Royal Blue - Ceylon Sapphire - 1 carat - Cushion cut

A parcel of rough came out of Ratnapura in a lot I almost passed on. The dealer had already cut two better looking pieces out of it and what remained was a smaller chunk, slightly included at one end, but the core was clean and the colour was doing something I don't see often: a true violetish blue, saturated without going dark, the kind that shifts a shade under different light but never loses its blue backbone. That's the royal blue sapphire look buyers ask me for by name, and this stone earns it honestly, not with a dye job or a diffusion treatment.

Cutting it took three attempts on paper before the cutter and I agreed on a cushion shape that would hold the colour evenly across the face without windowing at the culet. At 1.02 carats and 6.26 x 5.5 x 3.22mm, it sits a little shallow, which actually helps the blue read brighter under normal indoor light instead of trapping tone in the pavilion. The cut grade came back excellent, and looking at it now under a loupe, I'd call the clarity eye clean. No visible inclusions unless you go hunting with strong magnification.

This one is unheated, no certificate issued yet, so you're buying it on the stone itself, not paperwork. I'm comfortable with that because I watched it get cut and I know exactly where it came from. If you want documentation before it ships, I can arrange lab certification separately, just ask before you buy. Otherwise it's ready to set, and it's one of the better violetish blues I've bought this season out of the Ceylon gravels. Since first listing it, I've had it graded through TGL as well, and the report backs up the unheated call I made the day I saw it cut.

Looking back at it now, months after the initial cutting decision, I still think we made the right call keeping the cushion shallow rather than chasing a deeper pavilion for extra weight retention. A deeper cut might have pushed the carat weight up slightly, but it would have muddied that violetish blue in the centre, and that's the whole reason this Ceylon sapphire stood out from the rest of the parcel in the first place. Stones like this don't come through the workshop often, and once this one sells I'm not expecting to cut another quite like it from the same rough.