Oh my goodness! I can't believe it's been over 6 months since I last posted in this Forevagems Blog. But I have a good excuse...I think! It's called a wedding...my daughter's...and the 2 years of planning finally all came together in May 2019. Of course, all the planning and prep, along with a hard drive that died on my computer a month ago, kind of interfered with blogging and lots of other things.
Anyway, here I am back again to bring you up to date on the several sensational rings that have been added to the small, but very select collection of vintage genuine gemstone and diamond rings offered by #Forevagems, like the magnificent unheated Yellow Sapphire and Diamond ring shown above. As the ad says, in this ring "elegance meets chic" in a vintage ring. It's currently a re-sizable 7-7.25. Please visit THIS LINK to read all the details.
It's positively breathtaking! That's a 4.35ct cushion cut sapphire in the centre, flanked by 2 pear-shaped diamonds that total 0.36cts! Then there's all those other 72 round-cut sparkling diamonds surrounding those 2 diamonds and forming a diamond-studded bezel for that superb blue sapphire. And to top it off, the entire ring is set in platinum. No wonder it comes with an appraisal of over $27,000 CAD! Read up all the wondrous details at THIS LINK. The ring is currently "on sale" and yes, layaway is available.
There are several other new additions to the Forevagems collection and a number of them are currently being offered at sale prices. If you have an anniversary or like to Christmas shop ahead of time, the time to look is right now. Stop by today!
Vintage TIFFANY Diamond Daisy Engagement Ring from ForEVAgems
If there's one name jewelry admirers associate with romance, quality and designer uniqueness, it's #TIFFANY. And if there's a proposal in your plans for Christmas or New Years 2018, and if plans include a vintage wedding or the bride is dreaming of a vintage engagement ring, you should take a look NOW at the classic Tiffany diamond daisy engagement ring above currently available at Forevagems.
Set in 950 Platinum, and coming with a 2016 appraisal of $5575 CAD, this delightful Tiffany ring holds a total of 11 bezel-set diamonds, that middle diamond is of VS1 clarity and G colour...the quality you'd expect from a Tiffany diamond ring. Learn more about this one HERE.
But this is only one of many gorgeous vintage #engagement rings being offered by ForEVAgems. Perhaps the #bride would prefer a truly traditional vintage diamond ring like the one below:
What a beauty! This estate 0.92ct engagement ring, also set in platinum like the Tiffany above, sparkles brilliantly with those 3 diamonds. Being offered at 1/3 its appraised value, it's the perfect answer to budget-conscious couples. Learn more about this one HERE.
Prefer something even older in your engagement ring? How about #ArtDeco? The centre diamond in the Art Deco ring below is of VS2 clarity and G-H color and it's a generous 0.36cts: Together with
the other side diamonds, this platinum set Art Deco ring offers close to 1/2ct of diamonds.
Now, if the bride's taste is vintage but unique, perhaps she'd prefer the less traditional pear and baguette diamond stylings of the ring below:
Pear & Baguette Diamond Engagement ring from ForEVAgems
What sparkle! This absolutely gorgeous diamond engagement ring offers over 3/4cts of VS - Si1 diamonds, and that dazzling pear cut diamond in the centre is of "D-E" colour. It doesn't get better or brighter than that! Take a very close look at all the photos of this beauty HERE. Fabulous & unique!
Over the decades, one of the other diamond cuts that have been super popular with brides is the #Princess cut diamond featured in the stunning vintage engagement ring below:
Brilliant 18kt 0.76ctw Princess Cut Diamond Engagement Ring from ForEVAgems
Set in 18k white gold, the incredibly lively princess cut center diamond alone weighs 0.50cts. The diamond is "eye-clean" and grades as VS-Si Clarity & G-H colour. This is an engagement ring with what we call the "WOW" factor. Only your own eyes will show you what our cameras can't. WOW!
And last, but far from least, and the ring that made me decide to do a blog on Engagement rings today, is this darling, super pretty and unique .091 "Fancy Diamond" engagement ring below:
I just adore this ring! The 3/4ct center diamond is a soft, light brownish yellow color offering the bride something just a little different in her engagement ring. And just look at that halo of bead-set diamonds set around it. Reminds me of lace. How suitable for a vintage wedding! Diamonds and lace. Sounds like a song title. Bottom line, this stunningly different engagement ring will make the bride's heart sing. Check out all the photos and the surprisingly affordable price at ForEVAgems!
I hope you've enjoyed this little excursion into more traditional, vintage engagement rings. Just keep one thing in mind: with Christmas fast approaching, it's not a great idea to wait if any one of these rings above will meet your needs and desires. After all, we have only ONE of each ring!
Visit ForEVAgems now. And if you're a millennial who'd prefer a colored gemstone engagement ring, we have plenty of those to offer you as well. Watch the video below to see what we mean!
Are you disappointed in your desire to find a genuine, unheated, truly deep red RUBY DIAMOND ring? Is the quality of the ruby and the accompanying diamonds of importance? If so, then scurry over to take a closer look at this outstanding Pear-shaped Unheated Ruby ring, flanked on each side by a brilliant, trillion-cut diamond of VS1-VS2 clarity and F colour that has just been listed at #ForEVAgems. What a beauty! It comes with both a GRS certificate from the recognized Gem Research Swiss Lab and a recent appraisal by Sherrie Taylor, appraiser, in Burlington, Ontario. What a wonderful way to say "I love you" for a birthday, Valentines or Christmas.
So what else is out there for Ruby Lovers? Well, perhaps you'd prefer to have a stunning antique French Neglige Pendant like this one below being offered by MagpieAntique at Etsy:
It was love at first sight for me when I discovered this neglige as I once owned a pair of earrings that was a perfect match for this pendant. I love the subtlety of the diamonds encircled by diamonds in an almost belle epoque style. Graceful, feminine and a rare find indeed.
My Etsy search also yielded the two fabulous RUBY EARRING sets below. I found the first set, which features natural red rubies and natural diamonds, all set in 18k, at NaturalGemsAtelier on Etsy:
The set below, from eternaltouch at ETSYhas only a small ruby in the center, but those diamonds surrounding it are dazzling! What an addition to your New Year's Eve glitter!
Returning to rings, while I did a double take at the asking price on this Victorian Ruby Diamond Ring below, I just had to share it with you. You'll find it at SalonUber at Etsy. It's exquisite. What makes this ring expensive? Well apart from its antiquity, both the natural ruby and the fabulous diamonds surrounding it are old European mine cuts. As the seller tells us, old mine cut diamonds are far more fiery than modern diamonds! In my experience, one should always expect to pay more for old mine cuts!
We do have one more absolutely beautiful RUBY DIAMOND COCKTAIL RING at #ForEVAgems that I'd like to share with you. This is semi hand-made, or if you wish, refurbished, in that the owner had the lovely neon-red natural ruby as part of her gem collection but needed a mount to set it in. When she located and purchased the vintage mount for it, it resulted in a wonderful marriage of a ruby and diamonds.
So which of these romantic ruby jewels grabs your fancy? Do you love rubies? Why not leave us a comment? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for subscribing...if you have...and if you haven't, please subscribe now. It's nice to believe someone is reading this ForEVAgems blog LOL.
NO, it's not too early to start your #Christmas shopping! Those who wait till after Thanksgiving often end up feeling frantic. And unless you really love dashing from one retail shop to another and standing impatiently in line in those last 12 days before Christmas, why not check out some of the lovely items already being offered by #vintage #jewelry sellers at RubyLane and #Etsy. So much to choose from without leaving home!
At #Forevagems on Ruby Lane, these 4 fabulous vintage pendants shown below have already been reduced, some by as much as 50%. Now tell me this isn't a great time to buy before they are snapped up by some other savvy earlybird shopper!
And since this blog is about #Vintage, #estate, #Antique and #artisan jewelry, let's wrap this up with this wonderful ANTIQUE Victorian Locket Chain Pendant from PritiStar at Etsywho carries some of the most amazing antique pieces I've seen and at excellent prices:
Well, as they say in show biz, "that's a wrap" for today's blog post. I hope I've given you some great gift ideas for #Christmas...or birthdays...or anniversaries, or any occasion that calls for a pretty pendant. Check 'em all out now!
If you live in North America, you know the beautiful autumn season with its magnificent colours is nearly upon us. And if you're an October baby, you have your choice of 2 glorious gemstones to celebrate your birthday: opal and tourmaline. Take a look, for starters, at the incredible "fall" colours displayed in this Mozambique tourmaline I found inChouhanStylish's shop on #ETSY
What a magnificent display of reds and yellows...just like we'll soon be seeing all around us as those leaves come tumbling down. Just picture that stone set in a ring or necklace. That is what ChouhanStylish can make for you. And here's another really pretty multicoloured tourmaline ring from AnemoneUnique at ETSY:
That particular tourmaline is known as a "watermelon" tourmaline and it's fairly obvious why. But what I find really cool about that stone above is it reflects the actual change from summer to fall. Just like tree leaves in early October, some leaves are still green while others are turning.
Of course, not all tourmaline is multi-coloured. In fact, one of the most prized tourmalines are "paraiba" tourmalines, like the one is this incredible ring my daughter, owner of her #ForEVAgems shop at Ruby Lane, designed and had custom-made for herself some years back:
Tourmalines aren't all that rare, but the cost of a Paraiba tourmaline depends on the carat weight of the stone and its colour. The rarest colour of tourmalines, hence pricier, are the blues and reds. So keep an eye out for those.
Now, let's look at October's other birthstone: OPAL. I absolutely adore opals and have found they are a popular stone with many buyers, regardless of the time of year. Like those multi-coloured tourmalines above, the delightful thing about opals is the range of colours ie. "fire" that really good opals display. Look at the glorious "autumn" colours in this "fire opal" cabochon and diamond cocktail ring sold recently by Forevagems:
If earrings are your favorite kind of jewelry, here's a pair I really like that is being sold by justopal at ETSY:
These are natural Australian opal doublets but look at the colours emitted: reds, blues, oranges, greens. So very pretty. Speaking of opal "doublets", "triplets" etc. you might wonder what is the difference between them and a solid opal. Well, doublets and triplets are slivers of opal that are mounted onto a black backing. Solid opals are "all" opal, like the pendant I have for sale HERE:
If you'd like to know more about opals, doublets, triplets etc., check out this link at OPALS DOWN UNDER. meaning, Australia, which is, of course, where some of the world's best opals are found!
There's certainly no shortage of creative artisans on #ETSY who can make you a ring, earrings, bracelet, pendant or whatever you desire using opals or tourmalines. But if you're not looking for handmade items, which are generally a little more affordable, and you want vintage or antique jewelry, I really suggest you check out Ruby Lane. If money is no object, Arnold Jewelers in Florida has this incredible natural diamond and freeform opal pendant below just for you! Happy Birthday!
When it comes to what is a "forEVAgem" ie. a gemstone that is popular in Estate, Vintage, Antique and Artisan Jewelry, sapphires win hands down! And why not? Apart from their incredible beauty and wide range of colours, sapphires are the 3rd hardest gemstone after diamonds and moissanites, making them valuable in areas other than jewelry.
Now, if you don't know this already, the most popular colour of sapphire is blue, and top quality blue sapphires fetch amazingly high dollars at auctions. Here's a tidbit from GemSelect about their prices:
"The record price for a sapphire was set in April 2007 at Christies in New York when an unnamed 22.66ct Kashmir sapphire sold for $3,064,000!"
Wowza! Well in our ForEVAgems shop, we don't have anything quite that expensive, but here's a just added and delightful blue sapphire and diamond pendant converted from what was originally a very old ring:
This superb sapphire diamond ring comes with an AIGS certificate and shows no indication of heat treatment. Heat treatments are used to enhance the colour of gemstones, but they also make the stones more brittle over time. This popular ring, with both AIGS certificate and an appraisal over $3700 USD is priced very affordably...a lovely birthday or Christmas gift!
In the last couple of years, ForEVAgems has found it can't get enough #Padparadscha sapphires to satisfy the demand. "Pads", as they are called, are one of the rarest and most expensive sapphires around, according to GemSelect. Pads are superb orange/pink sapphire with varying degrees of light and dark. When recently doing some video on a ForEVAgems ring described as "pastel pink", we suddenly noticed how orange this gemstone actually was. It took us by surprise. Could it actually be a Padparadscha sapphire? After speaking with some jewelers, they agree. They feel sure we have a "pad", not a colour change sapphire in this vintage engagement ring. Take a look at just how much orange is showing in the video portion of our slideshow below.
If what we have there is actually a Padparadscha Sapphire, then our asking price is too low! We're going to have this beauty checked out the next time we get some appraisals done...unless you snap it up before the price goes up!
By the way, I mentioned "colour-change" sapphires above. Not familiar with those? Below is a prime example. This unheated, natural purple sapphire changes colour depending on what the light source is. In natural lighting, it is a bright, vivid purple. But in incandescent light, it mutates to an almost plum-like pink purple:
That's like getting two rings for the price of one! This rare colour-changing sapphire and diamond "by-pass" ring has been appraised at $5700 USD. But you can purchase it for a lot less at ForEVAgems.
Just a last word here on pink sapphires: if you have sapphire rings but would like a pendant for your birthday instead, if you don't choose the blue sapphire pendant on the top of this blog post, you might like this darling Pink Sapphire and Diamond Heart necklace shown here:
For years, we've heard ForEVAgems' customers say how much they'd love to have a #Star #Sapphire diamond ring. So we've kept an eye out for this unique gemstone, and when we came across the purple star sapphire shown in the video below, we flipped out!
We were lucky to acquire this gemstone some years back, complete with full certification of its authenticity as a star sapphire. But we didn't have a ring mount we thought was beautiful enough for it. So it sat in our safe until we found the magnificent diamond ballerina mount you can see in the video. Talk about a spectacular ring! If you'd like to know more about this glorious ring, you can read all about it HERE.
So, to help you fill in the blanks about star sapphires, we again consulted GemSelect and learned that a star sapphire is a "rare variety of sapphire that exhibits a rare asterism under specific lighting", meaning you can see " a six-rayed star in the sapphire that appears to float across its surface." How unusual is that!
As for colours, the most desirable, according to GemSelect, is "a vivid, intense blue" perhaps closer to the one above which is being sold by MissIrisJewelry on Etsy.Apparently, star sapphires can be found in several other colours e.g. orange, green, pink and even lavender like the one below which I also found on Etsy in a shop named DragonsBreath:
But as I searched for samples, I found it very hard to find star sapphires in colours other than a very pale blue. Those seemed to be quite common. I found one red but for the life of me, couldn't see the star in any of the photos. Then I located this one in a shop at 1stDibs:
That's more like it! Nice Victorian ring that one. But forgive me for being biased, but I still love our purple star sapphire in its brilliant diamond baguette ballerina setting best of all! Oh that glitter!
Well that's it for today folks. As you may notice as you check out those links, good star sapphire rings aren't inexpensive. If you find one that seems really "cheap", ask for certification to prove it's a bona fide star sapphire before you buy!
Do you own a star sapphire ring or other piece of jewelry? Why not tell us about in the comments section of this blog. I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading!
