably diffused in color. I suppose there are some nice untreated or heated only ones, but I have yet to see one, and the weird thing is that when I do see one in a vendor listing, they're usually against a dark background. This makes them appear more saturated than they truly are. Be careful of diffusion in these gems because most yellow sapphires are diffused, and you should be paying a fair price for such a highly treated gem.

Here's a selection of some on this page..

http://www.gemfix.com/sapphire_yellow_orange.html

 

[Edward Bristol]

Here is a section from my 'judging untreated gemstones by photo' about yellow sap:
(I was too lazy to insert the images here since it is a bit complicated and also Sunday morning)

"Sri Lankan yellow sapphire are not strong in color but they do come in great luster and crystal. A well cut light yellow natural sapphire is a delightful lively gemstone.

Very often, these light yellow stones mark the border to white (colorless) sapphire. White sapphires with only an idea of yellow (or any other color) are here called "Tinted White". Such a natural yellow can be just as fascinating as a fancy diamond but will cost only a fraction.

Intensely colored yellow sapphires of bigger size usually come with a tint of orange or green (mostly from Africa or Australia). Thus they can range from a rich canary yellow to an intense greenish lemon hue. However, flashy colors are extremely rare in natural and untreated yellow sapphire.

In the past years light yellow has been the favorite sapphire color amongst collectors, nevertheless they are still affordable when compared to blue or pink.

Natural Yellow Sapphire on Photo: Pardon those inclusions.
More than other lightly colored stones, yellow sapphires do not stomach inclusions very well. Even an only "lightly included" yellow may seem to be somehow dirty on a photo, though, in fact, the eye will not perceive any inclusions at all. In deeper colors even the lens would not reveal those fine inclusions, but in a yellow they seem to spoil the photo.

(Photos: Three untreated yellow sapphires suffering heavily in front of the camera, though, in fact they only have minor, hardly visible inclusions.)

A natural yellow sapphire free of inclusions on the other hand is a grateful gem to work with. They will shine and sparkle especially when exposed to a little bit of sunlight.
Frequently however their luster is so strong that the camera captures them just as a blurred light source. In this case the photographer has the choice to either show the stone as a somewhat fuzzy shining star, or he has to sacrifice the luster and show the stone from the side only. We usually prefer the shining stars:

(Photos: Three natural yellow sapphires shining beyond the camera's capabilities.)

Frequently we also experience that the greenish character of a stone becomes strongly exaggerated by the camera. Some stones in fact turn so green that they are hardly recognizable as yellows anymore. This presents one of the rare cases in which it might be legitimate to manually decrease the amount of green captured by the lens.

(Photos: Natural lemon yellow sapphire that showed mostly green through the camera. Only after reducing the green digitally did the real color prevail.)

Again, the primary goal of any selling photo is to present the stone as close to reality as possible, yet the additional description ought to mention any potential deviation between photo and eye perception. '

 

[Rockdiamond]

My view is a bit jaded as we look at so many yellow diamonds....
It seems to me that color itself is not really well suited to the type of luster exhibited by Sapphires.
Blue and pink seem well suited- but I've never seen a "bright yellow" sapphire
While a faint yellow diamond seems to have a pretty color, faint yellow sapphires just seem dull
Of course this is all personal opinion.....and maybe I've just not seen the right one.....but I have seen an awful lot of sapphires....

 

[chrono]

I haven't seen any yellow sapphire that made me drool either; they are either too light, too brown or citrine-like or are diffused to get that bright strong sunshine colour. Light yellow sapphires don't appeal to me because they look dull; even if well faceted, they don't look as exciting because the brilliance is different.

 

[colorchange]

There are definitely nice yellow sapphires around. Most unheated ones tend to be a bit pale, so vivid yellow unheated/heat only sapphires will be in the $1500/Ct and above, while less saturated will be a fifth of the price or less. Since most people out of Asia won’t value the first one as worth 5 times the second, you just won’t find them so easily. But not because you don’t see them around mean they don’t exist. In the same fashion you’d struggle to find a great padparadsha.

 

[colorluvr]

I have two yellow sapphires, both heat only (both have reputable lab reports). I bought the oval from Chris Auletta, but it originally came from Jeff Davies and it is very bright with a slight golden tinge, but it certainly does not look like a citrine.

I also have a very "yellow" (no orange or brown) EC sapphire that isn't as saturated, but not washed out either. I didn't pay a lot for it because it had some nasty nicks in it when I got it from the vendor. We "negotiated" and I got a partial refund, so I sent it off to Dan Stair to have the pavilion recut and remove most of the nicks. It still has some issues, but I think those will mostly go away when it's set. It lost a tiny bit of it's color, but it's still a nice looking stone. I kept the stone because it is a decent size (even after the recut) and like many on here, I found it tough to find a nice heat only yellow sapphire. I have seen a few unheated yellows, but they were all too light for my taste. The oval sparkles like crazy, but the EC cut is almost silky looking, probably because of the cut.

The first photo of the EC is after the recut and the second photos (of the two stones) is before the EC was recut.

These photos aren't great, but I'm at work and they were taken with my cell phone at home, so they are in my dropbox folder. The oval is approx 9 x 7.5 and the EC is approx 9.75 x 6.75 (best I can remember, but not exact measurements).

Jeff Davies has a gorgeous one (can find it on his Pinterest page) but it's a large stone and somewhat expensive.

"AIGS CERTIFIED - heat only - NO beryllium - LIBS tested clean - 01866 - 9.31ct yellow Sapphire - Ceylon 11.87 x 10.25 x 8.58 mm vivid yellow, excellent cutting." (per his pinterest page)

 

[colorluvr]

http://www.ajsgem.com/sapphire/yellow-sapphire/yellow-sapphire-2.72-carats.html

Here is a nice heat only sapphire if you don't mind a bit of orange. I think the price is pretty fair for a heat only stone.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I was admiring the hand shot of this yellow sapphire on PT's site:

http://www.torraca.net/gems.php?search=gid&for=SapY780&t=Yellow Sapphire

 

[Eudora]

this is great info and suggestions! thanks!

do you think-- green modifier aside-- that chrysoberyl carries yellow better, in terms of luster, brilliance, performance, etc?

 

[pregcurious]

I really like the idea of yellow sapphires

What are you looking for in a yellow sapphire? I wanted a yellow stone for a setting, but realized that chrysoberyl and diamonds both have much better brilliance than a yellow sapphire. I looked for a while, but could never find one that was highly saturated, without brown or orange, and without treatment.

 

[eastjavaman]

I have two yellow sapphires, both heat only (both have reputable lab reports).

"AIGS CERTIFIED - heat only - NO beryllium - LIBS tested clean - 01866 - 9.31ct yellow Sapphire - Ceylon 11.87 x 10.25 x 8.58 mm vivid yellow, excellent cutting." (per his pinterest page)

Colorluvr, I will take those two lemon cough drops