1.35 ct. Sri Lankan ‘Opalescent’ Sapphire
Color: Medium Dark Pinkish-Purple
Clarity: Slightly Included
Origin: Sri Lanka
Cut: Emerald Radiant
Treatments: None
Measurements: 7.3 x 4.7 mm
When these were initially brought to market from Vietnam 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. And, indeed they need not be from Vietnam exclusively as other deposits are quite capable of producing the occasional example, as we see here.
We will be looking at these extremely carefully to find stones such as this one - lovely 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.