1.32 ct. Vietnamese ‘Opalescent’ Sapphire
Color: Medium Pink
Clarity: Slightly Included
Origin: An Phu, Vietnam
Cut: Oval Mixed
Treatments: None
Measurements: 7.5 x 7.9 mm
When these were initially brought to market about a year ago, we admit to being skeptical. Was this an attractive phenomenon or simply a hazy stone? After seeing a number of these in the last months, we have decided that indeed, yes, it can be quite lovely. The problem is the widely varying nature of the material; many of the stones are plagued with multiply other inclusions or are fractured, zoned, or simply too opaque. There are, however, a small percentage of these in which the sleepy nature of very light silk, in combination with a nice bodycolor. can make for a gem with an enchanting, ethereal effect.
We will be looking at these extremely carefully to find stones such as this one - lovely, very bright color with a consistent and light to medium amount of silk giving it the ‘opalescent’ effect. One of the crucial factors is that the stone retains a fantastic level of brilliance as well - again, exactly what we see here. Very fine example and rare as such.