A Pink Sapphire Ring with a Message

Erin Hogarth

At the AGTA show, Rachel Chalchinsky (Color Source Gems, New York) showed us a triple-halo ring (see above) designed to commemorate surviving breast cancer. “It’s hard to live with it and go on,” she said, “but once you do, you feel powerful.” After her diagnosis in August 2018 and finishing chemotherapy in January 2019, she wanted to “replace” the tumor with “something good and positive.”

Chalchinsky had three requirements for the center stone: that it be pink, for breast cancer awareness; the same size as the tumor (11 mm); and heated, to symbolize the radiation treatments she received in March 2019. After nearly three years of searching, she found a 5.18 ct heated mixed-cut pink sapphire measuring 11.0 × 9.4 mm.

“I used to have very big curly red hair, and I wanted to represent that in the ring,” she said. “Now I have grayish hair. So I put orange sapphire around the outside. Then on the inside, I used white diamonds to represent gray hair. And on the side of the ring, I used the breast cancer ribbon. I had that graduated to fit on the sides of the band and set it all in rose gold.”

When people admire the ring, Chalchinsky often tells them the story behind it “to bring awareness that people need to get their diagnostic tests and not wait.” She noted that delaying or avoiding her annual mammogram and ultrasound could have resulted in a more serious prognosis. Chalchinsky said her story compels people to share their experiences with cancer. “It becomes almost like a bonding because we’ve all been through these emotional journeys.”

Chalchinsky also uses Instagram to share the message. During Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, she posts photos of pink stones, sometimes in pairs, asking people to get checked and make sure their loved ones do so as well. “I’ll say, ‘Ask your mom. Ask your loved ones. Nag them—take them by the hand to go with them.’”

Chalchinsky recognizes she is fortunate to have had excellent healthcare and supportive family and friends—and that many women undergo more invasive surgery or have a worse outcome. In 2021, Color Source Gems donated funds to White Plains Hospital in Westchester County, New York, to cover 10 mammograms for uninsured women.

“In Judaism they say that if you can rescue one person, you’re saving the world,” Chalchinsky said. “I really feel that is extremely important—that we all help each other.”