Victorian sapphire ring--microscope--tell me what I'm looking at

[glitterata]

About a decade ago I bought an antique sapphire ring on eBay. I didn't pay much for it. It has a cabochon sapphire about 6mm in diameter set in a halo of itty bitty rose-cut diamonds. It's unmarked and I didn't test it, but it appears to be made of yellow gold. The sapphire is sort of denim blue and translucent, with some big feathers and lots of stuff in the murk. I'm guessing the ring is from the third quarter of the 19th century, though who really knows. I assumed the sapphire was natural because the color and clarity aren't good enough to be synthetic, and besides, they hadn't yet invented synthetics at the time when this ring appears to have been made. Obviously it's not a jewel of fabled rarity and workmanship, but I like it. It has a lot of charm.

A couple of years ago I bought a cheap little microscope recommended by a fellow member of a silver collectors forum. The other day I was playing with it and used it to look at the sapphire.

Can any of you knowledgeable folks tell me what these inclusions are, and what they mean?

Here's my microscope setup. In these photos (and some of the micrographs) I have the ring angled to the side. In other micrographs I'm looking down through the top of the stone (and in some it's in a different ring box). The microscope has a circle of LEDs surrounding the lens, which reflect in the sapphire.



Here are some shots of the ring on my hand in various lighting.




View attachment 773430

Here's the microscope pointing down at the sapphire at various distances. In the first photo I have the microscope's LED lights off and you can see the sapphire's dome reflecting the microscope, the window, and the room I'm in. In the next photos the LED lights are on and you can see how they reflect on the top of the sapphire.




And here are some microscopic views of the sapphire's interior. The round white circles are the reflections of the LEDs, of course.







What are the lines? What are the crystals? Do you see evidence of heat? Of other treatment? Of the sapphire's origin? I know it's not a valuable stone--I'm just generally curious about what I'm looking at here.

 

[glitterata]

Hm, I'm apparently not very good at attaching files. Here are some more that I seem to have left out:

 

[glitterata]

Side view of the ring:

 

[Arcadian]

Based on some of the images and the story you told about the ring, I'm guessing the stone has some dings. if you run a light thumbnail or fingernail over the top, does it feel like it wants to catch? if so, you no doubt have some wear and tear on the exterior of the stone a jeweler familiar with buffing cabs would have more idea if they can remove that.

Some of the "scratches" look to me like they could be silk. Its impossible for me to totally tell if its been heated or if its natural or not. You could send to AGL and they can determine it (they have some pretty powerful equipment) as they can do mounted stones

Price List — American Gemological Laboratories

aglgemlab.com

 

[glitterata]

Thanks, Arcadian! I think most if not all of what we're seeing is inside the sapphire, not external scratches. It feels totally smooth. I'm just generally curious--it's not a good enough sapphire to bother sending it to a lab or paying for a report.

 

[LemonMoonLex]

I don't see anything on the surface but instead these look like internal structures. I'm not an expert so I don't want to make a deduction here but they truly look like rutile needles and microscopic crystal growth structures inside of the sapphire to me.

If they are crystal growth structures, my gut would want to say its unheated but hopefully someone that's studied the structure for blue sapphires when it comes to treatment has done so thoroughly & can give you a better educated guess.

On another note, It is a quaint little ring & I'm quite partial to it. Its beautiful & the rose cuts compliment the cabochon just perfectly!

 

[PreRaphaelite]

Sorry not to be able to help - just wanted to say, Wow it is gorgeous.

 

[glitterata]

Thank you, Garnet Girl and PreRaph!

 

[GliderPoss]

It's very pretty!

 

[Bron357]

Having spent many hours peering down my microscope try this.
Make sure the background is Matt white underneath the sapphire.
dont use the LED light, instead use a torch light and illuminate from the side / from behind if you can. It’s easier to see the inclusions that way.
and yes, natural sapphires can have Crystal inclusions, the most common inclusion though is rutile needles. You need to get a decent look at them to ID heat treatment, They tend to be “broken up” if heat has been used, that and any “halos” around any of the inclusions. Origin is difficult to judge just using a microscope unless there are particular inclusions only attributed to “x” location.
try different lights and different angles to get the best internal view.
Your sapphire will definitely have “scratches” from wear, It’s unavoidable, so you have to be keep in mind that you might be looking at a scratch or chip on the surface or even through to it on the other side.
great fun.