Big Sapphire Ring, The Royal Wedding Ring For Kate Middleton
One of the big talking events of 2011 was the royal wedding ring, Kate Middleton wed Prince William. There were many interesting issues related to the royal wedding, one of these was undoubtedly related to the big sapphire ring that Kate Middleton wore for the wedding and engagement. The interesting thing was that the couple decided to have just ring for the wedding and engagement. This does surely break royal conventions but, they did not want let the occassion appear to be over extravagant. The fact is that the big sapphire and diamond ring is really over the top as far as luxury and extravagance are concerned.
If you talk about the interest generated by the royal wedding among gem and jewelry lovers, the big sapphire gem stone ring was more important than the rest of the hype and glamor that the event generated. Kaisilver researched the ring and our experts filed an interesting report that we would like to share with all of you. Many of our readers might want to have a similar sapphire ring for themselves, we have some comments about customizing a similar ring to suit your budget. But first let's get to the details of this stupendous blue sapphire diamond ring.
The above images contain some interesting information that many people are unaware of. In this report on the big sapphire ring, we compile these facts and get you the exciting inside story behind the awesome blue sapphire wedding ring worn by Kate middleton. To start with let us talk about the blue sapphire set in the center of the ring. Sapphires are mined in many countries, the most rought after blue sapphires come from Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). Despite the name change from Ceylon to Sri Lanka, gem experts continue to refer to sapphires from Sri Lanka as Ceylon Sapphire. Gemstone experts can tell by the mere sight of the large sapphire in the ring that, the stone originated in Ceylon.
In their natural for, most gems are found as randomly shaped rocks. The big blue sapphire gem set in the royal wedding ring, was about 34 carats when it was mined. In terms of grams, this would be around 7 grams as 5 carats make 1 gram. Once shaped, cut and polished the large sapphire weighed about 18 carats. A gem cutter would tell you that this quality of this rough sapphire was very high. This is because of a weight loss of just 50% from the rough to final cut stage. Lower grade blue sapphire rough stones would have a weight loss that could be as high as 70 to 80%. The final big sapphire that weighs 18 carats is a conventionally faceted gemstone. To give you an idea of the rarity of this blue sapphire, you should know that in normal terms a sapphire that weighs more than 3 carats is considered to be large! The big sapphire weighing 18 carats in Kate Middleton's ring is therefore gigantic. This is all the more true of ceylon sapphires where big gems are very rare.
Something that will surprise many of you is that, the same big sapphire ring was worn by Lady Diana Spencer for her engagement ceremony. This is ofcourse something that Prince William wanted, it was as if his late mother was by the couple's side as they went through the ceremonies. It is not common for special jewels to pass from generation to generation and Kate Middleton, must consider herself lucky to inherit such a sentimental jewel. Keeping the fact that the sapphire was originally purchased for Lady Diana in mind, we are talking about a big blue ceylon sapphire ring that was made about 35 years before the Kate Middleton and Prince William wedding, let us see what this means to the cost of the ring.
We have received at least a dozen emails asking for information regarding, the price of the big sapphire and diamond ring worn by Kate Middleton. We will make a distinction between price and value here, the price would be the cost of components in the ring if they were purchased in recent times. The value would be determined not only by market pricing mechanisms but also by, the history and significance of the jewel. We will not discuss the value here but it could be multiple times of the cost of the ring. It is now believed that the big 34 carat piece of rough ceylon sapphire purchased about 35 years ago, was purchased for 25,000 U.S$. If you keep the present conditions of the sapphires being mined from the Sri Lankan sapphire mines, this big sapphire would be priced at around 350,000 U.S$. This is ofcourse just for the large sapphire, the surrounding diamonds and the 18k gold mounting could add another 10,000 U.S$ to this price. You therefore end up with a cost of around 360,000 U.S$ for the ring.
So does this mean that you could go out and buy a similar large blue sapphire gem stone ring if you had 360,000 U.S$ in your wallet - definitely not and here is why. The fact is that large ceylon sapphires with this quality and size are almost extinct today. A Sri Lankan sapphire mining operation might have to toil for several decades before it can come up with a similar blue sapphire. This is precisely what pushes the cost of the big sapphire from 25,000 U.S$ to 350,000 U.S$ in 35 years. It is bound to increase in value as we move ahead in time.
What if you want a gorgeous sapphire ring with this design concept. The first thing to do would be to come to terms to the fact that, your big sapphire ring would not have an 18 carat ceylon sapphire. We might mention here that the Chinese, have sold millions of 'replica' Kate Middleton sapphire rings for just 5 U.S$ each. These are rings with fake stones that could be as large as the 18 carat sapphire in the royal wedding ring. We are ofcourse not recommending those rings but will instead suggest that you go for a similar sapphire diamond gold ring, with scaled down dimensions. You could also consider blue sapphires from sources like Thailand, Sri Lanka or Australia. Keep in mind that Sri Lankan blue sapphires will be the most expensive. Kaisilver will be glad to work with you on your requirements and make suitable recommendations.
Get in touch with our support team at sales@kaisilver.com or check out the complete report on the Kate Middleton big sapphire diamond ring at http://www.kaisilver.com/kate-middleton-ring-big-sapphire-ks-01.htm We also provide suggestions and price estimates for similar rings that you could have custom made.