Alexandrite Advice Please! Which stone would YOU choose?

[LoversKites]

My main 'beef' with alexandrite -- esp the nicer Brazilian ones I've seen -- is that they often have a dark daylight colour, too dark for my taste. I wish I could see a few in person to really know how they perform though.

OP: Definitely take a took at the ready made jewelry.

 

[minousbijoux]

My main 'beef' with alexandrite -- esp the nicer Brazilian ones I've seen -- is that they often have a dark daylight colour, too dark for my taste. I wish I could see a few in person to really know how they perform though.

OP: Definitely take a took at the ready made jewelry.

Hey, if its a cultivated taste, my advice is don't cultivate it. Its like caviar or truffles; they are so expensive that I am not going to go out of my way to acquire a taste for them. In fact, I've never had a truffle!

 

[Marlow]

My main 'beef' with alexandrite -- esp the nicer Brazilian ones I've seen -- is that they often have a dark daylight colour, too dark for my taste. I wish I could see a few in person to really know how they perform though.

OP: Definitely take a took at the ready made jewelry.

If the daylight color is dark the incandescent color is dark too - it is a color change but not an intensity change.

An alexandrite like Minousbijoux's is a premium - not to dark - perfect balance with a perfect CC. I would really like to see the "daylight"
color in an evening sun!!!

Hope you see some in real life next year - maybe a small one - 0,20-0,40 ct - to start with a collection...

 

[LoversKites]

My main 'beef' with alexandrite -- esp the nicer Brazilian ones I've seen -- is that they often have a dark daylight colour, too dark for my taste. I wish I could see a few in person to really know how they perform though.

OP: Definitely take a took at the ready made jewelry.

Hey, if its a cultivated taste, my advice is don't cultivate it. Its like caviar or truffles; they are so expensive that I am not going to go out of my way to acquire a taste for them. In fact, I've never had a truffle!

Haha, good point! A very close friend of mine, who is interested in gems as well because of me, has always been fascinated by alexandrite so I'm kind of trying really hard to understand the species and it's quality factors, and learn about synthetic alex as well (because I like synthetic gems). The medium toned alexes I've seen, like yours and some Indian ones do appeal to me though.

 

[LoversKites]

My main 'beef' with alexandrite -- esp the nicer Brazilian ones I've seen -- is that they often have a dark daylight colour, too dark for my taste. I wish I could see a few in person to really know how they perform though.

OP: Definitely take a took at the ready made jewelry.

If the daylight color is dark the incandescent color is dark too - it is a color change but not an intensity change.

An alexandrite like Minousbijoux's is a premium - not to dark - perfect balance with a perfect CC. I would really like to see the "daylight"
color in an evening sun!!!

Hope you see some in real life next year - maybe a small one - 0,20-0,40 ct - to start with a collection...

The incandescent part often appears lighter in photos, so that's what I assumed just goes to show how little I know.

And no, I don't think I'm ready to start a collection any time soon. I want to learn more first, and decide what kind of collection I want and if I want to focus on a certain species. For now Im happy with the couple of garnet, quartz and spinel gems I own

To actually see tons of gems in real life -- that's what i want!

 

[Marlow]

This is a good idea - you avoid buying stones you don't like ina few years....

 

[juxtaposed]

I've never heard of a bowtie. I'll have to google what that means.

the $7,920 stone you mentioned that also has a great color change was listed as #4.

So now we're looking at #1 http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?/details/alexandrite/yax766ab/&930512007
Dark Green-Blue
Medium Reddish Purple

and #4 http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?/details/alexandrite/yax769aa/&930512007
Dark Green-Blue
Medium Dark Purple
Medium Reddish Purple

She likes #1 a tad more so because the picture depicts it as more teal whereas the other shows as more bluish. I see though that the descriptions are both listed as Dark Green-Blue.

Which of these 2 would be considered to be the better stone?

We've browsed through DW.com several times. People have suggested that perhaps he'd be willing to sell a stone from a piece. From what I've seen there are no stones that are very large. None over a carat. (of course neither are 1 or 4) She's not into any of the settings that he has on his website.

Here is an idea of settings that she likes. She prefers a solitaire saying "Why spend $ on little stones? Dump the $ into the focal point!"

 

[Marlow]

I prefer #4.

What about a ring with these two pears - same weight, larger face up and course of the size not so dark .... and you save 3K?

Or one pear and one diamond pear.


http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?-1191040195


http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?886630320

 

[juxtaposed]

Well, she's designed a ring that's got her singing and dancing. There are settings by maniamania that she's fallen in love with.
http://www.themaniamania.com/shop/immortalia/ritual-solitaire-ring-white-gold-diamond

She used MS paint to alter the setting into her idea of perfect. Replaced diamond pave with opals. Any ideas on how to accomplish a setting like this? I'm wondering if I'm going to have to search out someone who makes custom settings. I did send them a message asking about obtaining the setting without the center stone but didn't mention the opals as she'd not had that part figured out yet.

This is the pear that has been commented on. The mixed lighting is more pleasing than the other pear listed below.
http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?2099900018


Then there's this one that Marlow mentioned. It's a teensy bit smaller carat wise but larger face wise. Color is described as medium very strongly bluish green.
http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?-865601898

Which of these pears is the better stone?

 

[Marlow]

The 0,48 ct has a better color imo!

 

[minousbijoux]

Unfortunately, opals are a very soft stone and would likely not do well as a diamond pave substitute, unless she want to baby the ring and wear it only on special occasions.

 

[juxtaposed]

Hey all, hope you've been well.

I received an e-mail back from David yesterday. I asked him about the 2 small pears .49 and .48 ct. He mentioned that they are about the same quality and so would go with the .48 as it faces larger. So that is likely what I'll do. Which of these two stones do you all think is better?

.48 pear http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?-865601898
.49 pear http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?2099900018

My next mission is the setting/mounting... they're called what?

She's in love with this Immortalia piece by ManiaMania.
http://www.themaniamania.com/shop/immortalia/ritual-solitaire-ring-2

This is the setting that she'd like to place the Alexandrite in. My question is this: I've e-mailed them twice now asking if I may buy only the setting without the center stone. I would like to avoid paying $3k for the setting alone as that exceeds the cost of the Alexandrite! They've not replied to my emails.

Is there such a thing as a copyright on ring designs? Can I take a picture of this to somebody to replicate? Is that a wise option? Are there stores that sell settings identical to that or is ManiaMania the sole distributor? This is THE ONE and I'm attempting to figure out how to make that happen.

Thanks again!

 

[chrono]

I would pick the 0.48 ct pear because the saturation is slightly better on the daylight side and I always avoid medium dark toned alexandrites (tends to be overdark for me in person). Honourable benches will not make an exact copy of the ring. Also note that custom isn't necessarily cheaper but if you go to the right shop, can easily make a better quality ring than the original you shared. The diamonds look cloudy and the prongs surrounding the opal are blobby.

 

[juxtaposed]

Just wanted to show everybody the stone and the finished results which we just picked up today. Loving it!


The green colorway is being finicky for a photo today.

 

[Acinom]

That's a great end result!! Congrats with your beautiful ring.

 

[juxtaposed]

looks dark in photographs... especially now that it's set. It looks like an emerald color I would say. The purple is a pretty good representation of what it looks like in person.