When colourless is boring

***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.

In The Press – Indonesia Tatler August 2013

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

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.