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Thread: Star Sapphires and Ruby

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
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    Default Star Sapphires and Ruby

    The sun was out and I was sorting my stones so thought I would take advantage of the situation.

    The yellow and pink stones are Star Sapphire cabs, and the red one is a Ruby. I wish I'd bought more of these when I had the opportunity as I really like the stars. I've got a soft spot for stones with surprises – especially colour-change stones. I used to have quite a few, but sold them earlier this year.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Steve

  2. #2
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    Made up into jewellery they can be quite disappointing though. They are often opaque and boring until the light happens to hit them at the right angle.

    Men are said to be bad at multitasking, so if your dinner date is trying to have a meaningful conversation, and you are watching out for the stars to flash, youre not listening are you?

  3. #3
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    Haha! You lost me at multitasking...

  4. #4
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    So would you be able to give more info about those steve? size/cost, are they for sale on your blog??

  5. #5
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    oh, I love the star sapphires and that ruby is rather delicious too.

  6. #6
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    Apr 2015
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    Thanks Jill and Wallace! They are lovely. Both the Sapphires are translucent stones, but the Ruby is opaque, so the Sapphires win for me.

    Jill, these are on my website/bog whatsit. On there I'm selling them at £250 for the pink Sapphire, £300 for the yellow Sapphire and £350 for the Ruby. I got my prices from gemval.com. I bought all these 16 years ago from a fellow collector, but you can imagine I didn't pay that much for them!

    Actually, while we're on the subject, how on earth do you as jewellers value such things? Collectors have a very set formula but I'm not sure if jewellers have the same process? A collector looking at these three stones would immediate pick out the pink Sapphire as the most valuable – it's not only a pink Sapphire, which is quite rare, but it's from Ceylon. But according the gemval, which doesn't take into account origin, the Ruby is most expensive purely on carat weight and type. As I used gemval to value the stones I put on my website I may have made some errors.

    On to the stones though.
    The yellow Sapphire is from Thailand. It's 7.77cts, eye clean (VVS) and measures 11.5 x 8.7 x 6.7mm.
    The pink Sapphire is from Ceylon. It's 3.1cts, eye clean also and is 9 x 6 x 4.5mm.
    The Ruby is Kenyan and is 6.82cts and opaque. It's got some nice striations and banding inside it which makes it very pearly. It's 12 x 8.1 x 6.1mm

    If you've got something nice in mind to make from any of these I'm open to any offers. Although I'm selling a few stones, I'm not really doing it to make money – although that would be very nice!

    Steve

  7. #7
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    I love the yellow sapphire, and am not usually a fan of yellow stones.
    I was looking at star rubies recently for a project. As many of the (cheaper) ones are glass-filled, would this have a significant effect on their durability?

  8. #8
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    Apr 2015
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    Quote Originally Posted by LydiaNiz View Post
    I love the yellow sapphire, and am not usually a fan of yellow stones.
    I was looking at star rubies recently for a project. As many of the (cheaper) ones are glass-filled, would this have a significant effect on their durability?
    Sorry, I missed this earlier today.

    In a word, yes. Many stones have fissures and cracks, particularly those at the fracture end of a crystal, or those that have been moved over time by geology, or even those that may have run out of a certain mineral while growing.

    One way to use them (instead of binning them or putting them to industrial use) is to fill them with something. Glass has been used extensively, so have certain types of resin. However, like all things, you'll have a weak part of the chain – glass is way more fragile than Ruby, or any other stone.

    However, there are variables. A stone with very few fractures, but are visible, can be successfully filled and not alter the integral strength too much. A stone filled with more glass than Ruby is quite easy to spot. I bought a few of them to see if I can spot them for myself. Some have been filled so much they have bubbles of glass in them! Others have been barely touched. A filled stone will always be less valuable than a natural stone, even one with visible fractures, as there's no guarantee how much glass has been used – and ultimately how it will react when it's set in a piece of jewellery.

    If you like I can let you have a filled Ruby for the cost of postage to play with? You can knock it about and see how durable it is for yourself. Send me your address if you're interested.

    Steve

  9. #9
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    Apr 2015
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    I have my microscope set up on my desk all the time, so I've just taken a few shots of some excessively filled Rubies.

    As you can see, all three stones have obvious bubbles in them. They are hard to see with the eye, except in bright light, but a 10x glass will spot them easily. I don't have my exceptional stones in the house so I can't show you one completely natural. Next time I have them I'll take a pic.
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    Oh, you may be able to spot a couple on my website. Click 'Rubies' on the search box. If you then click on the name at the top of the little boxes it will tell you more about the stone. There are a few filled Rubies on there, but they are very slightly filled. You'll be able to see the difference in prices between filled and unfilled stones too.
    http://stevesstones.blogspot.co.uk/

  10. #10
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    Jun 2010
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    Cardiff
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    Default

    Thanks Steve, that's very interesting. I was wondering about the star stones specifically - there seems to be a lot of loose use of the word 'natural' out there in Internet land...

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