Thoughts on This Sapphire?

[Wanaka]

Hi everyone, I have been eyeing this sapphire from the Kosnars for a while now. Something keeps drawing my eye back to it and I was wondering what your honest thoughts are on this and any suggested settings for a ring (keeping it simple and elegant please, though maybe I should get some lavender sapphire melee and halo this baby! )

The photos are all as per the vendor and the specs are:

- Oval 7.19 mm x 5.54 mm
- 1.47 carats
- I clarity
- Sri Lankan in origin with no treatments
- silk inclusions with a cats eye effect across the crown

It is a very pretty colour to my eye and pleasingly not a ‘proper’ royal blue sapphire colour, which will be my future engagement ring

 

[chrono]

Huge eye visible inclusions in the pictures. You sure you’re okay with that for an engagement ring stone?

 

[Wanaka]

Hi @chrono - Sorry, I meant that this is not the colour of my future engagement ring stone. This is just for a fun RHR... I'll re-word my original post *actually cannot manage to edit lol, it's obvious I'm a noob *

 

[alene]

It does look very included. Not seeing a cats eye effect there, just a bow tie, no?

 

[Acinom]

Love the vibrant colour in the first and third photo... But these are quite likely photoshopped.

I find the colour very flat in the last 2 pics and it has a bowtie.

But it appeals to you and that’s the inly important factor in the end. I would make sure not to pay too much though. In these pics I cannot see the cats eye effect?

 

[Wanaka]

It does look very included. Not seeing a cats eye effect there, just a bow tie, no?

I can't really see the cats eye either, but I wasn't sure if that was because of my CS inexperience. But as you and Acinom have both noted, the bowtie is there... I do like the colour though!

Love the vibrant colour in the first and third photo... But these are quite likely photoshopped.

I find the colour very flat in the last 2 pics and it has a bowtie.

But it appeals to you and that’s the inly important factor in the end. I would make sure not to pay too much though. In these pics I cannot see the cats eye effect?

I can't see the cats eye either as I noted to alene - I really like the colour but perhaps the fact that I haven't jumped on this already, is a sign to not purchase this.

 

[Bron357]

As the owner of a number of blue sapphires, you do need to see them in person to check the colour and intensity. They tend to photograph differently than the eye sees. And of course a vendor might have very fancy lighting or have slightly modified the image.
This one of mine is a lavender blue in person, like the one you like, but in a photo, it’s slightly different.
So just make sure you can return it if it isn’t as expected.

 

[Wanaka]

@Bron357 Thanks for your thoughts, it's great to hear from someone who owns blue sapphires. I will bear that advice in mind when I source my actual engagement ring stone - which will be a round royal blue. I really like that lavender blue oval of yours in that photo!!! I think that one might be the one I hold out for... I have other projects in mind and I have seen something else I like on Dana's website (which I didn't know existed until I came here onto PS a couple days ago )

p.s. Off topic but is that a Saluki in your profile pic???

 

[Bron357]

Hi, yes my Arya is a Saluki (and while very beautiful she is a handful).
With the royal blue sapphires (I’ve got a pair of 9mm ones) keep in mind that they do “darken” when set into jewellery so at night time inside they can look almost black.
Again, as other PSers will advise, do see any sapphire in person and check it out in various lighting conditions. Vendors photos of their gems are always “optimized” (they are trying to sell so of course they use the best photos) so going with someone with a “no hassle return policy” is best.
And “heated” sapphires - a process which helps dissolve the natural silk (rutile needles) and improve clarity and colour - are more common, so if you are paying a premium price for an “unheated one” make sure it comes with a reliable lab report (ie AGL or GIA) that confirms this.

 

[Wanaka]

@Bron357 Arya is beautiful, and I hope to be owned by a Saluki someday.
That pair you have is stunning, though I may really have to get around a few sapphires in person to familiarise myself with the different shades of blue. Your pair is a little dark for my taste (I intend for my sapphire to be a true solitaire so it does have to have its own sparkle, no helping diamond halo or sidetones) but 9mm is amazing and they look perfectly matched.
I will be in the market for an unheated sapphire so a decent lab report is something I will put down on the list. As an aside I had always thought that AGL and GIA were the only labs around - quite surprised to come across others.

 

[Kevin Bryant]

Any thing from Kosnars will be a well cut gemstone, they or both great cutters.

 

[LilAlex]

I agree with others that the sapphire in your photos has a lot of negatives. The color is fine -- I have one that is similar. But the inclusions are big enough to really detract, imo. I think it would be all I'd see after a while and would detract from the joy. That said, I have a cabochon sapphire that is only translucent and I know all it's flaws and it's still fun to look at.

Also, in reference to a statement you made, I'm really surprised by all the round brilliant sapphires on this forum. Maybe it's just how my brain works but I'm not crazy about that cut for an intensely colored stone. I'd much prefer a cushion or oval or emerald cut. I thought the point of a sapphire was to make it *not* look like everyone else's engagement ring.

 

[Wanaka]

But the inclusions are big enough to really detract, imo. I think it would be all I'd see after a while and would detract from the joy.

You've just summed it up right there, so I think I am going to pass on this gem now. It would probably just end up as a learner stone and a hassle to return etc. as I am not in the States.

Also, in reference to a statement you made, I'm really surprised by all the round brilliant sapphires on this forum. Maybe it's just how my brain works but I'm not crazy about that cut for an intensely colored stone. I'd much prefer a cushion or oval or emerald cut. I thought the point of a sapphire was to make it *not* look like everyone else's engagement ring.

Not sure about anyone else, but for me, the round brilliant is my personal compromise between a diamond and a coloured stone for my engagement ring. Plus my hands are quite small, with tiny nail beds, yet I have a 6 ring size... a lot of larger stones / major finger coverage look overwhelming and fake

 

[LilAlex]

Not sure about anyone else, but for me, the round brilliant is my personal compromise between a diamond and a coloured stone for my engagement ring. Plus my hands are quite small...

Makes perfect sense! Although a "stubby" cushion-cut...? None of my business, I know!

 

[Wanaka]

Although a "stubby" cushion-cut...?

You intrigue me... say more? Photos? (Can I thread jack my own thread?! haha)