The last few weeks we have been getting alot of people enquiring about pink sapphires and padparaschas.
As you all know, we have passion for gemstones, that's why we started The Gem Museum (https://thegemmuseum.gallery).
I bought a "Padparascha" sapphire from a dealer many years ago. It did not come with a gem certificate. I sent it to the gemological Institute of Thailand a reputable lab that was supported by the government of Thailand.
The sapphire came out to be Orangey-Pink Sapphire. I was disappointed. I returned that gemstone and subsequently I tried buying another "padparascha" the same thing happened to me.
After this incident 1 of my partners who bought a padparascha with a reputable gem cert, he sold it to a reputable jeweller. They requested for a updated cert as the cert was a couple of years old.
We went together to the lab to get an updated cert, sent in the stone to recheck. To our suprise it did not get the same grading as padparascha sapphire.
The jeweller called off the sale.
For this instance, I found it rather disturbing, so what is a padparascha sapphire?
Here's an research paper by GIT (gemological institute of Thailand) from https://www.git.or.th/eng/testing_center_en/lab_notes_en/glab_en/2017/11/1311201702.pdf
Here's an answer to the question by GIA https://www.gia.edu/gia-faq-sapphire-real-padparadscha
Another article by Richard Hughes
http://www.palagems.com/padparadscha-buying-guide/
So what is Padparascha?
So would Padparascha be a sapphire which has been given the written name padparascha by a gem lab?
I have experienced some gemstone getting the grading as padparascha sapphire from 1 lab and orangey pink sapphire from another lab. So I stopped buying padparaschas for stock.
I enjoy the colour of a beautiful orangey pink sapphire very much, the colour of a lotus flower. But the uncertainty of the gem certification plus the lack of understanding for pricing and the type of sapphire doesn't allow me to keep stock for padparascha sapphires.
For colour grading, I think the colour grading system for coloured diamonds is a good starting point to understand colour. Dividing colour into Hue, Tone, Saturation. Defining primary colour, secondary colours, varying tone and saturation. This gives clarity.
If I was buying for a loved one, the bottomline is the stone is in my budget, it is beautiful and I believe she would like it, so I buy it.
As an established jeweller and gem dealer, I sell beautiful gemstones to my clients. I'll just stick to 'Pink sapphire'.