Show your Spessartite

[erinl]

TL:

I didn't keep the stone but here are some photos

 

[T L]

TL:

I didn't keep the stone but here are some photos

Well, if the photos are accurate, I would say that's not a very saturated orange spessartite.

 

[chrono]

What you are seeing is very strong shadowing from the sun which is acting like a single direct light source, making it look somewhat extinct. Still, it shouldn't be this bad from a 9 am sun. If anything, it should remain decent looking.

 

[NKOTB]

Namibian spess, 2 cts, cut by Dana at Mastercutgems. This thing GLOWS in real life.

 

[rednanred]

EEEEKKKKK!!!!

 

[Fly Girl]

Namibian spess, 2 cts, cut by Dana at Mastercutgems. This thing GLOWS in real life.

Beautiful!

 

[distracts]

NKTOB - and, well, anyone else who cares to answer - what does your spess do in medium lighting conditions? I have ordered several, and while they looked amazing outside in direct and indirect sunlight, in my house with both incandescent and fluorescent lights they have always turned the ugliest brown color ever. Most other gems look pretty good in my house lights, but the spesses I've ordered have all looked TERRIBLE. Like a little ball of poop on my hand. Have I just not gotten the right stones, or is this always going to happen?

 

[chrono]

Distracts,
I am sorry about your unsuccessful spessartite search. My spess also likes medium levels of light and does very well under my office fluorescent lights and home incandescents. Just out of curiousity, my guess is that those that are slightly yellowish usually becomes icky ochre. Not sure how true that is but it seems to be the common theme from my limited experience.

 

[aljdewey]

Finally got my spess set, and I couldn't be happier with the results.

I lost count of how many settings I tried this stone in; nothing seemed to make it sing. After more than a year of long searching, I finally found the right setting for it, and I'm glad I waited it out.

 

[PrecisionGem]

NKTOB - and, well, anyone else who cares to answer - what does your spess do in medium lighting conditions? I have ordered several, and while they looked amazing outside in direct and indirect sunlight, in my house with both incandescent and fluorescent lights they have always turned the ugliest brown color ever. Most other gems look pretty good in my house lights, but the spesses I've ordered have all looked TERRIBLE. Like a little ball of poop on my hand. Have I just not gotten the right stones, or is this always going to happen?

What kind of bulbs do you have in your house? Are they those horrid CFL bulbs? I have found that most stones and pretty much anything looks bad with these bulbs. It's hard these days to buy a regular incandescent bulb.

 

[NKOTB]

NKTOB - and, well, anyone else who cares to answer - what does your spess do in medium lighting conditions? I have ordered several, and while they looked amazing outside in direct and indirect sunlight, in my house with both incandescent and fluorescent lights they have always turned the ugliest brown color ever. Most other gems look pretty good in my house lights, but the spesses I've ordered have all looked TERRIBLE. Like a little ball of poop on my hand. Have I just not gotten the right stones, or is this always going to happen?

Here is the stone under fluorescent lighting and incandescent. It looks better in person, but not at its best. Definitely my kitchen (where the first pic was taken) is THE worst place for ALL of my stones.

 

[NKOTB]

And Alj, that ring is KILLER!!!!!

 

[ChrisA222]

Alj, I love that stone!

Gene--you know what stones look AWESOME under CFL's? Any of the Chrome Green stones. Both my Chrome Tourmalines and my Chrome Diopsides look killer under the CFL. The non-Chrome Tourmalines not so much. That is why I sent you that stone to check for me if it was a Chrome Tourmaline (I was told it was not) because the saturation went way up under the CFLs.

Its only the Chrome green stones though, as it does nothing with my Chrome Red stones (anthill garnet, Chrome Rhodolite).

 

[PrecisionGem]

Could be a green thing. Peridot can look nice with a CFL bulb. I have a few of these bulbs in the house, and really don't like them, we seldom put them on. Pretty much only when we are not home, just for some light for the dogs. In my cutting shop, I have all LED bulbs, not so much for the color of the light, though it is good, but because they generate so little heat.

 

[Fly Girl]

Our daughter is an artist, so we use daylight bulbs in our home so that when she works, her art ends up being the colors that she thinks it is.

I've told the story before about the hotel room that we stayed in a number of years ago that had CFLs in the room with NO RED in the spectrum whatsoever. It was amazing to see every bit of red disappear and go brown as you stepped from the hallway into our room. No red in our clothes, the magazine photos or our gemstones. Our faces looked a sickly green, because there was no pink in our complexions. Living in such a world would rob me of much of the joy of being alive.

So, if your orange gemstone turns brown in certain lighting, is this true of other orange items, such as clothes or photos? If they also change color, I wouldn't think there would be any spessartite in the world which would look orange under those lights.

Switch to living in a green only world (or whatever color those bulbs use) and forget about having red and orange gems.

 

[Jeweljunke]

Here is a picture of my new Spess, along with the vendor's pic, and then a couple with the new stone in its container, alongside a couple of other of my rings. I think color wise it is very close to vendor's photo, but I do see a tiny window. I don't think that bothers me much. Might not see it when set. Sorry about the blurry photo.

 

[chrono]

A heart shaped gem case..... Very cute!

 

[1001smiles]

Finally got around to taking pictures and thought it would be nice to bump this thread.
Here are mine, Namibian on the left, two Tanzanian in the middle and Nigerian on the right...

 

[minousbijoux]

I so love orange! Wonderful collection.

 

[ChrisA222]

I have a question about Mandarin Spessartites...I did recently buy one, but I won't post it until its finished being recut. But Im asking this question after seeing the picture above with the different origins of stones.

I was always under the assumption that Mandarins were "ranked" by Origin. I always thought the Nambibian stones were most preferred, followed by the Tanzanian ones (Loliando) and lastly the Nigerian stones.

Is this accurate? Or, is Origin out the window and color is the only factor? Followed by Clarity?

The stone I bought is nice..not top color but nice, but I have a feeling the value is lower due to its Nigerian Origin.

Thoughts?

 

[minousbijoux]

Its a good question. From my experience, once again its all about color/clarity/glow. Each of the three origins you mentioned has its typical pros and cons - I say typical because there are always exceptions.

Namibians were the first found and they were a brilliant, vividly saturated orange, often with an ever so slight red modifier (the fanta color). The aspects that are notable about them are 1) they often have microscopic inclusions that bounce the light around causing the glow; and 2) the good ones, due to this vivid saturation, have no brown modifier. The mines were played out a while ago so they're mainly in captivity now so to speak. While the later Namibians also often had the great color, the clarity was not great, and IMO had a duller quality to them. I have one that is quite large by Namibian standards. It has beautiful color that is so strong that it can overcome the eye visible inclusions - until you get up close, say within 12 inches and then they're annoying. The nicest ones I've see are TL's aljidway's (sorry, I know I butchered your name), and one more who's owner's name I can't recall, all of which are stunning and included in this thread.

Loliondos are typically orange with a yellow secondary and have "sugar" type inclusions that also make them glow. They pop up now and then but are pretty played out as well. You can tell just by looking at a photo which is from each origin if they are specimens considered typical to their area.

Finally, there are Nigerians. It seems that this is the biggest group of spess (don't know if this is actually true, but they seem more abundant). Nigerians have great clarity, come in larger sizes, but often don't have the same punch/saturation level of the other two origins. A brownish modifier and a darker tone is often common with Nigerians. But clean, highly saturated Nigerians do exist and if you can find them, great!

All that aside, and all stones being equal, I don't think anyone would pay more for one over the other one based on origin alone. However, if they each had the typical characteristics of their origin and were extremely high quality, my hands down choice would be Namibian. Someone else might say Loliondo because of the lighter tone and more yellowish secondary. I think the "market" preferred the original Fantas.

Of course there are other locations producing spess as well, like Mozambique, but I haven't seen really beautiful, vivid examples from this area.

Aren't you glad you asked?!!

 

[chrono]

Never buy by origin alone. Colour (and eye clean clarity) always comes first. Forget the word Mandarin too. Is it a pure orange? Is it a highly saturated colour? That is what sets the value. Next is to look at modifiers of red and yellow. Again, as long as the saturation is high, the valuation will be good. Any tinge of brown and it takes a nose-dive. Now, you can take a look at origin. If it has super top colour, then origin might play a factor in pricing if it is a Namibian or Loliondo stone. If the stone doesn't have fine colour, it doesn't matter where it comes from.

Typically, but not always because there will be exceptions, one can tell by colouration (and inclusions) the origin of the stone.

 

[ChrisA222]

Thanks Minou and Chrono...thats what I was getting at.

My stone is very nice, but I am sure somoene will see "brown". To me, I dont see brown in the stone...I see a little yellow, though. I certainly donot see any red.

I sent it to someone who knows Spessartites more that I do, and he said "nice stone, not top color, but 90% orange. Would a 1ct slightly included stone with 90% color be a keeper? NO. But my stone, while only hitting the 90%, is eyeclean and over 3.5ct. Id assume the other 10% to be brown, yellow, or some combination of the two, I really don't know. But I was curious to how you guys would answer the question when it comes to origin.

I also understand this is only somoenes opinion of his percentage of color/saturation that he sees my stone. Someone else may think something different...but, I did want someone elses opinion as I have a heck of a time with Spessartites and Orange in general. I may not 'see' it as well as other colors, like Green or Blue where I can spot modifiers like grey, green, or violet in a second. ORange, not so much! lol

 

[minousbijoux]

You know, I get it. Sometimes I think I've gone off the deep end as I now see brown in almost all spessartites

 

[Starzin]

Ooooh! I was just wandering through this tthread before going to bed and the moment I saw this I saw the face before anything else - in fact I can't not see it. Then I read this:

Marc called it "spectral", and I agree.

Does anyone else see it? Do you recognise him Arkteia?

 

[ChrisA222]

Wow....now I can't not see it either...it looks like the devil...with the top prongs as his horns...

am I crazy?

 

[Starzin]

Well the devil never crossed my mind, a little Nixon-ish? Perhaps they're the same thing

 

[ChrisA222]

I can see Nixon, and may have said him, if the prongs werent exactly where horns would be, LOL...cant you see the horns now?

 

[Starzin]

Yes I can see what you mean but prefer not to impose that image on the ring - to coin a phrase

 

[minousbijoux]

Back in the day, there was an eggplant that became famous because it was the spitting image of Nixon. Random thought, I know! I wonder if its around on the internet somewhere.