Custom Platinum Montana Sapphire Anniversary Ring

We work with many different types of sapphires, but it’s not every day that we have the pleasure of working with a gorgeous, unheated 2.81 ct Montana Sapphire like this.

We knew it would be a beautiful stone when American gemstone miner and collector Don Johnson reached out to us to design a custom 10-year-anniversary ring for his wife Ke using a rough sapphire from El Dorado Bar that he had custom faceted.

It is not often you come across Montana Sapphires in this unique shade of blue unless they are heated. To highlight the sapphire’s distinct shape and color, Takayas designed the stone to appear as if it was floating in the ring’s band. He didn’t want the setting to detract from the sapphire so he designed the platinum ring with minimal prongs to ensure that the stone’s unique shape would be visible from multiple angles- not just the top down view.

We had such a great time working with Don and Ke. When they stopped by the studio to pick up the ring, we also got to meet their friends and fellow gemstone mining enthusiasts Craig and Susan who were just as fantastic and friendly!

After we finished their ring, Don was also kind enough to write about his experience working with us:

“I’m an avid miner/collector of American gemstones and have a pretty nice collection of sunstones from Oregon, precious fire opal and garnets from Idaho, topaz from Utah, and garnets and sapphires from Montana.

Our tenth anniversary was coming up so I knew I had to do something special and the normal gifts just wouldn’t cut it. I reached out to a friend Blaze Wharton who owns a sapphire mine in Montana where we mine. I explained to him what I was looking for and he provided me an absolutely stunning piece of untreated rough sapphire.

I then sought out and had the stone faceted by the world renowned Jeff Hapeman, the leader in Montana sapphire faceting. He then faceted the stone in his custom “Helena” design. The finished stone came in at 2.81 carats, and Jeff said its one of the finest he has ever seen come from that region, with that information I knew I had to seek a jeweler that could accent the beauty of the stone with out detracting from it.

That’s when I found Takayas. We sent in a request and Takayas began designing a ring that would be suitable for such a beautiful stone. We were absolutely stunned with what he came back with, it was everything we had hoped for and so much more. An absolutely stunning ring. Not only did he design a ring that shows the beauty of the sapphire he added to the beauty with his superb design technique. We could not be happier.”