Red Sapphire... ???Question???

[C Smith]

Virginia Beach, United States

 

[bigsister5]

Connie,

I asked the same question of several vendors a few months back. They told me it was a marketing technique, truly red sapphires are rubies. I bought one 5mm round, just to see what it looked like, and it was sooo gorgeous I ordered a dozen more. What struck me was the clarity as well as the "stop light red" color. Almost all the rubies I''ve ever seen have a slightly opaque quality, and many have a "purplish" hue, which I don''t like. I showed them to several jewelers when I was shopping for someone to set them for me, and every one of them were astonished at the color. Most guessed "spinel". I had 6 of them set into 3 stone drop earrings, which made a total of 3.6 carats. After subtracting the cost of the settings, they appraised out for $3495.00, so that''s about $550 per .60 carat stone.

I attached a picture of them in sunlight, albeit not a good picture. (Its really tough to photograph jewelry and gemstones!) I''m new here and have no idea how to put the picture into the reply.

 

[Linda W]

These are really beautiful.


Connie, did you see these?


Linda

 

[conitta]

Date: 7/20/2006 1:32:05 PM
Author: bigsister5
Connie,

I asked the same question of several vendors a few months back. They told me it was a marketing technique, truly red sapphires are rubies. I bought one 5mm round, just to see what it looked like, and it was sooo gorgeous I ordered a dozen more. What struck me was the clarity as well as the ''stop light red'' color. Almost all the rubies I''ve ever seen have a slightly opaque quality, and many have a ''purplish'' hue, which I don''t like. I showed them to several jewelers when I was shopping for someone to set them for me, and every one of them were astonished at the color. Most guessed ''spinel''. I had 6 of them set into 3 stone drop earrings, which made a total of 3.6 carats. After subtracting the cost of the settings, they appraised out for $3495.00, so that''s about $550 per .60 carat stone.

I attached a picture of them in sunlight, albeit not a good picture. (Its really tough to photograph jewelry and gemstones!) I''m new here and have no idea how to put the picture into the reply.

Welcome Bigsister5.....So glad to hear from someone about these stones.Did they say they were sapphires or any kind of treatment to them? Isn''t the color and sparkle beautiful. The color is no other color I have ever seen.The first ones I saw were at a gem show set into rings and they had a nice price tag to go with them. I told him like i have always heard that a red sapphire is a ruby so how could this be and he said it was a little something different that Mother Nature did.This man said he was a gemoligist but he had never heard of the type I,II or III gemstones and there were a few other things that didn''t add up. I just did not trust him, but that red sapphire stuck in my head...lol..After seeing them I have been trying to find out more about them.I have one that is a 1ct stone 6.33X5.14 and just love it.Maybe I will find something to do with it oneday.

I took it to a remount show and they didn''t know what it was & they had never heard of a red sapphire One said it looked like a Pad. Mine is not stoplight red but does have an orangey color to it, I guess and it is so bright.I am not good with colors.I guess you saw the pictures of my stone. I know what you mean about not getting good ones...I can''t either.

Wow sounds like you got a great appraisal.If you do not mind me asking, where did you order yours from? I would love ot have MORE!!!

Connie

 

[conitta]

Date: 7/20/2006 2:47:21 PM
Author: Linda W
These are really beautiful.


Connie, did you see these?


Linda

Hey...Yes Linda I have now...WOW

 

[bigsister5]

I call them stop lite red because they look like a car''s tail lite color, with splashes of orange-red when you put on the brakes. They are not orangey red, but do flash that color as the light hits them. I read the articles about the coated and berylium heated stones and wondered if mine were those, but the appraiser, who is a GIA graduate, verified that they were in fact rubies and I''m sure she would have noticed a coated stone. I don''t know how hard it would be to detect beryllium heating (versus the almost universal heat treatment of corundum, which I would expect), but I''m hoping that''s what I paid an expert for. I am thinking of getting another appraisal - sending them away to the GIA - just to be sure. I don''t know that it would make much difference to me if they were BE heated. We tend to accept so many types of enhancement on certain stones as the price we have to pay to *not* have to pay the price. If you know what I mean.

I will probably get some flack here about this, but I bought the stones on jtv. I have purchased many gems and jewelry pieces from them, had them appraised, and have never been disappointed or scammed. If I receive an item that just isn''t up to my standards or expectations, I simply send it back and I always get a quick refund from them. I am not an expert, but I do educate myself and research gemstones that I like, and have a small collection of unusual or rare stones. Unfortunately, Connie, you won''t be able to get any of these, though. I bought all that were available and have kept my eyes peeled for more, but no luck so far. BTW, the stones cost $40 each!

Here is the necklace I had made:

 

[bigsister5]

I just found out that you can''t put 2 pictures in a msg, so here is the ring I had made, too.

 

[DiamondExpert]

You should have a good idea of whether or not they are treated stones from the price you paid...whatever that was.

 

[Linda W]

Connie,


I hope you can find more of these stones. I know how much you like them.


Linda

 

[bigsister5]

I''m quite sure they are heat treated, as most corundum is, and that was stated on the description of the stone. I''ve only seen unheated corundum on a website that specialized in untreated stones, but the prices were out of my range. These stones were very inexpensive, but have been verified to be rubies and appraised at about 10 times what I paid for them.

 

[TKC]

I believe the red sapphires that you have been Beryllium heated. You can find easily red sapphires on ebay with the price from $20 to $30 for 1 carat to 1.5 carats. For smaller ones like your size, you can find them for $10 or less. To identify such sapphires, even lab will require you to have them tested using further testing equipments like SIMS or LIBS. It depends on how deep the penetration of the Beryllium. If only skin deep, lab will easily identify the stones. When you send the stone to the AGTA lab, I believe, you will get the roport stating that further testing using SIMS or LIBS is required to determine whether the stone has been diffused or not. Something like that. Or, they will tell you if the stone has been diffused or not. Again, it depends on the penetration of the Beryllium. I hope it helps.

 

[conitta]

Date: 7/22/2006 1:08:00 AM
Author: bigsister5

I call them stop lite red because they look like a car''s tail lite color, with splashes of orange-red when you put on the brakes. They are not orangey red, but do flash that color as the light hits them. I read the articles about the coated and berylium heated stones and wondered if mine were those, but the appraiser, who is a GIA graduate, verified that they were in fact rubies and I''m sure she would have noticed a coated stone. I don''t know how hard it would be to detect beryllium heating (versus the almost universal heat treatment of corundum, which I would expect), but I''m hoping that''s what I paid an expert for. I am thinking of getting another appraisal - sending them away to the GIA - just to be sure. I don''t know that it would make much difference to me if they were BE heated. We tend to accept so many types of enhancement on certain stones as the price we have to pay to *not* have to pay the price. If you know what I mean.

I will probably get some flack here about this, but I bought the stones on jtv. I have purchased many gems and jewelry pieces from them, had them appraised, and have never been disappointed or scammed. If I receive an item that just isn''t up to my standards or expectations, I simply send it back and I always get a quick refund from them. I am not an expert, but I do educate myself and research gemstones that I like, and have a small collection of unusual or rare stones. Unfortunately, Connie, you won''t be able to get any of these, though. I bought all that were available and have kept my eyes peeled for more, but no luck so far. BTW, the stones cost $40 each!

Here is the necklace I had made:

So bigsister5....you bought all of them from JTV.How did I miss them as I have them on most of the time.Did you see them on the gem show or on the webb site? You discribed the color well and they are so lively.Really don''t care what they are. As ce said most of them seen on ebay are be heated but then I think if JTV new they were they would say they were. So I don''t know.If you send one off please keep me informed.

I too have bought gemstones and finished pieces from them and have returned a fare share of them and never a problem. I once bought sapphire earrings and later received a letter from them saying they may have been bulk diffused and that I could return them if chose to do so. When I ordered them it was not mentioned in the discription, now they did not have to do that.I have also had purchases appraised and have gotten good appraisals and also the appraiser couldn''t believe the price I paid for them.So overall I am pleased with JTV! (they do have junk also

) Their red carpet and memo pieces are of nice quality.The stuff they make is not.

Connie

Connie,

>>>>>I hope you can find more of these stones. I know how much you like them.

Linda

Thanks Linda ....