What You Need To Know About Jewelry Loans And Sapphires
Precious gemstones can add to the beauty and prestige of any jewelry piece. Sapphires are among the most sought-after gemstones on the market today. The sapphire is a durable and captivating stone that comes in a wide array of colors.
If you have a sapphire ring, earrings, or necklace that you want to use as collateral for a jewelry loan, you may be wondering what your sapphire is worth. The value of the stone will help determine the amount of money that can be loaned against the jewelry piece, so it helps to know what the lender is looking for.
Color
While most people are familiar with the brilliant blue sapphires that can be seen in celebrity jewelry (like Princess Diana and Kate Middleton's engagement ring), sapphires can actually come in a wide range of colors. All sapphires are made from the mineral corundum. Any impurities in the mineral will result in a colored stone.
Impurities that cause a red color generate rubies, while all other colors are classified as sapphires. Sapphires are categorized as either blue or fancy, which includes all other shades (pink, purple, green, black, etc.).
Recent trends in jewelry design have leaned more toward fancy sapphires as opposed to their traditional blue counterparts. This means that if you have a fancy sapphire, your jewelry item may be worth more, depending on the hue and saturation of the color.
Weight
Just as with other gemstones, the weight of a sapphire will help to determine the value of the stone. Large sapphires are extremely rare. This means that as the carat weight of a stone increases, so does its monetary value.
A jewelry loan lender will calculate the weight of any sapphires in the jewelry item you want to use as collateral, and the total carat weight will be used to generate a reasonable loan offer.
Treatments
Not all sapphires are perfect when mined and cut. A lot of these gemstones undergo treatments to help enhance the vibrancy of their color. Some treatments that are commonly used to improve the appearance of sapphires include fracture filling to eliminate any cavities negatively affecting the clarity of the stone and heating to intensify the natural color.
A sapphire that has not been subjected to any treatments will be more valuable than a treated stone. Natural stones with the type of vibrancy and clarity treated stones display can be extremely valuable to any lender offering jewelry loans.