Pick up that special X’mas gift now
Category: wedding jewellery singapore
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:
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon with her Ruby engagement ring surrounded by diamonds
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.
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.
Princess Mathilde of Belgium’s beautiful oval ruby engagement ring
Marie-Chantal of Greece’s Cabochon Sapphire engagement ring
Fergie’s Oval Ruby engagement ring
Jacqueline Onassis’s emerald engagement ring
And in even more recent times, amongst Hollywood celebs, coloured gemstones engagement rings have become popular
Halle Berry’s 4ct emerald engagement ring. Beautiful and unique – estimated to be worth USD200,000.
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.
Jessica’s ruby engagement ring, again, with fancy cut side diamonds.
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
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.
1.8ct Ruby ring in a hot pink-red colour
Unheated Blue Sapphires
In a follow-up post to the beauty of unheated yet beautiful gemstones, though they are difficult to find, at Heritage Gems, it is possible.
Below are just some examples of fine quality unheated blue sapphires
4.68ct unheated medium blue sapphire
2.34ct unheated vivid blue sapphire
4.06ct unheated medium-deep blue unheated sapphire
5.92ct unheated medium-deep blue unheated sapphire
For fine quality sapphires under 3cts, prices can range anywhere from SGD4,000 – SGD5,900 per carat. 3-5cts, prices range from SGD6,000 – SGD7,900 per carat. For sizes above 5cts, prices start from SGD8,000 per carat. These are current prices as of September 2013.
In-house criteria for fine quality blue sapphires:
- eye-clean/clarity
- consistent colour throughout gemstone (no colour zoning, colour shades)
- well-cut (no window and no extinction areas)
- with lustre and brilliance
- unheated
Due to tight supply of fine quality sapphires, prices will unlikely come off anytime soon.
Heat or Unheat
In recent years, supply of medium to fine quality rubies have dwindled to almost a standstill. When we say medium quality, the bare minimum standards that the gemstone must meet are at least:
- Eye-clean
- Good Lustre
- even colour, especially when viewed top-down (looking down at the table/face of the gem)
Last but not least, the all-important factor, and deal-breaker: whether the gem is heated or not. Please note that some jewellers may tell you that a gem is natural. This does not mean that the gem is unheated. To them, “natural” means that there is no external material being introduced into the gemstone. However, the fact remains that heating of gemstones is a process carried out to enhance the colour of the gem, without which, the original colour of the stone will look lacklustre or less vivid or less intense.
A good example as below:
2.1ct unheat ruby
2.35ct heated ruby
Heat treatment is typically used to enhance colours of a gem and may also be used to improve clarity of the gem. As such, most aesthetically beautiful gemstones commonly seen in jewellery shops are have been heated.
Why we disclose to clients if a gem has been heated or not heated: simply because heated gemstones command a different price to unheated gemstones. Also, unheated and beautiful gemstones appreciate in value the quickest and hold their value the longest. Without a doubt, if money is no issue, beautiful unheated gems are the way to go.
2.03ct unheat blue sapphire
3.5ct heated blue sapphire
In this case then, does this mean that all unheated gemstones are not as gorgeous and beautiful as heated gemstones? No, this is where our specialty lies. Our clients come to us to source for unheated, yet beautiful gemstones.
Approximately 85% of all gemstones available in the market are heated. Of the remaining 15% that is unheated, possibly only 35% – 40% of these are aesthetically beautiful. Naturally, a premium is paid for unheated, yet gorgeous gemstones.
Swiss Blue
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.
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.
Unusual mint-coloured Blue Zircon Ring
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.
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.
Scintillating Blue Sapphire Engagement Ring
A simply mesmerising engagement ring. An unheated Sri Lankan Blue Sapphire, 3.52cts in the ideal shade of blue – not too dark and not too light, with excellent lustre and clarity. An eternally classic setting in 950 platinum.
Our client had his eyes set on one of our dazzling blue sapphires. He wanted only the best – unheated blue sapphire, no less. As an engagement ring, he was after a simple, classy yet unusually beautiful setting. After a few rounds of discussions, we found the sweet spot with half-moon side diamonds to accentuate this blue beauty.
**Fancy-cut setting-size diamonds are considerably more pricey than regular round setting-size diamonds.
The Vibrant Beauty – Pink Spinel
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.
