Bought my first colored stone--any thoughts?

[Picabia]

After learning all about diamonds for an E-ring my rock-collecting instincts from childhood must have kicked back in. Bored at work today I decided to purchase a stone from ebay. Since my birthstone is January I thought I''d start with garnet--demantoid in particular, since I like green and the high RI. I heard good things about the seller (thaigemstore), but I''m guessing there are tons of problems with a stone this inexpensive. Any thoughts? (I already bought it, but you won''t hurt my feelings if you think it was a mistake).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330441614965

 

[jstarfireb]

Not a whole lot of mistakes are made to the tune of $18.50!

Honestly, though, it''s not really my type. It''s very brownish to me, and it''s included to the point of looking cloudy. I think you can do better. Check out http://www.litnon.com; they have a pretty big supply of demantoids for all sorts of price points.

 

[marcy]

How exciting to start your collection with a demantoid. It looks sparkly.

 

[chrono]

Date: 6/16/2010 8:38:47 PM
Author:Picabia
After learning all about diamonds for an E-ring my rock-collecting instincts from childhood must have kicked back in. Bored at work today I decided to purchase a stone from ebay. Since my birthstone is January I thought I'd start with garnet--demantoid in particular, since I like green and the high RI. I heard good things about the seller (thaigemstore), but I'm guessing there are tons of problems with a stone this inexpensive. Any thoughts? (I already bought it, but you won't hurt my feelings if you think it was a mistake).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330441614965

Linked. While colour and clarity challenged, it's really not too bad at under $20.