I was very sad to peruse my new Rio Grande catalog and see that they
are no longer selling the manmade blue and orange sapphires that I
adore (as do many of my clients).
Instead of the affordable ones in a vast range of sizes and shapes,
they now are carrying only the Chatham-branded ones, in only 4
sizes/shapes, and at a cost of something like 10-100x what the others
cost. Both the limited sizes and the vastly higher price are problems
for me.
So: where can I now get gorgeous blue and orange manmade faceted
sapphires, without the branding and exalted price and with an array
of sizes, like Rio used to carry? I’m more interested in smaller than
larger ones, but any source would be a help at this point.
You can try Santa Fe Jewellers Supply (http://www.sfjssantafe.com/).
IIRC they have quite a good selection of both natural and manmade
and at very reasonable prices. Might have changed though as I haven’t
bought from them in a few months now.
So: where can I now get gorgeous blue and orange manmade faceted
sapphires, without the branding and exalted price and with an
array of sizes, like Rio used to carry?
Try Kotel Imports, New York City I believe. I do have their number
at work, but it is 3:35 am on a very hot record breaking heat wave in
Denver. Email me offline if you need more info. There have great
Ceylon blue lab sapphire, lab alexandrite (alexandite like?), red
ruby, and you do have to specify clearly what you want. They also
have natural faceted citrine, ame, iolite, peridot, garnet, blue
topaz. I use checkerboard round and cushion cut 3mm-8mm stones. You
can order on memo, their bookkeeping sucks so keep records of what is
returned and when. I sent a package back and six months later they
tried to collect on what I returned. JVC contacted me, I asked if I
have the right to proof of delivery from them and I was told I did. I
requested proof, and the matter was dropped…just so happens that
the person I was dealing with left the company at the same time I
returned the goods, and coincidentally my return was not logged in.
Many other transactions with them with no problem, but I document
everything with every body now.
here are a few websites for sappires out of montana. Not sure on the
sizes or anything but i got them out of the “professional jewelers”
mag. Check em out. Let me know what you think and if you find some
others that are better.