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CHAPTER 1
ABOUT SAPPHIRES
Why you need this book
If you are reading this book, the chances are that you are on holiday – or planning one – in Sri Lanka. Lucky you! Sri Lanka is such a beautiful country. I am in love with the people, the culture, the food, and the incredible scenery. And, of course, I am in love with its gems.
This book is about buying sapphires. Whether you want to buy a ready-made piece of jewellery or a gemstone on its own, this is the book you need to read. It is a 'how to' guide for tourists – for people with no or little knowledge about gemstones or sapphires. I have written it to save you time and heartache.
It could also save you money – international prices can be 50-300% higher than Sri Lankan prices!
Much more than that though, I want you to experience the fun and sheer romance of buying a beautiful gem abroad. Perhaps you are hoping to treat yourself or a loved one to an extra-special souvenir. Perhaps you are celebrating an anniversary or honeymoon. Perhaps you are even planning to pop the question. Whatever your reason, what could be more meaningful than buying your gemstone in the very country whose earth formed it? What an incredible way to remember a wonderful trip!
I want to share, in a simple and positive way, my experience and knowledge – inside knowledge that you won't easily find by yourself. I want you to feel confident about buying a gem in a foreign country, and I want you to have a good experience doing so.
The Internet is awash with confusing information. It's very hard to find everything you really need to know – all the tips and tricks to help you avoid the scams.
I guarantee that my book will give you the vital information you need before making your purchase. In it, I disclose what the travel guide books and websites don't tell you.
I'll reveal:
Who to trust
What to look for
When to walk away
Where to buy
Why you need to be savvy
What makes me an expert?
It has taken hard work, a lot of travel and a few calculated risks to gain the knowledge I'm going to share with you. Everything in this book is based on personal experience and local expertise.
The letters after my name are testament to my scientific and technical knowledge. I'm a skilled gemmologist with qualifications from the GIA (Gemmological Institute of America) – the world's leading authority on gemstones. However, it's my extensive global travel and research that will make this book so useful to you.
I've acquired gemstones from all over the world and take every opportunity to expand my local knowledge along with my collection. I don't simply buy for myself - I also source gemstones on behalf of private customers. In the past ten years alone, I have visited over 50 countries.
My list of colleagues, friends, and genuinely reliable contacts around the world is now large enough to enable me to get in amongst the hustle and bustle of the global gem trading community to bring you the best local tips for buying in many different countries.
I also hope that writing this book will ultimately benefit the good people of Sri Lanka. I am a great believer in giving back! A famous Chinese proverb advises: 'if you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone else.' I want my book to help you find your perfect gem at the right price. I also sincerely hope that it helps to boost Sri Lanka's small gem-trading businesses: the exceptionally hard-working miners, dealers and jewellers who, like all of us, are trying to make a living in challenging times.
Don't learn the hard way!
My extensive experience as a buyer abroad made me realise just how much this book needed writing. Over the years, I've certainly encountered a scam or two.
Some years ago, I went on holiday to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt – a destination notorious for the number of fake gems on the market. My hotel was a smart, 4-star complex with a jewellery boutique attached. The boutique's owner was a likeable fellow, and we exchanged friendly chit-chat almost every day. He introduced me to his wife and took me to other jewellery shops in his family chain.
Near the end of my stay, he sourced a beautiful 8-carat ruby for me. The stone was so beautiful, and the price he quoted so reasonable, that I knew it was probably too good to be true. The question was, did the seller know what he held in his hands? In all likelihood I'd be paying over the odds for a piece of glass, albeit an attractive one. However, there was an outside chance that the stone really was a genuine ruby. If so, I was looking at the gem-hunter's equivalent of a winning lottery ticket. I took a punt. The seller set in in a 22-carat gold pendant and certified it on the paperwork as a 'natural Burma ruby'.
Upon my return to the UK, I had it tested. My 'natural Burma ruby' was synthetic – not glass, but made in a lab rather than in the earth. Though it's a pretty piece of jewellery, it's not my winning lottery ticket. What's the moral of this story?
If you are a tourist with little or no knowledge of gemstones, or have never particularly been interested in jewellery, I advise you not to trust anyone – especially not your tour-guide driver, tout or local shop keeper, however friendly and open they may seem. The 4 or 5 stars on your hotel's sign are not a guarantee of authenticity. You are vulnerable and an easy target. Even as a gemmologist I've been caught out. What I've never done though, is pay more than I could afford to lose. You shouldn't either.
Let me be totally honest with you. As a tourist, you are never going to pay the prices a local will pay. This book is not about buying discount gems. However, it will help you to make an informed decision about what and where to buy. It will give you the knowledge needed to feel comfortable that your purchase is genuine and therefore make the whole experience fun and memorable for the right reasons.
About Sapphires
The name sapphire comes from the ancient Greek word sappheiros meaning 'blue', which itself came from a Hebrew word meaning 'precious gem' and possibly from a Sanskrit word meaning 'dark coloured'.
A sapphire is special. It's expensive. It's one of the Big Four gemstones along with diamond, emerald and ruby.
Think of a sapphire and you'll probably have in your mind a rich, blue gemstone. It's true that blue sapphires are the most prized, but sapphires aren't always blue. They occur in other colours, including grey and black, and they can be colourless. There is also a pinkish-orange variety called padparadscha.
Why so many colours? Well, sapphire is a variety of the mineral corundum. The different chemical compositions of corundum produce different colours. For example, the intense blue of some sapphires is caused by the addition of titanium and iron. Ruby, too, is a variety of corundum. Simply put, if the corundum is red, we call it a ruby and if it's any other colour, we call it a sapphire.
Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is particularly famous for its beautiful blue sapphire shades, from a light cornflower to a deep royal blue. However, it is also known for the pinkish-orange padparadscha.
After blue sapphires, the padparadscha is the most prized 'fancy' sapphire. Padparadscha means 'lotus flower' in Sinhalese, one of the native languages of Sri Lanka and was named because the gem has the same gorgeous salmon-pink colour of the blossom. Though many stones with this colouring have also been found in Vietnam, Tanzania and Madagascar, Sri Lanka was the original locality for padparadscha.
For this reason, purists believe the term padparadscha should be restricted to stones from Sri Lanka alone.
A word of caution here: some sellers may try to sell you a pink or orange fancy sapphire, calling it a padparadscha. The original variety of padparadscha sapphire is a highly rare blend of pink and orange, and so is exceptionally expensive. A genuine padparadscha may sell for over US$50,000 per carat!
You may also come across a star sapphire on your trip. Star sapphires are so called because their structure gives rise to a beautiful optical effect: asterism. When viewing a star sapphire, a six-rayed star will appear to float across the surface of the stone. Star sapphires can range in colour from blue in various tones to pink, orange, yellow, green, lavender, grey or black. The most desirable colour is a vivid, intense blue. Such stones are extremely rare and subsequently very, very costly. Beware the seller who shows you a low-priced blue star sapphire – it will be a fake!
If you are looking for something unusual, you may want to look at colour-change and bi-colour sapphires. These are also rare stones. A colour-change sapphire will appear to turn different colours under different light conditions. A bi-colour sapphire displays two colours within the stone. These stay the same two colours regardless of the light source. Despite their rarity, they are not as famous as the Sri Lankan blue sapphires and therefore tend to cost less.
Corundum is the second hardest mineral after diamond and has a remarkable ability to withstand scratching. This makes sapphire a practical as well as aesthetic choice in jewellery pieces for everyday use. It's no surprise that sapphire is a popular stone for engagement rings! The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, wears the engagement ring that famously once belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales. The stunning 12-carat, cornflower-blue sapphire was presented to her by Prince William in 2010. Princess Eugenie's engagement ring too, is a sapphire - a delicately beautiful, peach-coloured padparadscha.
Many people choose sapphire for its symbolism and traditional uses as well as its beauty:
• Sapphire is the birthstone for September
• In an engagement ring, sapphire symbolises fidelity and sincerity
•Sapphire is associated with wisdom, royalty, good fortune and the heavens
•The traditional gift for a 45th wedding anniversary is a sapphire
•A 65th jubilee is called the Sapphire Jubilee. Queen Elizabeth II celebrated hers in 2017
•Reiki healers believe that sapphire channels healing powers
CHAPTER 2
BUYING A SAPPHIRE
Knowing what you're looking at
Taste is a very personal thing. You may fall in love with a gem that is not particularly valuable, and that's just fine. What you want to avoid is paying more than the gem is worth, and that's when a little knowledge comes in very handy.
A good rule of thumb when buying a gem is to remember the Four Cs: colour, clarity, cut and carat. When it comes to buying sapphires, however, you also need to factor in origin and treatment. Let's take these one by one.
Colour
Colour is the most important factor in the price of a sapphire. Sapphires come in many colours, but blue is the most valuable, followed by pink. The most valuable of the pink sapphires is the padparadscha – a rare and beautiful pinkish-orange stone.
The colour of a gemstone incorporates three separate things: the saturation, the hue, and the tone.
Saturation
Saturation refers to the amount of colour in the stone. A stone's saturation is the most important factor in its valuation. Stones with low saturation may appear washed-out or greyish, whereas stones with high saturation may appear too dark. The most valuable stones have medium saturation.
Hue
Hue is a more specific term for colour and refers to the particular shade of the stone's colour. Sapphires are described by their primary (dominant) and secondary hue. In a written description of a sapphire, the primary hue will have a capital letter and the secondary hue will have a lower-case letter. For example, you might see a sapphire described as 'greenish Blue', 'pinkish Orange', or simply 'Blue'. The best quality sapphires have only one hue, and blue is the most prized.
Tone
The tone refers to the depth of colour in a stone – how light or dark it appears. A stone that is too light won't show the colour to its best effect, whereas a stone that is too dark will lack brilliance. Make sure that you look at your stone in both artificial and natural light. Cup your hand over it. The stone should appear lively and brilliant, even in shade.
Clarity
Sapphire usually has inclusions (flaws) when seen under a microscope, so if you are shown a stone that looks flawless under magnification, ask yourself, "Is it too good to be true?" However, the inclusions in a high-quality stone shouldn't be visible to the naked eye. The position of the inclusion also affects the price. A stone with inclusions in the centre will generally be cheaper than an equivalent stone with an inclusion nearer the edge, for obvious aesthetic reasons.
Cut
The quality and type of cut affects the value. When cutting a gemstone, the aim is to retain as much of the weight as possible while achieving the most beautiful effect. It's a fine balancing act! The oval and cushion cuts are common for sapphires. That's because these cuts enhance a sapphire's lustre while keeping its weight as high as possible. They're also stylish, and easy to set in a piece of jewellery.
Watch out for areas that don't reflect light and so don't seem to sparkle. These are called 'windows' and they detract from the brilliance and value of the stone. A gem with a large face and a shallow bottom will produce this effect.
To check for windowing, place the gem on a piece of paper with text on it and look directly down on it at an angle of 90°. If there is a lighter area in the middle through which you can read the text, the gem has a window. Some sellers will try to overcharge for windowed stones, relying on a tourist's lack of expertise.
I should say here that most stones will demonstrate windowing to some degree when viewed at an angle. What you need to watch out for is windowing that is obvious when viewed directly from above.
Carat
Carats are units of weight in gemstone terminology. The higher the carat, the heavier and more expensive the gemstone. Price per carat increases at 2, 3 and 4 carats. A 4-carat stone will cost more per carat than a 2-carat stone because of the rarity of larger stones. It is rare to find stones over 5 carats, so beware if you are shown a large sapphire at what seems like a surprisingly low price.
Origin
Sri Lanka is the third most highly-rated location in the world for sapphire. Sapphires from Kashmir and Burma are the most highly rated and stones from these countries will attract a premium.
Treatment
In the grand scheme of things, 95% of all gemstones sold have been treated in some way. With sapphires, the figure is closer to 99%. Treatment is the norm and something that you shouldn't worry about – unless you are intending to buy a natural, unheated gemstone, in which case you would be investing thousands of pounds and would expect it to come with a lab report. Be on your guard if someone tries to sell you a good-looking, 'untreated' stone! Remember: if it looks too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
Treatment simply enhances a sapphire's natural beauty and clarity. This can be achieved through heating or by filling any tiny naturally-occurring fissures. Unless you're looking to spend a vast amount of money, the only thing you really need to worry about is whether the gemstone you are about to buy is a genuine sapphire or a piece of cheap fakery.
Before you buy, you should always check the stone's certificate or get it tested for authenticity. You'll find details of how to do this later in the chapter. Do note though, that it is only possible to test a cut and polished stone for authenticity. Buying a rough stone is more of a risk than buying a cut stone.
Deciding what you want
There are a few questions you need to ask yourself before purchasing:
Cut stone or rough?
Firstly, you should know that it is illegal to take rough stones out of Sri Lanka. However, this does not mean that you cannot buy one. You can take it to any established shop dealer, who will be pleased to cut it for you.
What's the stone for?
For what purpose are you buying a gemstone? Is it for a ring, a brooch, a bracelet, a necklace? Depending on the look you are after, you will need to consider the size and cut of the stone. Another approach is simply to buy a gem that speaks to you and have the setting made to suit that gem.
How much do I want to spend?
This is important. You need to decide on a budget before you approach anywhere that sells gemstones. Arm yourself with a ceiling figure before you start or, in the heat of the moment, you may end up spending more than you want or can afford.
How do I want to pay?
How you want to pay will affect where you buy. Buyers known in the jewellery trade can use their reputations to pay on trust. As a tourist you'll pay cash at the market. If you want to use your credit card, you'll usually need to pay in a shop.
Where do I want to do my gemstone shopping?
Knowing your budget and how you want to pay should determine where you should buy: a luxury hotel, a large and established jewellery shop, at a jewellery show, in a museum, at a small gemstone merchant/trader, at the gemstone market ...
The next section of this chapter goes into more detail about your options.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Gemstone Detective: Buying Gemstones and Jewellery in Sri Lanka"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Kim Rix.
Excerpted by permission of Filament Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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