Sapphires are judged in a totally different way as compared to diamond grading. My goal in displaying the pics and videos we do is to show the item as we see it - not to make it look better.

Sometimes, the video and pictures show things that make the stone look worse in the pics as compared to real life. That's the case with many colored stones - including this one.

A sapphire is judged on the color first. This stone is a very pure and pleasant blue.

In diamonds, imperfections are different than the sorts of things we see in sapphires.

"Color Banding" is, like it sounds, a band of color. The pictures and video show this. There is also something like an "imperfection" that reflects light in the video.

In person, neither of these aspects is easy- or even possible to notice. The amount of light in the pics is the difference.

What the pics and video also show is the bright blue flashes. The color itself is perfectly blue.

The stone has a wonderful crystal quality- it really sparkles.

The stone was heated prior to cutting - common among sapphires.

We believe the sapphire is from Madagascar. It looks like a Ceylon to me. A non heated sapphire from Ceylon, or Burma could easily be triple the price of this one.