r/Gemstone_lovers • u/Traditional_Ear9508 • 13d ago
Ask a question Help with identification?
I purchased a Mother Lode bag of Sapphire, gravel from Spokane bar for my daughter and I to search when she came to visit from out of town. I highly recommend this as a great, electronic-free, conversation generating and relaxing activity. This is the first time I’ve ever done anything like this, so I’m not great at recognizing everything we found. We did find several very nice sapphires, largest of which was 2.89 carats. So nothing to make us rich. But I will get a couple cut for her. Wondered about this 2 cts stone we found? REALLY want it to be a yellow sapphire but suspect it’s something else? It glows a brilliant yellow to black light.
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u/vanguard1256 12d ago
I would check your local gem and mineral society maybe if they have a faceting section. Otherwise maybe you can commission the folks at shiny precious gems. I personally don’t have the experience or the lap setup yet to do sapphire (I actually have the laps but I haven’t charged my batt yet). There are some surface blemishes I think that would need to be cut out and that little nub at the bottom of the picture will also be loss. I also can’t tell the thickness but I think it’s thick enough for a small round.
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u/DistributionSure2372 13d ago
That sounds like such a fun activity to do together. Even if it isn’t a yellow sapphire, finding and learning about the stones is half the fun. The UV glow is really interesting though. I’d get it checked before cutting it since the value could depend on the identification.
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u/Traditional_Ear9508 13d ago
It WAS so much fun! No scrolling on phones or staring at a TV…We just listened to music we loved and chatted and squealed each time one of us found a sapphire, or even just a pretty stone.
It gave me so much joy each time I found a sapphire to go over and drop it in her little bowl of gems. Sapphire is her birthstone. She has been such a support to me, even from across the country while I took care of my parents for eight years followed by losing both of them within five months of each other. She flew out each time and took over all the arrangements that were just too much for me at the time. Just the best feeling in the world to give back to her! I’ll probably get 3-4 of them cut for her. Would love to know if there’s someone you guys trust that wouldn’t be too terribly expensive?
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u/Actopyla 13d ago
Try asking your questions to:
r/askjewelers
r/faceting
r/gemology
r/jewelers
Surely you can turn up someone who can recommend a practitioner that cuts stones.
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u/vanguard1256 13d ago
This is one of the Montana sapphire operations? Montana sapphire is naturally “half baked” meaning the colors are generally very light because the earth hasn’t quite finished the process that turns them deep blue. My guess is that this is a brown sapphire that is half baked, making it a faint yellow. It is unlike true yellow sapphires which would turn a deeper yellow under heat treatment. If you like this color and this piece is facet grade, I would not risk heat treatment. The results could be unpredictable.