Featured Vintage Ceylon Sapphire ring.. help identify age?

Hi all,

Can you guys help me figure out how old this ring might be based on it's design? There appears to be no makers marks.. The stone was confirmed as an Unheated Ceylon Blue sapphire (approx. 14 cts) with some natural inclusions.

Any info is appreciated.

 

Wow, Kavinda, you lucky guy. Only a Ceylon sapphire can be this gorgeous blue. Looks like the stone was also cut in Ceylon.
My guesstimate is ca 1890. Let's wait what the others say.

 

Thanks Any Jewelry... really appreciate your help and quick responses
Yes I think so too that it was cut in Ceylon. Wow.. 1890's..

 

Simply stunning and I am a bit green with envy here I must confess!

 

I see nothing in the photos to date the ring construction or the cutting of the stone,the ring could have been made in the 1990's.

 

Contradicting Any Jewelry makes me feel I'll be struck down any moment for hubris, but style of setting says to me no older than 1950s. Love the stone, & not usually fond of blue sapphires.

Also, if jeweller did not note any fine chips at the edge, either stone has not been in a ring for over a century or ring has been worn very little. Even diamonds, when worn regularly, get dinged where the table of the stone meets the girdle. Hardness in minerals is gauged by what can scratch what, not by how easily they fracture.

 

I don't think the ancient Greeks will punish you, neither will I.
It is a style of setting I've seen on ca 1890 rings, the high crown, the tall claw setting, the side supports, the Aesthetic style decoration around the crown. But I agree, there is not much wear to the stone, and all those elements continue to this day.

 

I run into this all the time. I see a ring or bracelet described as Victorian, seller will insist that it is so based on style of the setting, when the item is set with lab grown stones of a type that were not on the market until the 1940s. People forget that once a style is developed, it can be replicated - & is apt to come back into fashion - any time in the future. A similar error is assuming an item dates to the same year as some element with a patent mark.

 

True.
And to complicate matters new stones are often put in old mounts.

 

As the ring is from my grandparents, it should be before 1960s at least.
Regardless of the age how much would you think a ring like this can fetch? I understand that this is not a marketplace to discuss values, but i'm just curious to know..

 

It all depends on the quality, carat, clarity, colour and cut of the sapphire, and where you would want to sell. That is something we can't judge, even if we want to.
I can only tell you that Ceylon sapphires are highly sought after, and this is one of the top colours. I love it, and it has already turned buyingtime green with envy.

 

Hi,
The church in Brooklyn that had the fire damage that I helped repair has a statute with a huge amethyst gold ring. The fire had loosened the large stone.
I removed it and a jeweler from the MET examined it and said it was glass. I found in old church papers that the stone was a real amethyst. I was confused until an old member of the church came forward and said check the 1961 meeting records. There it was the stone had been removed and sold. A glass replacement was purchased and it was replaced. I asked him if any others were replaced, he said he did not know but since it was his birthstone
he remembered. I spent a few days reading the old business meetings and found some other interesting things. The everyday green vestments seemed too plain to be original. The original green set was given to an old priest in lieu of payment for his back salary. I found an photo of the original set which had shamrocks covering the green silk all hand stitched over all 25 pieces of vestments. They were replaced with plain green rayon. The 50s was the time that most of the original wealthy families moved from Brooklyn out to Long Island. Thus began the decline in the churches income.
greg

 

The stone actually does show wear & tear. Don't know how much, if any, opportunity you had to know your grandmother, but do you have any memory of her wearing this ring? The other thing to ask yourself is how old do you think your grandparents had to be when they could afford such a ring. If they were always well-to-do, any time. If means were modest, not until they were more comfortable. Have known many women with only a few pieces of fine jewellery, with anything other than engagement ring having been acquired as a gift for a special birthday or anniversary. Think there's enough small damage here to suggest the ring was not reserved for special occasions.

 

Greg, you're absolutely right, those things happened a lot. Also family heirlooms where the gemstones were taken out in dire times to be sold, or even to settle gambling debts. Later generations often had no idea, until they took them to be appraised.

 

The stone is "native" cut for weight and not clarity ,narrow crown and deep pavilion.Looking through the table it is fish eye/windowed.

 

A bishop's ring. They can be very fancy.

 

Hi,
Browen' post made me laugh. Thank for the laugh. Reminded me of my great aunt's portrait. She had the artist paint a giant set of emerald necklace a bracelet a pin and several rings on her painting. My Gram asked why, my aunt said incase she died first she wanted her husbands second wife to hound him about the emeralds whereabouts.
greg

 

Nice, Bronwen. Yes, the stone has history, the ring too.

Agree, that is why I thought cut in Ceylon/Sri Lanka. But native cut doesn't matter as much for the value of sapphires as it does for diamonds. And Kavinda is in Sri Lanka, where it doesn't matter as much as it would where I am, in The Netherlands, for instance.

 

Priceless.