#JOTW Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and more.

[FrekeChild]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

I was going to guess Namibian tourmaline from my main man, Barry B. Dammit. I was a carat off though. BOO!

(Can I steal that from you? I love baguettes for some reason... )

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Glad you like it. So you have zero concerns about the tips being damaged?

The little stone last posted is a 0.56 ct cuprian tourmaline precision cut by Dan Stair. I have the measurement written down but left it back at the office. It is really small and more suited to a stacker ring.

The next "quiz" stone might be recognizable by the cut... As with previous pictures, the green modifier seems to have mysteriously disappeared.

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Alas my hand shots are dreadfully lacking. I just couldn't capture the colour accurately due to the brilliance messing up the iPhone sensor. The tone is indeed light but the saturation is top notch.

 

[FrekeChild]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Cuprian?

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Cuprian?

Faceted by? I don't recall any stats so I'll have to dig through old paperwork.

 

[FrekeChild]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Lol! I don't pay attention to trillions so I wouldn't be able to guess the cutter. I'm going to non-guess and say NOT BB!

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

That's all right, Freke. I thought it is common knowledge that Gene Flanigan loves trillions. I'm not in the East Coast do I'll check the stats when I get back on Friday.

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

In the meantime until I get back to my office, here is the last stone of the first group. Although the colour is wrong (it is far less blue and more green than shown), I like these 3 pictures because they show the faceting extremely well. The easily seen tilt window is a pretty big hint as to what gem type it is.

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

The first two are the bluer side of the stone whilst the last picture shows the shift to a greener side of the stone. These 3 pictures look accurate to me, colour-wise.

 

[FrekeChild]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Glad you like it. So you have zero concerns about the tips being damaged?

Sorry, forgot to respond!

Eh....but I'm the owner of a princess, so tips are just a part of life for me it would seem.

The princess...Um. It looks awfully well cut, I can only remember 2 precision princesses that I've paid attention to in the last 5 years, a Aqua from Gene (for sale on LT) and a Blue Topaz from Barry. This is neither of those stones. So I'm guessing an Afghan tourmaline, from a precision cutter, likely Gene or Barry.

I guess I've seen a few from John B at GemRite too...hmmm...

 

[pregcurious]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Drool. Who is the bench? I like the prongs on the AVC/spinel ring.

 

[alice87]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Chrono, such great looking stones and jewelry! You green garnet stone is a little too light for the tzavorite. Gemfix describe light colored mint garnet as a cousin of tzavorite.
Chrono, just wondering, may be I missed it, who did the setting for your diamond and spinel rings? You spinel ring is amazing, love the side photo! Thank you!

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Alice,
Tsavorite and mint green garnet are trade names assigned to certain tones of green gossular garnets. In the past, the names tsavorite and mint did not exist and when they first came out, tsavorite was reserved solely for medium dark green garnets and mint garnet was reserved solely for a light green with the elusive blue modifier. When the availability of green garnets started to decline and pricing increased, the line that separates what is a tsavorite and mint started to blur and shift. I now see many light yellow green garnets being called mint and many medium light green garnets called tsavorite.

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Pregcurious and Alice,
The 3 stone setting is custom made by a bench in NYC. Unfortunately, I do not know who because the vendor does not have an in-house bench but has a contract with the NYC bench that he sends all his work to. The setting is originally custom made for my 5 mm cushion diamond with 2 round side blue sapphires. I sent the setting to a bench in Illinois to modify the setting to fit my upgraded 7 mm antique cut cushion diamond with two 5 mm cushion side red spinels. He cut out the baskets then soldered the new ones in. Thank you so much for the compliments!

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

I am back in town and can finally update the stats. However, being that we are on a different page now and I know it is a PITA to scroll back, I will repost a single pic to reference the stats.

Dan Stair cuprian tourmaline - 0.56 ct measuring 4.2 x 5 mm
Gene Flanigan cuprian Mozambique tourmaline - 2.08 ct, no measurements given
Charles Johnston Afghan tourmaline - 3.26 ct, 8.3 x 8.3 mm, described as a modified French cut

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Up next is the second group of blue stones. Note that they are no longer tourmalines. An even bigger note is that the colour is NOT accurate. They are over-blue so add some green in your imagination.

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

As always, I prefer to start with the smallest stone working my way up. Make no mistake this pear is DARK. The colour shown here, unfortunately is also not accurate but is closer to what I see in the hand shots. It is not purplish blue as shown but

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Hand shots which are closer to what I see but the colour is still slightly off. It looks grayish purple in these pictures but is actually grayish green blue. It is very small and I have the hardest time trying to get close-ups while balancing it between my fingers.

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

I think the next pictures are a giveaway as to what it is. For reference, the reason why the background colour looks off is because I used incandescent lights for these 3 pictures. The fabric the stone is on is white but it looks anything but white in these pictures. The stone looks much darker here than IRL as well.

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Yucky hand shots under incandescent. I dropped the darned stone off my hand during the photoshoot. It bounced off my padded dining table (thank goodness for the padding) onto the plush rug (thank goodness for the plush rug too). I went on my hands and knees under the table rubbing my hands all along where I thought it would be and felt nothing. Lo and behold, I saw a flash and it was the stone sitting safely atop the rug close to one of the table legs. Unharmed too.

 

[alice87]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Alice,
Tsavorite and mint green garnet are trade names assigned to certain tones of green gossular garnets. In the past, the names tsavorite and mint did not exist and when they first came out, tsavorite was reserved solely for medium dark green garnets and mint garnet was reserved solely for a light green with the elusive blue modifier. When the availability of green garnets started to decline and pricing increased, the line that separates what is a tsavorite and mint started to blur and shift. I now see many light yellow green garnets being called mint and many medium light green garnets called tsavorite.

Grossular garnet color is specific to geographical location. In Russia it is more dark green.
Would you mind telling more about you spinel ring?
Love the setting!

 

[alice87]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Or, I forget, by diamond ring, I meant the one with all diamonds, flowery side shaped ring.

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Grossular garnet color is specific to geographical location. In Russia it is more dark green.
Would you mind telling more about you spinel ring? Love the setting!

Tsavorite is a grossular garnet from the ugrandite family of garnets whilst a demantoid is from the andradite family of garnets. The two are chemically different. I think you were thinking of demantoid when referring to Russian garnet.

Spinel ring? Do you mean the one with the octagon pink spinel?
Ummm....flowery shaped diamonds? The one with the emerald cut centre stone?

 

[alice87]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

No, I am not thinking of demantoid. Demantoid is very grass like in color, plus it is incredible fragile. i am talking about green garnet.

 

[chrono]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

I have never heard of green garnets mined in Russia other than demantoid. Lower quality demantoid is grassy but fine quality demantoid is a lush deep chrome green colour. Tsavorite is named as such because it was first found in the Tsavo region of Africa around 1967. African demantoid is definitely not as deeply green as its Russian counterpart.

I am truly curious to find out more about Russian gossular garnet as I've never heard of it.

 

[alice87]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Chrono, it is probably me getting confused
I saw many demantoids, never liked them. Although they are pretty to somebody else.

 

[alice87]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

I lived near the place where emeralds were mined. So when going to gem shows I saw a lot of green and blue colored stones.
I love beryl family. Garnets (the green one) are usually crazy priced. Jewellers don't like working with them due to their fragility.

 

[alice87]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Just tell me to stop adding pictures. You know you want to, so don't be shy.

The one in the middle.
Chrono, you have so many pictures, it is probably hard to find which one I meant.

 

[GregS]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Glad you like it. So you have zero concerns about the tips being damaged?

The little stone last posted is a 0.56 ct cuprian tourmaline precision cut by Dan Stair. I have the measurement written down but left it back at the office. It is really small and more suited to a stacker ring.

The next "quiz" stone might be recognizable by the cut... As with previous pictures, the green modifier seems to have mysteriously disappeared.

Beautiful little stone.

 

[FrekeChild]

Re: Green garnet, Red & Pink spinels, Pink tourmaline and mo

Pear: color change garnet.

Green garnets...there are a bunch of trade names and marketing names given to them, but demantoid, tsavorite, merelani mint, grossular, etc etc etc are all green garnets. So long as it's green and has the chemical composition, they are all green garnets.

Demantoid, tsavorite, etc can have different colors. I've had an acid green demantoid, and I know I've seen deep forest-y green demantoids here on the board, as well as super light blue-green Merelani mints or more saturated blue-greens, or light more yellow-ish greens. And tsavorites...those range all over too.

You can always start a green garnet thread if you would like to talk about them more! I know there are lots of garnet lovers here who would jump at the chance to share their pieces!