Red Sapphire?

[LJsapphire]

Just browsing jewellery and came across this

https://www.ellisonsjewellers.co.uk/coloured-rings&attributes_filters[12][]=Red Sapphire

I'm aware that ruby and sapphire are both corundum, and ruby is red while sapphire can be any other colour. So how can these be classed as red sapphires?

We have come to the conclusion that its marketing spiel

 

[Bron357]

Ah ha, worked it out.
When a pink sapphire has had it’s colour enhanced by Beryllium treatment and it becomes more “red” it isn’t called a ruby it becomes a “red sapphire” or another trade name is a “sunset ruby”.
So they aren’t allowed to call them rubies as they were, and technically still are sapphires, even though their colour is now red.

 

[Nosean]

I remember some east african corundum with brownish red or other "red" colors but not like what you would call a ruby...

Whether treated or not ( diffusion ) - don't know...
---
@ Bron357

Yes, sunset ruby was offered in show TV shows here a few years ago...

 

[Frost]

I personally own both heated (non-diffused) and unheated red-orange sapphires; so I can definitely say that they do exist in nature too.

The "sunset type" is almost always beryllium treated and it's best to stay away from it unless you're getting it for the price of a coffee or something just as a sample to keep. What's little known though is that the same type of color does exist in only heat-treated (or extremely rarely, untreated) corundum. They are ridiculously rare and usually ridiculously expensive. Rightly so, since the color really can't be compared to anything else in corundum, looks impressive to no end and is normally only obtainable through diffusion. So when something naturally resembles that, it's pretty understandable that it's exceptional(ly rare).

They look very different from rubies though. None of them are true red as a ruby would be, but more often have orange and/or brown mixed in so there is a very visible difference if you put one next to a ruby. I'd compare them more to Tanzanian spinels; reddish-orange hues mixed together, bright and vivid.

All that said, the stones in the photos look like off-colored brownish-purplish-red rubies more than anything else. I don't see why they'd be listed as sapphire - it's an obvious off-ruby color.

 

[Nosean]

But reeeeed sapphire sounds better than - and you are right - off colored ruby.

The reason why I didn't know whether treated or not was I didn't buy a stone like this. I didn't trust the vendor ( german with mostly east african gems so a red flag course this material they often use to produce "sunset" rubies). Price was to cheap but quality also.

But there are incredible beautiful sapphires from Sri Lanka - a warm delicate deeper ( not padparadscha!) orangey red - off color ruby would be wrong course a valuable and rare variety. But really rare...

 

[Frost]

But reeeeed sapphire sounds better than - and you are right - off colored ruby.

Myeah, "let's be smart and market it as top of one variety instead of the bottom of the other", right?

But there are incredible beautiful sapphires from Sri Lanka - a warm delicate deeper ( not padparadscha!) orangey red - off color ruby would be wrong course a valuable and rare variety. But really rare...

Ah-hah! Bingo. I'm really surprised to encounter someone who actually does know about them, awesome. Those are the ones I was talking about. Crazy rare stuff and that glowing color is like absolutely nothing else in all of the corundum family.

 

[Seaglow]

I have an untreated one that borderlines between ruby and sapphire. AIGS defines it as sapphire with pink primary and orange secondary. They shift from pink/red to orange depending on light.

First photo under LED lamp and second under fluorescent light.



Also have this more saturated “pad”, still called a pad in Sri Lanka and Thailand but maybe too saturated for a pad to many. But I like it and the stone is super bright that I had set it in a ring even though it’s included (has an etch channel). Pinkish in most of daylight but can turn “redder” (orange present all the time) as in the photo under LED lamp.

 

[Nosean]

The cushion ( if the incandescent light color is not brownish ) is what many Sri Lanka vendor still call a padparadscha - def. not the european
definition ( Güblin )...
Love it...pad or not...

LED light is so misleading...

 

[Seaglow]

The cushion ( if the incandescent light color is not brownish ) is what many Sri Lanka vendor still call a padparadscha - def. not the european
definition ( Güblin )...
Love it...pad or not...

LED light is so misleading...

AIGS do designate pad in their report but this didn’t make it. Lol.

Incandescent...

 

[Nosean]

I like it! Understand why you bought it..

 

[Deathspi]

My first thought when I saw this was of the vendors who give their stones names like ‘pink emerald’ (morganite), yellow amethyst (citrine) etc etc...

 

[Frost]

The cushion is a really nice stone @Seaglow, and a pretty rare color. It shouldn't really matter whether it's called a pad or not, it's certainly more than rare enough (if the color is anything like what it appears to me here) to deserve the value a similar size padparadscha. But a pad it is not - I don't see why anyone would call it that.

Similar for the second one; I'd for example call it a pad if it had more orange. I can see some orange in the second photo though, so it's possible the color is more balanced than it appears in the photos. Both are really nice stones.

 

[Seaglow]

The cushion is a really nice stone @Seaglow, and a pretty rare color. It shouldn't really matter whether it's called a pad or not, it's certainly more than rare enough (if the color is anything like what it appears to me here) to deserve the value a similar size padparadscha. But a pad it is not - I don't see why anyone would call it that.

Similar for the second one; I'd for example call it a pad if it had more orange. I can see some orange in the second photo though, so it's possible the color is more balanced than it appears in the photos. Both are really nice stones.

Here’s a more orangy photo (old one). I take photos via iPad. The only time I get stones like these is if a dealer lets go of a stone from a collection.

 

[Nosean]

Great color!