Snowed in so it's now or never. Here goes:
Posting an uncolored gemstone in Colored Stones since it seems like the most appropriate place for this oddball sapphire -- until there is an "Uncolored Stones" forum!
I have had this for a few years and would like to bezel-set it in a heavy man's ring (not so much a ring for a heavy man but more of a man's ring that is heavy). It was billed as a "silver" sapphire -- it is pale gray and well cut but not quite precision cut. It is much lighter in tone than any gray spinel I have seen and that's what I like since I am aiming for a monochromatic look and want the metal and stone to match as closely as possible. Too pale and it looks like a diamond (impressive enough in this 10mm x 8mm size range, but not the look I am after) and too dark and it's, well, too dark.
It pulls a tiny bit violet in warm incandescent lighting and a tiny bit blue in daylight but it pretty much has no color. It is unheated Madagascar and was reasonably priced -- about a tenth of a fine blue. It's eye-clean and is pretty good even under magnification (see below).
I have been inclined toward platinum but also like 18K (unplated) palladium white gold which has a hint of brown. The stone has a cooler look and sometimes matching the metal feels correct and sometimes contrasting with the metal feels correct.
Any thoughts...?
All these are with a macro lens and full-frame DSLR shot in RAW at maybe f/13 and with minimal processing apart from white-balance correction.
This is it:
Below, the worst of the inclusions, which are pretty subtle and not eye-visible:
Below are two near-identical views in slightly different color-temperature lights that I then balanced away but they are still subtly different. The ring on the left is platinum with a matte finish that has been, uh, burnished by five years of my adult son's various outdoor passions. The ring on the right is 18K palladium white gold in a brushed finish that is virtually brand new but still manages to look like cr*p at this magnification.
So I am thinking that the metal on the left is the better match for a heavy ring that is entirely this metal plus this stone. These rings are ~ 10 - 11mm "tall" and ~ 25 g and the new ring would be similar scale. Eager to hear what others think. Thank you!
Posting an uncolored gemstone in Colored Stones since it seems like the most appropriate place for this oddball sapphire -- until there is an "Uncolored Stones" forum!
I have had this for a few years and would like to bezel-set it in a heavy man's ring (not so much a ring for a heavy man but more of a man's ring that is heavy). It was billed as a "silver" sapphire -- it is pale gray and well cut but not quite precision cut. It is much lighter in tone than any gray spinel I have seen and that's what I like since I am aiming for a monochromatic look and want the metal and stone to match as closely as possible. Too pale and it looks like a diamond (impressive enough in this 10mm x 8mm size range, but not the look I am after) and too dark and it's, well, too dark.
It pulls a tiny bit violet in warm incandescent lighting and a tiny bit blue in daylight but it pretty much has no color. It is unheated Madagascar and was reasonably priced -- about a tenth of a fine blue. It's eye-clean and is pretty good even under magnification (see below).
I have been inclined toward platinum but also like 18K (unplated) palladium white gold which has a hint of brown. The stone has a cooler look and sometimes matching the metal feels correct and sometimes contrasting with the metal feels correct.
Any thoughts...?
All these are with a macro lens and full-frame DSLR shot in RAW at maybe f/13 and with minimal processing apart from white-balance correction.
This is it:
Below, the worst of the inclusions, which are pretty subtle and not eye-visible:
Below are two near-identical views in slightly different color-temperature lights that I then balanced away but they are still subtly different. The ring on the left is platinum with a matte finish that has been, uh, burnished by five years of my adult son's various outdoor passions. The ring on the right is 18K palladium white gold in a brushed finish that is virtually brand new but still manages to look like cr*p at this magnification.
So I am thinking that the metal on the left is the better match for a heavy ring that is entirely this metal plus this stone. These rings are ~ 10 - 11mm "tall" and ~ 25 g and the new ring would be similar scale. Eager to hear what others think. Thank you!
JK!
It looks like a sand finish, rose gold.
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