The exciting news about color diffused sapphires is they’re color consistent and available in calibrated sizes and in quantities that are attractive to manufacturers, says Jeff Bergman, owner of Gem Source in Bangkok.

            “Two things that go against regularly treated sapphires are shortage of supply and prohibitive prices,” Bergman said, adding that large volume users could benefit from Gem Source’s “refinement” of a technological development begun in the 1970s. The company has an exclusive arrangement to distribute the sapphires which are treated by an American company, and is establishing agents in various markets in the world, Bergman said.

            High temperatures and a combination of iron and titanium give the stone its dark medium-blue color, he says. Enter two years of research and development and a long and expensive process in excess of 1,000 hours for each batch before the treated sapphires are marketable.

            “We are the first one to introduce it in a major way,” Bergman told JewelSiam. The treated corundum, described as a “much deeper penetration of color agents,” was officially unveiled in February at the AGTA Tucson Gen Fair.

            “Jewelers and manufacturers at that show showed excellent response,” he said. Bergman says the color diffused stones can be sold as natural blue sapphires.

            “There’s no illegality so long as customers know what we have done. The stones’ color has been enhanced, it’s a similar but different treatment from the regular heat treatment.” Some Thai jewelers privately refer to them as “coated sapphires.”

            In a separate interview, Roland Naftule of Nafco Gems Co. Ltd. In Scottsdale, Arizona, said: “That element of process does not exist in the ground. The consumer must understand that the process is similar to a synthesized process. The process is no worse, no better than other processes. It is not a truly natural stone. What’s put into it is a totally, truly non-natural process.” Regardless, no such treatment will be done in Gem Source’s Bangkok office, Bergman said.

            The four-story shophouse-factory will be responsible for cutting and re-polishing in an operation that initially will employ some 10 workers. It is widely believed that there are hundreds of thousands of cutters in Thailand although no study has been done to independently confirm this.

            In the interview, Bergman said some 25,000 carats of the sapphires have been cut and polished, and some 12,500 carats are in the process of being marketed worldwide. Prices for one to three carats in small quantity are as much as 600 U.S. dollars a carat, while large volume users qualify for substantial price breaks, Bergman said.

            “In this business, it’s the illusion that we create.”