@xavier_exelle: Darker doesn't mean better. It means you don't know what to look for. This is one of the most common misconceptions I encounter, even from people who consider themselves serious buyers. The assumption that more color saturation always equals more value. It doesn't. Color in gemstones isn't about intensity alone. It's about life. A stone that's too dark loses its fire. The light can't travel through it correctly. Instead of reflecting back at you, it gets absorbed. The stone looks dead. Heavy. Flat. And the sources of that darkness aren't always what you'd expect. It can come from excessive silk, the fine needle-like inclusions that, in small quantities, are acceptable or even desirable in certain stones, but in large amounts, block light and darken the overall appearance. It can also come from the cut. A pavilion that's too deep will trap light instead of returning it. The stone looks darker than it actually is. Not because of the material, but because of the geometry. This is why evaluating color is one of the hardest skills to develop in this trade. There are no shortcuts. A certificate can tell you "royal blue." It can come from the best lab. And the stone in front of you can still be too dark to justify the price. I've seen this with Kashmir sapphires. Perfect documentation. Flawless provenance. And the stone was simply too dark in real life. The certificate described a color grade. It couldn't describe whether the stone had life. That's a distinction only experience teaches you. And it's the difference between overpaying for a name and understanding what you're actually buying.

Xavier Exelle

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Sunday 03 May 2026 16:19:13 GMT