Vivid Blue Sapphire - 0.73ct Cushion Cut - Natural Ceylon Sapphire

I drove nearly 50 km chasing a rumour of a royal blue stone, the kind of colour that makes a dealer go quiet before he even opens the packet. I never found that one. What I found instead, sitting in the same parcel from the same mine, was a 1.86ct rough that didn't look like much, a dull, unremarkable pebble in my palm. I could not walk away from it.

What came off the cutter's wheel is this 0.73ct cushion, a proper Ceylon blue sapphire, vivid in tone, eye clean, and unheated, which in this market means the colour you see is exactly what the earth gave it. The cushion cut is graded excellent, and at 5.04 x 5 x 3.39 mm it carries its face-up size well for something under a carat. TGL has certified it, so the colour call and the treatment status aren't just my word.

It suits a ring for someone who wants unheated Ceylon blue without the price jump of a larger stone, or a pendant where the cushion's soft corners catch light all day. Collectors will like the provenance story attached to it just as much as I do.