Jewelry

[songbird]

I collect different colors of sapphires.  There are two kinds of good blue sapphires.  One is the cornflower blue.  That only comes from Ceylon.  The other one is the more common Royal Blue.  That is darker, but still very blue. The secondary colors must be green or purple. They come from Burma and a few from Madagascar.  The Kashmir was the original Royal Blue,  But it had a velvety look to it. Both kinds can have a medium or lighter shade. The Kashmir has been described as a sleepy eyed gem. QVC had offered the royal blue, but that wasn't very good.  Almost black.  Obviously, the better the color, the more expensive.   Like precious and exotic gems, good sapphires gain in value.  They only get higher in price. 

The other colors are teal (recently offered by TVON) purple, the ruby (only the red sapphire gets it's own name) green, orange, yellow, black & white.  There other colors too like raspberry.  All non blue sapphires are called fancy sapphires.

This is the cornflower blue

And this is the Royal Blue.  i wanted to show you the difference. 

[Kachina624]

I remember years ago, back in the '80s, HSN had something they called their "dream bracelet".  Seemed like everytime I turned the TV on, there is was.  It was a tennis bracelet with large sapphires (they said) that were as black as onyx, set in sterling.  I was sure everyone in America but me had one. The sapphires were from Kanchanaburi, maybe India? 

[songbird]

Kanchanaburi, ( a town in Thailland I think) was popular years ago.  They were the royal blue kind, but way too dark.  Ideal sapphires are medium shade, not dark.  They were sold at QVC too.  The mine had just open and they were all over the shopping channels.  The mine has since closed.  People eventually stopped buying them.  Thailand is big in ruby and sapphires.  I always thought their sapphires were too dark. 

[NYLovesQVC]

I really liked the purple sapphires today 

[phoenixbrd]

@songbird....you "collect" sapphires.  Where do you purchase most of them?  Those shown are outstanding and I would imagine require a hefty price.  

[esmeraldagooch]

The only sapphire I own are from Thailand and Montana.

[songbird]

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@phoenixbrd wrote:

@songbird....you "collect" sapphires.  Where do you purchase most of them?  Those shown are outstanding and I would imagine require a hefty price.  

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I've gotten a few from TVON. mostly rings, as I like to wear them too.  I've gotten some from Gem Shopping Network.  Good blue sapphires run in the thousands per carat in jewelry stores.  Fancy sapphires are not that expensive.  With the possible exception of the hot pink and now the growing popularity of yellow sapphires.  Most of my sapphires are a carat.  One exception.  My Ceylon Cornflower blue is 2 carats and set in 18K.  That;s my most expensive and from Gem Shopping.  All of my sapphires have diamonds.  I dislike gem stones without diamonds.  Corundum is the only gem stone I like. Don't care for the popular Paraibas/Tranzanites and I hate semi precious ones.  The ones shown are quite large and costly.  Many of the sapphires online start at $28,000.00.  

[itiswhatitis]

@songbird, Sapphires are my birthstone but good ones w/o fissures and no lead glass are hard to come by.  I won't buy any, nor would I buy the rubies.

Yellow and Pink Sapphires originate from Ceylon as well.

[songbird]

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@itiswhatitis wrote:

@songbird, Sapphires are my birthstone but good ones w/o fissures and no lead glass are hard to come by.  I won't buy any, nor would I buy the rubies.

Yellow and Pink Sapphires originate from Ceylon as well.

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I don't buy any gemstone without a lab report.  All of mine have  lab reports. 

[VegasBusinessWoman]

Wow!  Interesting information!  Most of the sapphire jewelry I have was given to me as gifts.  I have bought some pink sapphire jewelry for myself in recent years and LOVE that color, too.