Spectacular sapphires - how to find them

[Frost]

Any opinion on this sapphire?

http://www.thegemtrader.com/Jun13BSapphirePage.htm

I need opinion in terms of overall quality as well as price. Could one do better?

Color - nice, seems well saturated and good; cutting - good enough but there's a small window (not a huge deal). Depth isn't mentioned anywhere so not sure if it's deep (in practice, if a stone is deep it will look slightly smaller face-up than it normally would; it's pretty common with sapphires).

 

[sapphiredream]

Color - nice, seems well saturated and good; cutting - good enough but there's a small window (not a huge deal). Depth isn't mentioned anywhere so not sure if it's deep (in practice, if a stone is deep it will look slightly smaller face-up than it normally would; it's pretty common with sapphires).

Thank you, frost!

 

[Bron357]

I think sapphires are tricky to assess via photos. Especially loose gems in fabulous lighting. Gems when set usually look darker and in low light, darker still. Some people love the inky navy colour, others the pale but bright Ceylon blue, everyone loves the Kashmir colour. Luckily there is a shade to suit everyone.

 

[sapphiredream]

I think sapphires are tricky to assess via photos. Especially loose gems in fabulous lighting. Gems when set usually look darker and in low light, darker still. Some people love the inky navy colour, others the pale but bright Ceylon blue, everyone loves the Kashmir colour. Luckily there is a shade to suit everyone.

So what is the strategy, really?

Do people hunt online and then order the stone in for viewing, then return if needed (which, in most cases, I'm sure it is..because virtually all vendors use fabulous lighting to make stone look more vibrant). ?

 

[Frost]

Do people hunt online and then order the stone in for viewing, then return if needed (which, in most cases, I'm sure it is..

I really don't think it's 'most cases' if ordering from honest vendors (most normal dealers have a 1% return rate, possibly even less).
But anyway, never mind that - ask the vendor to make daylight images of the stone. Normal diffused daylight, for example outside on a cloudy day or in the shade on a sunny day so the stone is lit up. You can't judge a sapphire from a photo in the dark or beneath the table or something - these stones need light and the way to judge them is either calibrated daylight-simulating lamps or actual daylight.
And ask for any and all other photos and/or videos you might need. It doesn't matter if it's one picture or 40 - you need to know what you're buying and should ask for lighting scenarios that you yourself expect to see in your life (for example outside, indoors, yellow light, etc.). Ask them what lighting the photos were taken in.

because virtually all vendors use fabulous lighting to make stone look more vibrant). ?

You'd have to be crazy to try to make something look better than what it is because you're shooting yourself in the foot and only ensuring you'll spend time and money sending something that's going to get returned. It doesn't make any sense - it's like guaranteeing a return.
What should be done instead is to use lights that make them look accurate, not better than what they are, and use editing software to bring them even closer to how they actually look. Color calibrated cameras, color calibrated monitors, powerful editing programs etc. Very, very few gems look accurate straight out of a DSLR and even those usually change by the time you display them on a computer screen. So manually ensuring they look accurate on the web is a basic necessity.

You'll "read" stones better and better the more you compare images and real life examples. Sapphires do translate their color/clarity qualities into photos, it's just that they take some time to decode - but the more you do it the easier it gets. The crucial thing for that though is to see real life examples too; that after a while gives you a 'feel' of how colors behave. If you have a friendly local jeweller or a gem dealer, or know some friendly people on a gem show, go and check their inventory and learn the differences, compare and research - it'll help.

 

[sapphiredream]

Frost,

That makes sense.
You would think vendors would not show the stones in a light that is most flattering when the stone is typically NOT seen under such lighting - but I think the practice is quite frequent.
I have seen quite a few situations.

Regardless, the idea is that most searches now happen online.

For me, it is basically impossbile to just step out of the house and go to local jewelry stores to see what's there. Typically, selections are minimal and they don't sell stones.
They sell jewelry - and the chance of finding exactly what you are looking - betweenn stone and setting - is basically zero. Hence custom.
But for custom, the jeweler either has to bring in some stones or you have to chase online.

So again - we're back to online pictures.

But as you said, you have to order in enough stones to train your eye - which will come with quite a few returns until you figure out what you are doing.

 

[alene]

Sapphiredream, I have little experience buying sapphires, let alone spectacular ones, but one of the things I've found helpful is looking at the vendor/owner photo thread here as well as tons of other threads that show both vendor pictures and the ones taken by the owners. It really gives you an idea what kind of photos are more likely to be accurate. It took some buying and returning for me too and I know now there are some recommended vendors here I'd never purchase from again while there are others whose stones tend to look better than their photos. I'd ask for photos in as many different lighting situations as possible, outdoor natural light, fluorescent office lighting, etc. Ask for videos too. For what it's worth, my spinel from Finewater Gems looks better than I expected based on the photos.

 

[Stone Hunter]

...
For teal, greenish-blue and similar colors, I think Montana wins over any other source. Australia can compete with Montana where green is concerned, but not when it comes to teal-turquoise.

That's how it is though. You have different sources and different colors which the sources tend to represent particularly well. For vivid/glowing pure blue, Kashmir/Burma/Sri Lanka/Madagascar. For darker/dimmer blue, Nigeria, Cameroon, Thailand, Cambodia, Australia. For good green, Australia. For good teal, turquoise and green, Montana. That's generally speaking - of course there are some exceptions once in a while.

I know that this is just your opinion, but I found it helpful. Eventually I'd like to own several different colors of sapphire. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Stone Hunter]

...

So again - we're back to online pictures.

But as you said, you have to order in enough stones to train your eye - which will come with quite a few returns until you figure out what you are doing.

It is so VERY hard to get good photos of blue stones. Some vendors are better than others. Take a look at the Vender/PSer photo thread. I have purchased two sapphires from Dana at Mastercut gems. I think I know what his stones will look like from his photos. Yet I personally get VERY different looks out of the same stone in different light situations.

So you have to know what color you want in what lighting situation and then figure out if the vendor photos match what you are looking for. Not an easy task, but fun.

 

[Bron357]

Personally, I think you need to find vendors you can have confidence in that their gems will, in the flesh, be akin to what you saw in the photo / video. As with most things, you need to learn and gain experience so you can assess gems from photos to identify those worthy of further investigation. I think you also need to deal with vendors who allow you to return if the gem doesn’t meet your expectations.

 

[Frost]

But as you said, you have to order in enough stones to train your eye - which will come with quite a few returns until you figure out what you are doing.

If there's no venue to see them in real life - yep, it might.

Try checking whether there's a gem show happening near where you are at any point in the future, it would help immensely. It's the most cost-efficient option I can think of. If not, at least a gem dealer near where you live - maybe you can talk to them and see whether it's possible to meet and see their inventory.

If not that, maybe there's at least someone who'd agree to send you a few stones to compare and see every so often. Explain to the person that you need to figure blue colors out, ask them to send you a few stones, pay for them as a security but tell them that you will most likely return them all. I guess it shouldn't really make a difference whether you're returning one or ten if you're returning and they are covered until that time. As long as they're not losing on postage, insurance, bank/PayPal fees and stuff, I don't see why not - it's a minor hassle but if you're upfront about it, people know what to expect and shouldn't get disgruntled.

I know that this is just your opinion, but I found it helpful. Eventually I'd like to own several different colors of sapphire. Thanks for sharing.

Glad to. I go through several thousand different sapphires a year and that was a sort of a generalization of color tendencies - but of course exceptions exist.