It is never a dull moment when it comes to choosing a fine coloured gemstone for your bespoke piece of jewellery.
Head on down to Marina Bay Sands this weekend and enjoy our exclusive promotion of $300 off the project’s bill when you customise your bespoke piece with us this weekend. Valid only from 26 – 29 October, at the Singapore Jewellery and Gem Fair 2018.
In our Signature Wire Wrap design, comes this one of a kind unheated ruby ring. Have a quick look on Google Images when one searches ruby ring and it is not difficult to see ruby ring being typically designed in yellow gold.
Some might feel that the rich red hues of pigeon blood rubies clashes with the saturated cast of the typical rich yellow gold.
Hence came the request for a ruby ring set in our in-house custom blended 18K Beige Gold, which is a more subtle natural tone of yellow, enhancing the rich red hue of the ruby (instead of taking the attention away from the ruby), paired with white gold to create a duo-tone gold ring design.
Our Signature Wire Wrap design is unlike any other. A fairly intricate design to create but not overly fussy a design for a ring to be worn regularly.
The end result was a beautiful unheated ruby proposal ring, set in the most unique design that is aesthetically pretty and not OTT. Truly a bespoke proposal ring that she will not say no to!
Engagement rings Singapore
Wedding rings Singapore
Alternative engagement rings Singapore
Ruby engagement rings Singapore
Customised engagement rings Singapore
The process of customising your own bespoke jewellery might seem daunting at first, but if you break it down in parts, it actually is not so difficult after all.
First: Choose your colour
Coloured gemstones come in a wide variety of colours. It ranges from light pastel colours, to shade of red, green, blue, blue-green, green-blue, turqoise, red-pink, pink, orange, purple, yellow. Have we left out any other colours of the rainbow?
Second: Practicality
With the exception of exceptionality soft stones like the Emerald, Tanzanite, Fluorite and Moldavite, most other gemstones are good to be used in fine jewellery.
Third: Design of ring
There is no hard and fast rule about what constitutes as a nice design of the ring that you would like to gift your betrothed. Every groom is a unique individual and so is every bride. If you are reading this post, feel free to browse around our other projects that we have customised for clients to get a feel of what you prefer in your proposal ring.
For a quick snap shot of of the various possible ring designs,
Variations of the classic 3-stone design:
Bleu Spinel in Custom Blended 18K Natural Gold
Round Sapphire Engagement Ring
Mesmerising Light Blue Sapphire Ring
Spiral Style design:
In our Signature Wire Wrap Design:
Spinel Signature Wire Wrap Design – This piece features our custom blended 18K Beige Gold!
Custom blend 18K Beige Gold Ring  – This piece features our in-house custom blend 18K Beige Gold!
In our Signature Snowflake style:
In Cluster Diamond Style:
Unheat Pink Sapphire Diamond Cluster Ring
In Tension Setting Style:
Contemporary Garnet Engagement Ring
Contemporary Style Wedding Bands
In Vintage style:
Vintage Style Sapphire Engagement Ring
Fourth: Choose the colour of your ring
At Heritage Gems, we offer 4 different choices of 18K gold: the traditional White Gold, Yellow Gold, Rose Gold and our own in-house custom blended Beige Gold!
Get in touch to see how we can help you achieve your unique proposal ring, special only to you and your life partner. A piece of jewellery by Heritage Gems is fully handcrafted, every step of the way, sourced ethically and supporting the local business environment here in Singapore. From the time our gemstones are mined, all our gemstones are faceted by hand, and our jewellery handcrafted right here in Singapore. The final product of each and every of our jewellery is a result of at least 80 man hours from the time the gemstone is faceted till the time it is gifted as a beautiful work of art.
Tell us about your story and we will help you craft and customise an engagement ring unique only to you and your partner.
Our client very graciously shared her wedding day photos with us and nothing says love better than a couple with their megawatt smiles, gorgeous jewellery and a stunning lace dress.
Blue Spinels are extremely rare. Yes, equally as rare as the unheated blue sapphire. Blue spinels and most other Spinels are typically non-treated and non-heated. The unique feature about the blue spinel is that it has a very magnetic shade of blue, one that seemingly grows on you rather than catching your eye at the first instance. Spinels have long been mistaken for sapphires, or Corundums, because its lustre and brilliance quite resembles the Sapphires.
Photo Credit: From Client, taken by Daniel Sim Photography
Photo Credit: From Client, taken by Jasper Avenue SydneySee our original post on the making of this ring here! Bleu Spinel in Custom Blended 18K Natural Gold
A bespoke handcrafted piece of jewellery to call your own, in a shade of colour that captures your heart and eyes is truly a gift to be enjoyed for the years to come.
Congratulations to this lovely couple and best of luck in your journey!
Engagement rings Singapore
Proposal rings Singapore
Wedding jewellery Singapore
In collaboration with Bridestory Singapore, we feature a pearl collection for that special day, for that special bride-to-be.
The modern day bride can be ethereal, rustic, romantic without being too OTT if the gown is accessorised with the right choice of jewellery and hair accessories, paired with a beautiful gown and the correct makeup.
Jewellery on your wedding day need not be boring and neither should it clash with your bridal gown and bridal look. When planned properly, it can enhance the bride’s features, and pearls can add that glow to your complexion.
Wearing pearls at night completes the look of elegance without being too garish. A simpler pearl pendant paired with cap-sleeved bridal gown helps even out the proportion of an otherwise empty neckline.
For visuals of other pearl and bridal jewellery available in the bridal collection, pls see:Â Bridal Jewellery Collection
Wedding jewellery Singapore
Engagement rings Singapore
Bridal jewellery Singapore
There is just something very elegant about a Sapphire engagement ring. In ancient cultures and medieval times, sapphires were the preferred choice with medieval royalty and clergy as it symbolises honesty and wisdom. As an engagement ring, blue symbolises faithfulness and sincerity.
In assessing sapphires, there is no standardised quality-grading system, but it is very rare to find an unheated sapphire without inclusions.
When in search of an unheated Sapphire, be cognisant that there are jewellers both locally in Singapore and overseas who will term or market their Sapphires to be natural (read: natural, but heated).
Jewellers who market Sapphires or gemstones as natural when the gem is actually heated, or has undergone some form of heat process, is not being truthful. In fact, on an international basis, in the gem and jewellery industry, a natural gemstone or Sapphire, when indicated as natural, is understood or assumed to be unheated.
So, for any consumers’ piece of mind, they should be sure to ask their jeweller this question point-blank: Is this gem or Sapphire heated? Or gone through any form of treatment? Any reputable jeweller should disclose whether a natural Sapphire in question is heated or unheated.
Why are these questions important to the consumer during the decision-making process of their purchase? It is to do with the purchase price. A Sapphire or gemstone which is unheated is in an entirely different price bracket to a heated Sapphire (assuming all else being the same: both pieces are eye-clean, both are well-cut, both have even colour distribution, both have no areas of excessive shadows or “windows”).
Price of a heated Sapphire can be as low as half or even at a 60% discount to the price of a visually stunning unheated Sapphire.
Below features a 1ct unheated, untreated Sapphire set in a stunning diamond encrusted goldwork throughout the ring. Designed to be a seamless nesting concept, this ring design can be paired with wedding band without having excessive gaps between the engagement ring and wedding band.
Engagement rings Singapore
Wedding rings Singapore
Proposal rings Singapore
Alternative engagement rings Singapore
Sapphire engagement rings Singapore
Customised engagement rings Singapore
Unheat sapphire engagement rings Singapore
We will be showcasing our latest collection of unheated Sapphires, Malaia Garnets, Spinels in a wide assortment of colours, including our new ready-to-wear collection.
27th October (Friday) Â – 30th October (Monday), drop by Marina Bay Sands, Booth B113 to view.
Customise your art pieces with us at the show, in time for Christmas!
On showcase will be our new collections of Spinels in a variety of colours, Blue Sapphires, Yellow Sapphires, Mandarin Spessatites, Tsavorite Garnets, Malaia Garnets, Padparascha Sapphires.
Also on display is our latest ready to wear collection featuring pearls, rubies and sapphires.
The demand for unheated and 100% natural gemstones as engagement rings, right hand rings has been fairly stable and in demand since 2011. In fact, coloured gemstones have been used as betrothal gifts, engagement gifts, wedding gifts since  14th century Europe.
Prices of unheated, untreated sapphires, ruby and emeralds have been and always will be fairly stable.
When it comes to purchasing your coloured gemstone, what most consumers worry or ponder about most times is “Did I pay too much?” As coloured gemstones are unlike diamonds where there is an international guide price and diamonds are graded by a fairly standardised international grading system ( be it from a gem lab like GIA, or AIGS, or GRS or any local independent gem lab).
To aid understanding in prices for various categories and quality of Sapphires, below is a diagram. Note that as with everything, there will be certain anomalies that do not fit within this diagram below. And this diagram is not fully representative of all Sapphires mined in this world.
1. Synthetic Sapphires range between USD10 – 20 or 30/CT is typically what is seen in cosmetic jewellery or cosmetic jewellery pop up stores.
2. Beryllium treated Sapphires are as the name suggests: Sapphires that have been treated with an element called Beryllium which in its Be2+ form, has a very small ion. Small enough to penetrate deep into the Sapphire. For an explanation by GIA on what Beryllium is, click here Beryllium Treatment in Sapphires
3. Cabochon Sapphires: They are usually heated to improve colour and clarity. The reason the rough is being faceted as a dome-faced Cabochon in the first place, is usually because the lapidary is able to tell that the rough is not sufficiently transparent enough to be cut into a faceted stone. Due to higher levels of inclusion in the rough, cabochons are usually heated to improve clarity and colour. Â Cabochons are priced anywhere USD100 – 600/ct, depending on size and colour and whether that is a “star”.
4. Heated Sapphires: Heating of gemstones is a long-accepted tradition in the gems and jewellery industry. 90% of the Sapphires accessible in the market are heated. Heating is done to improve colour and improve clarity. Heating often helps to reduce the number of visible inclusions in a gemstone (not just limited to Sapphires) which would otherwise have been visible to the naked eye or under a 10x loupe magnification. So yes, if your next question is, does heating make a gemstone look prettier, more attractive that when it was first mined from the ground? The answer is yes. And heating makes for a more affordable gemstone. Sapphires in this category can range anywhere from USD800 – 2000/ct for a nice, stunning heated 2ct Sapphire.
** Heated sapphires which are not beautiful, will go for much, much less.
4a. Now, onto Unheated Sapphires with poor aesthetics: Exactly just what is happening with this group of gemstones? All gemstones are originally unheated when first mined. Heating of gemstones usually occurs when the material is still in its rough stages, prior to faceting. There are plenty of unheated sapphires and gemstones, but more often than now, are just simply not pretty enough. This group of gemstones is in a grey area in terms of pricing, because some dealers or jewellery shops would charge more simply because it is unheated. But others would then reason that while it is unheat, the fact remains that it is not as aesthetically beautiful or pretty as a heated gemstone (sapphire). Â In terms of pricing, the position on above chart is most likely not accurate hence we say this group of gemstones belong in a grey area. Depending on just how “ugly” the unheated gemstone is, would result in a commensurate price.
Hence, for the purpose of this post: we have numbered this group as (4a) as there are times when it could be cheaper than a heated sapphire (depending on how beautiful a heated Sapphire is) or it could be more pricey than a heated sapphire (depending on how ugly/beautiful a heated Sapphire is). It is very relative.
5. The last group of gemstones, which is the most prized of gemstones, represent possibly just 5% of world’s production/availability. Unheated yet aesthetically beautiful and pretty stones are extremely rare. As it is, for a sapphire to remain unheated throughout the mining the supply chain is unusual because it is common knowledge that heating a gemstone more often than not results in a pretty stone that could possibly be sold for more than an unheated stone which is “ugly”. Finally, to be so lucky to have an unheated Sapphire that is well-cut and rich and saturated in colour, with no areas of colour-zoning or areas which are lacking in colour or areas with excessive shadows, it often boils down to luck and price. Of course, gemstones in this segment are not going to be cheap due to its fine quality.
With unheated, beautiful Sapphires, there is no cap in the price. With rare, large, loupe-clean, well-cut pieces sought after by the gem connoisseur, and gem collectors, it is usually the dealer’s price. We will say however, that beautiful unheated Sapphire prices start from USD3000/ct.
To illustrate just how rare unheated and beautiful gemstones are, consumers should keep in mind that fine quality gemstones are usually never discounted because they are just too rare.
And what is absolutely true is that one can never buy a quality stone without seeing it in person, and definitely not just based off photos.
Above: Suite of Unheated Sapphires, with saturated colour, belonging to Heritage Gems Singapore
A stellar pair of Tahitian pearls and diamond cluster ear-drops. At 13mm diameter, this pair of Tahitian pearls are of AAA, fine quality with no blemish and very good reflective lustre. Specially sourced on a commissioned basis, this pair of perfectly round Tahitian pearls are of superb quality.
Factors that affect price of pearls:
Size also plays a big role in price point. Assuming all other assessing factors of quality being the same, the larger the pearl, the more expensive. For example, a 15mm pearl that is perfect round with very good lustre and no blemish would command a much higher price than a 15mm pearl that is semi-round, average lustre and has imperfections.
The pair of Tahitian pearl ear drops were commissioned to complement our client’s existing Tahitian baroque pearl necklace and we must say it is stunning.
The design of the pearl earrings were conceptualised from the natural environment of the ocean where oysters and corals are a part of the natural landscape.
At first glance, it seems the diamonds have been randomly clustered into a somewhat irregular shape. However, on closer look, one would realise there is actually symmetry to be found in the design and the placement of the diamonds. It makes for a very natural piece of art one would wear on herself.
