Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:39 pm Posts: 3528 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Since I spent so much damn time looking at purple sapphires before I found the one in my avatar image, I've become a pseudo-expert on the things. If anyone needs any tips on the HUGE GIANT (small tiny) world of purple sapphires, feel free to ask away!
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:39 pm Posts: 3528 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA
I did indeed. It's in my happy little hands as we speak. Did I mention that it's untreated?
I should probably throw in the rest of the stats, as the old board is now lost to the mists of time...
3.67 carats
purple sapphire (I'd almost call it color change, really BLUE in certain daylight)
unheated
Sri Lanka origin?
Tokyo Gem Lab cert
REALLY pretty
found at Pala International (http://www.palagems.com)
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 3:36 pm Posts: 192 Location: San Francisco
You know, it's a shame you didn't photograph every one of those purple sapphires you saw!
You could have written an article...perhaps the most extensive article ever written, on purple sapphires.
Inclusions
Origins
Evidence of Heat Treatments
Evidence of no treatments
Pleochroism
Cut qualities
I'd say you are an authority on PURPLE SAPPHIRE!
_________________ "Do well and you will have no need for ancestors" Voltaire
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:39 pm Posts: 3528 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Well, many of them were shown to me in an environment unsuited to gem photography. I don't have access to a microscope with a camera port, and neither did anyone who was showing me stones.
Maybe I'll get my own scope with a camera port and then get my gal an anniversary purple sapph in a few years.
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 6:14 pm Posts: 640 Location: Hohe Tauern N.P., Austria
Good to have an expert for Purple Saphirres here!
What do you know about Brazilian material?
Just got a parcel rough from there. Very clean, strong Pleochrism, all stones waterworn (Must have had along trip they look nearly tumbled) and the size is 2 to 6 Carats each.
Did you come over such material in your quest for your purple beauty?
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:39 pm Posts: 3528 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Oh, I'm no expert... I'm just an amateur who has seen a ton of purple sapphires.
I've never seen any purple sapphire being billed as Brazilian but that doesn't mean I've never seen Brazilian stones. I've had a couple of people who just plain didn't know where in the world their stones came from. I was looking primarily in the 2-3 carat range (and ended up with the 3.67 beauty that is my avatar), so if there were a LOT of this stuff out there, I would probably have run across it. I ended up looking at, hmmm, around 30-40 purples in person before I settled on this one, and looked at more over the net. My guess is that the Brazilian purples are either in short supply or short demand. If they are as nice as you say... probably limited supply.
If you have any photos of that Brazilian rough, I'd love to take a look at it!
Last edited by gem-n00b on Fri Dec 02, 2005 7:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:39 pm Posts: 3528 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Oh, I finally got ahold of the Tokyo Gem Lab cert for my stone (it showed up much later than the stone did... *cough cough* Pala was slow in shipping it out *cough cough*) ... but I finally got it.
Verdict? Color-change sapphire, just like I thought. Why Pala was selling it as "purple", I'm not sure... I was under the impression that CC sapphire was more "valuable" than purple.
Verdict? Color-change sapphire, just like I thought. Why Pala was selling it as "purple", I'm not sure... I was under the impression that CC sapphire was more "valuable" than purple.
Maybe because of all the speculation over what "color-change" means in the trade. Better let the lab explain it! Other than Alex, does Pala list any color change stones, or I shoud say, color change stones other than where it is an ID'ing feature such as Alex vs Chrysoberyl?
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:39 pm Posts: 3528 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Well, I don't know whether Pala lists *any* color change sapphire, but the lab seems to agree with me.
The stone is described as:
Result: NATURAL SAPPHIRE (COLOR-CHANGE)
Cutting: Oval mixed cut
Color: Violetish Blue
Measurement: 8 x 9.5 x 6
Weight 3.67 carats
(note, I rounded the measurements they gave)
The inclusions are listed as: Needles, Minute particles
And the Comments section reads: No evidence of heat enhancement has been found in this stone. Optimum color is violetish blue in daylight, violet in incadescent light.
Personally, I'd say that it's damn near a true blue (albeit not "cornflower") in daylight and PURPLE (such a beautiful violet!) in incandescent.
'tase and I have both seen it under HIGH magnification and the thing is just stunning... unheated, beautiful rutile needles... there's this gorgeous prismatic sheen at some angles across the rutile...
Anyway, that's the stone. As for color change vs. color shift... the jury's still out... as our many forum discussions seem to have indicated.
NOTE: Regardless of how Pala was *describing* the stone, I believe they were *pricing* it as color-change material.
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