To think this ring has been changed

[Ondonotdisturb]

Long story short.. I was left a sapphire and diamond ring, I think the diamonds are original but family have a feeling a certain family member has swapped out the sapphire. I’ve cleaned it as best as I can and am able to shine a light from underneath which makes the gem shine green/blueish and appear murky. From above with no light the gem is very dark/almost black
wondering if anyone on here would be able to identify if this is fake or the original? There seems to have been some lighter blue stripes appear where I’ve maybe scraped the dirt from underneath (in first image) a little harder?

Sounds like there's a back story here-and for the sake of a second hand sapphire I wouldn't go there, honestly.

If you look closely there’s actually 4 out of 6 damaged claws
unfortunately this family member did take and pawn the rest of the passed away family members’ expensive jewellery due to addiction so that’s why there is suspicioun

I also don’t think it’s been swapped as there would be no point in finding a fake of the same size and shape when the whole ring could be sold

With that background, yeah you'd eclectic them to do the whole ring, which might be twice the price of just the sapphire.

I’ve cleaned it up properly now and the lines are still there and the stone appears more clear and green/blue
The lines seem to be inside the stone so I’m assuming they’re just a part of it, maybe I didn’t notice before because of the dirt
however, there are scratches on the surface of the stone

I have cleaned it now 😌 didn’t think of the water flosser though, spent ages getting in the gaps with a toothbrush ffs

Wow that's looking lovely now OP! I think you can see more of a blue colour now it's clean?

@Ondonotdisturb It looks lovely.

That's beautiful OP and coming at this from the other side I've spent my life working in criminal justice, I've seen addicts pawn sentimental things, sell them, steal them, defraud vulnerable family members and strangers, rob their employer, the local corner shop but in all honesty if they were going to make money from that ring they would've just sold it, it's worth more as a whole than the stone alone, they've pawned the rest of the jewellery so don't care about it being known, they would want quick money but it's a lot of hassle to cover something up which earned them less money than the pawn shop would've.
I think it's the original stone

Thank you, it’s still very dark but I think that’s just how it was originally? Either that or there’s still some dirt stuck under the setting
either way I can definitely see more green and blue now

You are right and this was my thoughts too

Until you get to a jewellery expert, there's an app called rock identifier that you take a pic of the stone and it will tell you what it is...maybe worth a check

It looks like a beautiful ring. It may be valuable, Sapphires often are more costly than Diamonds. It generally depends on if it has been heat treated or not, also the supply is more limited than Diamonds so that can put the value up.

I would get at least two valuations.

Agree with this. If they’ve pawned other jewellery, why did they not pawn the whole ring rather than go through the effort and stress of changing the stone. It makes no sense.

That does look a lot better! Gemstones need light to be able to pass through them to sparkle and all that dirt was in the way!

Sapphires come in a very wide range of colours. I saw some gorgeous pink ones yesterday and I have some yellow ones I need to set.

I would still get it checked by a jeweller as you’ve said the claws are damaged. They can check the setting is still secure and confirm what the centre stone is. It’s quite hard to scratch a sapphire which is one reason they are popular in engagement rings. The rock app isn’t going to help here. You need good light and a loupe.

Is it hallmarked? If it is, that can give you a load of information. Take a picture on your phone and zoom in.

@nottaotter

Unfortunately second hand jewellery has very low value, having just had to value for probate it was quite upsetting how a lifetime's collection of expensive jewellery was only worth a few thousand when the owner thought it was worth many times that when alive

@mitogoshigg ahh thats such a shame, yes I agree mostly it does.

However with some stones they can hold value especially if they are not heat treated (Rubies, sapphires). Stones of a decent size and clarity are harder to find in Sri Lanka as mining is such a big industry there.

That's beautiful now it's clean OP, gorgeous ring and I don't usually love that particular style.

My engagement ring is a ruby, which is a red sapphire. They're more prone to inclusions than diamonds, when mine is clean () you can easily see what looks like a large crack inside the stone with the naked eye. Just a feature of the stone, and our budget at the time!

Yes it is hallmarked, I will attach photos but Mumsnet ruins the quality.
the hallmark says 7599 AJW

Sorry, up side down

I agree with this. It all looks to be in keeping and of a similar age. To replace it with something exactly the same size wouldn’t actually be that easy and you’d need a skilled jeweler so it would be unlikely to be worth the pay off. In the scheme of things a sapphire from a ring like that would be unlikely to be particularly valuable and unless done for sentimental reasons I can’t see it being worth anyone’s time to swap.

Honestly, the ring looks a good age and worn, I'm not surprised a few claws are damaged and there are some scratches on the stone, seems like fairly normal wear and tear if it's actually been worn and possibly not taken to a jewellers regularly.

In the sun this morning

AJW will be the maker of the wrong but I don't know what 7599 is. 750 is 18 karat gold and 833 is 20 karat gold

Any other markings on there?

As others have said you need to have it appraised by a jeweller but a natural sapphire has a hardness on the Mohs scale of 9 and is unlikely to be scratched by cleaning. The lines that you can see may be inclusions in the natural stone. A gemologist would be able to tell if it has been heat-treated; unheated large natural stones can be more valuable.

I took a ring my great aunt/godmother left, just wanted to know if the rubies were real. I chose an old independent jeweller who had a look and kindly gave a free valuation and verified that the rubies are real. I’ve used them to replace a stone in another ring and I’m taking them an almost identical sapphire ring to yours to repair, my engagement ring, shame it’s too big to wear. It was made much bigger for me when I got it, no idea if they can shrink it!