Sapphires from WWII era?

[Ann]

My mother in law has 2 sapphires, 1 blue and 1 golden yellow that her husband bought home with him after he returned from WWII. I am not sure what country he bought them in, but somewhere in the Pacific/Korea region I guess. She has them in a bank vault and I have never seen them. She has said they are lovely. I was under the impression they are uncut, but now I''m not sure. Anyway, I don''t want to ask very many questions, as I don''t won''t to appear to be wanting them!!!

Question: were stones heat treated back then?

I am hoping she will retrieve these babies and do something with them.!

 

[valeria101]

Date: 1/24/2006 3:40:25 PM
Author:Ann

Question: were stones heat treated back then?

Yes... heat treatment is centuries older than that. Only some more invasive treatments (e.g. color enhancement by diffusion) are recent enough to have escaped your sapphires. Synthetics were available as well, so age is not a guarantee for that either. Sure enough, this doesn''t imply that the stones are not natural.

My 2c

 

[Ann]

Ah, interesting, thanks Ana.

I am hoping she will get them out soon and show them to me.

 

[rubydick]

Ann,

Chances are that, if the stones are natural, they are not heated. Such treatment was not used on blue and yellow sapphires in a big way until the 1970s. The bigger question is whether or not the gems are natural. You need to take them to a gemologist for identification. Synthetic sapphires have been made for over 100 years.