Category: bling

When colourless is boring

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***Pls note that the jewellery featured in this particular post is not by Heritage Gems. 

Coloured gemstone engagement rings have long been used among royalty and Old Money as a profession of their love for each other.

Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor with a stunning 19.77ct emerald engagement ring. Truly a gem piece:

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Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon with her Ruby engagement ring surrounded by diamonds

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In more current times, royalty engagement such as Princess Diana’s 18ct stunning blue sapphire ring to which Kate Middleton was subsequently proposed to by Prince William are definitely redefining engagement ring traditions.

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Stunning blue sapphire engagement ring – If it’s good enough for Prince William and Kate Middleton, I’m sure it would be good enough for any of us.

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Princess Mathilde of Belgium’s beautiful oval ruby engagement ring

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Marie-Chantal of Greece’s Cabochon Sapphire engagement ring

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Fergie’s Oval Ruby engagement ring

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Jacqueline Onassis’s emerald engagement ring

And in even more recent times, amongst Hollywood celebs, coloured gemstones engagement rings have become popular

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Halle Berry’s 4ct emerald engagement ring. Beautiful and unique – estimated to be worth USD200,000.

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Elizabeth Hurley elegant and classic emerald shape blue sapphire stunner. As mentioned in a previous post, fancy cut side diamonds (regardless of shape) always command a premium than round brilliant side diamonds/setting size diamonds.

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Jessica’s ruby engagement ring, again, with fancy cut side diamonds.

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Nicole Richie’s Pink Sapphire engagement ring – a colour for the little girls inside every one of us.

Contrary to mainstream opinion, coloured gem engagement rings is only for the privileged few. Fine quality precious gemstones are rare and not easily available. If one has a specific colour/shade/hue in mind, the waitlist to lay your hands on an ideal gem could be several months, sometimes close to a year. If your jeweller is actively searching the market for you, it may take a slightly shorter timeframe.

Nonetheless, buying that ideal precious gem is not something that you can pick off a chart with the corresponding colour grading, clarity grading as you would a diamond.

Dainty Ruby Ring

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The daintiest ring just newly crafted with a pretty little ruby sitting atop. This ring is most fitting of its owner, a young lady with a good eye for colour. She knows a good gem when she sees one. Not wanting something too ostentatious, suitable for daily and semi-formal occasions yet a fine quality gemstone, the final outcome of this is a pretty piece of art.

An eye-clean ruby, unheated with such lustre and brilliance is a rare sight – even more rare than sourcing for an unheat fine quality sapphire. More often than not, unheated rubies coming out of current mines either lack clarity (not eye-clean) or lacks lustre or both. Further, less than 5% of rubies available in the market are unheated rubies.

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1.8ct Ruby ring in a hot pink-red colour

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Swiss Blue

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The blue topaz is a December birthstone. Apart from the blue topaz, other december birthstones include tanzanite, blue zircon and turqoise.

This sparkling shade of blue commonly seen is called a swiss blue topaz. It is an affordable gem that can be set into beautiful fine jewellery.

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This is a cushion-shape 3.9ct swiss blue topaz set in a single-halo, double diamond shank design, in solid 18K white gold. On its own, it looks beautiful. Once worn, as shown below on client’s hand, it is captivating. A ring of this colour and size will definitely draw attention even from afar.

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Unusual mint-coloured Blue Zircon Ring

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An unusual 7ct mint-coloured blue zircon flanked by over 2cts of icy-white brilliant diamonds.

** Zircons are not to be confused with cubic zirconia, which is a synthetic material. Zircons are neither synthetic nor man-made – they are a 100% naturally-occurring gemstone, with its origins traditionally from Cambodia and Myanmar. 

Need we say more? The design of this ring, though simple, is a head-turner in every way. The large side diamonds complement the beauty of this zircon. Baguette diamonds on both sides of the ring shank lend a contemporary twist to the design, creating a style that is unique to our client.

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In The Press – Indonesia Tatler August 2013

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Grab your copy of the August 2013 issue of Indonesia Tatler now. Look out for Heritage Gems in the Jewellery Section.

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The Seductive Tsavorite

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In today’s fine jewellery and gem environment, commercial quality Tsavorites abound. To appreciate fine quality gemstones, often times, it is important to compare both types: commercial quality and true fine quality. Only then, will the stark contrast between qualities become obvious.

Many Tsavorites commonly available in the market are typically heavily included, some with relatively poor cut. Below are some examples.

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Commercial Grade Tsavorite

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Another example of commercial grade Tsavorite

Fine quality Tsavorites are scarce in today’s gem market. A discerning client had her eye on a gem quality, deep green Tsavorite we had in stock and requested for it to be set into a beautiful 18K white gold ring with pave diamonds.

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Notice the difference in the quality between the Tsavorite set in the above ring versus the top 2 photos above.

A classic design that will never go out of style. The loose gem before it was set was beautiful on its own. After being set, this 2.86ct Tsavorite is definitely a captivatingbeauty. Eye-clean, well-cut, Tsavorites in rich intense green above 3cts are rare.

The Vibrant Beauty – Pink Spinel

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For the true gem connoisseur, beholding a Spinel brings them many a great delight. For centuries, the Red Spinel has been commonly mistaken by many as the Ruby. Similarly, the Pink Spinel is commonly mistaken for the Pink Sapphire. This is mainly due to its lustre and brilliancy that rivals that of the Rubies and Sapphires. True gem-quality Spinels are rare and extremely hard to locate.

Tip of the day: The Spinel has a Refractivity Index that ranks dangerously close to that of Sapphires, resulting in brilliancy that rivals that of the Sapphire.

Several royal artefacts such as the Crown Jewels of Iran and the Imperial State Crown of the United Kingdom feature Spinels amongst Sapphires and Emeralds.

Below is a newly completed commissioned-work featuring 4.78ct Pink Spinel accented by 1.3cts diamonds in 18K white gold. A timeless piece of jewellery with an understated elegance.

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Vintage Tsavorite Earrings – Green Splendour

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A recently completed piece of art for our client whose favourite colour is green. And not just simply any green, as gemstones come in many various shades of green, from light mint green to olive green to blue-green to a moody sea green.

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Individual pieces of Tsavorites in sizes 3cts and above are rare and difficult to come by. So when we were able to source for a pair totalling 7.9cts, our client could not believe her luck.  After all, she wanted a pair of dress earrings that she could wear to her dinner events, and galas. So a decent sized pair of earrings was a must.

Needless to say, we were delighted in helping her create her ideal pair of Tsavorite Vintage earrings. The design she was after was something relatively simple, elegant, vintage yet not boring. Her other requirement: the gemstone itself must be of good – top quality. Intense rich green with good lustre and brilliancy. This is definitely a stunning pair of gemstones that seem to radiate beauty & brilliancy from within.

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Tsavorite

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To the unknowing eye, this beautiful green gemstone is usually mistaken for an Emerald. It is deemed a valuable gemstone not simply because of its high Refractive Index (1.72, not lacking far behind Sapphires which have an RI of 1.76) and its relative hardness (Mohs Scale of 7.25 versus that of Sapphires which is 9). Ranking high on the Refractive Index results in usually good – high brilliance if the gemstone is properly cut and faceted.

Tsavorites are usually pure and untouched by human intervention. Some gemstones require various forms of treatment, heating process, oiling to achieve a certain level of brilliance and colour. Not the Tsavorite – it is possible to find beautiful, brilliant Tsavorites that are as Mother Nature intended for them to be.

An example is this ring carefully handcrafted for client. Simple, classy, yet stunningly brilliant.