Tanzanite Experts and Lovers...found a gorgeous one but know zero!

[Efleon]

Hi All,
I found a gorgeous vibrant 4.34 carat pear cut tanzanite in the estate case of my local jeweler. It’s vibrancy literally jumped up and grabbed me!
Forget the setting. It’s old fashioned and the diamonds are meh at best.
But that stone!
No cert or any info on it.
I examined under 10x loupe and it has one tiny inclusion and a small flea bite on a facet junction.
I’m starting my research on tanzanite and it looks like I have a lot to learn.
Does anybody know if this is a good stone?
Should I get it certified so I know if it’s heated or not (I don’t even know if heating is a “thing” with tanzanite)
TIA!
I’m clearly bitten badly by the colored stone bug!!!

 

[Diamond Girl 21]

That is stunning!!! The color is absolutely gorgeous. I don't know all that much about tanzanite, but I do believe the majority is heated.

Edited to say there was a pocket found very deep where the stones where coming out of the mine that color. I think that's unusual though.

 

[westofhere]

So pretty! At 6-7, a bit soft for an everyday ring, but would make a stellar pendant. If you follow Joe Henley on Instagram, he posted a video in the last few days on heating tanzanite —the transformation is amazing!

 

[Efleon]

So pretty! At 6-7, a bit soft for an everyday ring, but would make a stellar pendant. If you follow Joe Henley on Instagram, he posted a video in the last few days on heating tanzanite —the transformation is amazing!

Yes. I’m an unmitigated spaz so definitely a pendant!!

 

[voce]

To be honest, the color is not my preference, and it looks like it may have extinction, but it's certainly vivid colored and electric! I wonder if it could benefit from a recut to up the brilliance, but it's a softer gem so more risky to recut than a ruby or sapphire or spinel or diamond.

I will admit, I mostly like the look of tanzanites that are dichroic blue and purple, like this...

Precision Gem - Gemstones for sale

Precision Gem Store - listing of current gemstones custom precision cut.

www.precisiongem.com

... But have always hesitated to get one over $300 because I'd hate to break it and lose the entire value of the gem, so I will probably wait along for a sapphire that looks like a tanzanite.

 

[LemonMoonLex]

Hello!

Beautiful stone! The ring in my avatar holds a tanzanite and I love it! I'm fairly delicate & obsessive about being gentle on my jewelry though so I didnt hesitate to purchase her. When it comes to color, like @voce briefly mentioned, some prefer slightly lighter yet still richly saturated tanzanites that show greater pleochroic properties, while others would drool over your stone.

Before you buy it, I did want to ask you if you're sure it's indeed tanzanite? I ask because the color could make it many other stones, even possibly synthetic. It's just hard to tell through photographs. Is your jeweler incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to not only diamonds but colored stones? You'd be surprised how many know little to nothing about them but act as if they do. If he is I wouldn't worry over it but if he's sold anything that's turned out to be another stone or seems less knowledgeable I would highly question whether it's tanzanite or not and would recommend a cert. Also the price you paid would tell us a lot! You are not likely to find a tanzanite of that size and quality for nothing.

But besides that question, I say it's beautiful! Again it just comes down to personal preference. Many prefer the rich blue/purple pleochroic ones but I think industry did and still does (?) Prefer darker tanzanites like yours, which is a plus!

If you love her, then that's all that matters, and no one can deny she's a beaut!

 

[PrecisionGem]

That's a pretty Tanzanite. Tanzanite is one of my favorite stones. There is really no difference in price of heated tanzanite compared to natural blues. Normally the natural blue stones do not achieve such a deep tone however, and they tend to show the 3 colors more. It's harder to see the 3 distinct colors on a cut stone compared to a rough.

I wonder if it could benefit from a recut to up the brilliance, but it's a softer gem so more risky to recut than a ruby or sapphire or spinel or diamond.

Actually a softer stone is no more risky a recut than a hard stone. The risk comes more with heavy included stones have sections break away. Most issues with cutting happen in the initial preforming when a stone has some internal stress. Once you touch these to the lap, they will at times fracture multiple times leaving you with junk. If a stone made it through cutting one time, I would not worry about cutting it again, unless it were heavily included. For this stone I certainly would't recommend recutting it, it looks fine the way it is.

 

[chrono]

Looks lovely and doesn't have issues major enough to warrant a recut.

 

[Efleon]

Thanks all.
This one is going to take some work.
First. It is not from my knowledgeable and trusted Badis jewelers.
It is from my little local jeweler who has one little case of estate pieces. To be perfectly honest he has been in the business for 40 years and is super nice but he does not know a heck of a lot of technical stuff and does not have a gemology degree. So I worried if it’s synthetic
I will ask him if he would be willing to get it certified. I mentioned it when I was in yesterday and he thought he was helping me by saying he would have his parter inspect it and I know he was trying to be helpful but his partner doesn’t have any training professional training either.
Second, his store is in a pretty wealthy area so his tagged prices are (to me at least) ridiculous. He always gives me much better prices but I think he starts high.
Third, until I saw this super electric blue/purple stone I never bothered to research anything about tanzanite. I knew Tiffany sold very much lighter blue stones but didn’t like them because I prefer deeper sapphires if I’m going to go traditional blue. So needless to say I was shocked at how high the prices of tanzanite are!!!!
He has this tagged at $5300 which is completely out of my consideration. However, if it truly is a vivid 4.34 carat un-included natural tanzanite as it appears (to my untrained eye) then I see from a quick google check that it is probably in the $3000-$3500 range.
Now I’m going to research “pleochroic”….
I will also report back (I won’t leave you guys hanging!!)

 

[Austina]

Just to give you some idea of pricing elsewhere, this is a company that has a UK presence, and is/was a Tanzanite One site holder.

Tanzanite Rings Collection in Rose, White & Yellow Gold

Shop LC offers a wide collection of designer tanzanite rings crafted with rose, white, and yellow gold to enhance your charm. Shop our AAA and AAAA Tanzanite Rings at low prices and amazing discounts now!

www.shoplc.com

You should be able to see flashes of red in the stone, especially when viewed from the side (this is what I was told). These are my AAAA pieces. Ring is about 2.5 cts, pendant is 6cts +

 

[Mreader]

@Efleon do you follow Premiergemestones on IG? Most of his colored stones are tanzanite and he has some killer ones and cuts them himself. He also takes commissions - I got one cut from him when I kept my old e-ring setting but changed the setting for the diamond. All of the treatments etc. will be disclosed. Just a thought since you were not planning on keeping the setting anyway.

Not the color you're looking for probably but an example: no-heat 7.66 ctw for $2300

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

 

[Mreader]

More the color you are looking at:

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

 

[Efleon]

More the color you are looking at:

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

OMGoodness!!
So THATS what you guys are trying to show me when you say plechroic !!!!
Those flashes of purple and red are unreal!
Uh oh…I think I’m down the tanzanite rabbit hole….

 

[PrecisionGem]

Tanzanite is a Trichroic (3 colors) stone. This is very strong in unheated stones. Heated stones can appear to be Dichroic (2 colors), as browns and yellows burn off to blue. The colors are most easily seen using a dichroscope. Your jeweler should have one, if not I can purchase one from Amazon for under $30.
Even a heated stone with you will be able to distinguish the 3 colors, but you need to rotate the stone and look at it at different angles.

Most lab created materials used to simulate tanzanite a flame fusion corundum which would show only 2 colors and with weak separation of color. Another material used to simulate tanzanite is Forsterite. This too will only show 2 colors.

It doesn't look as if the prongs extend above the table, so a refractive index reading could be taken. Tanzanite will measure 1.685 - 1.707. Synthetic corundum will be around 1.76, and Forsterite will be 1.63 - 1.67.

You can also look through the crown and focus on the pavilion facets from a slight angle. If you see facet doubling this is a clear sign of forsterite as tanzanite doesn't have high birefringence and will not display this effect.

Natural tanzanite is also inert to both long wave and short wave UV light, where as Forsterite will show a brownish green.

Now go educate your jeweler!

This is a picture of a natural unheated tanzanite showing 3 colors as viewed from different axis (sided) of the stone.

 

[elizat]

@Efleon do you follow Premiergemestones on IG? Most of his colored stones are tanzanite and he has some killer ones and cuts them himself. He also takes commissions - I got one cut from him when I kept my old e-ring setting but changed the setting for the diamond. All of the treatments etc. will be disclosed. Just a thought since you were not planning on keeping the setting anyway.

Not the color you're looking for probably but an example: no-heat 7.66 ctw for $2300

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

Yes. Was going to suggest Alex too to look for comps or a custom cut. If I was looking at tanzanite, I'd ask him.

 

[westofhere]

For that price, and given that you want to reset, I’d consider going with a new stone—your dream stone.

 

[Efleon]

Tanzanite is a Trichroic (3 colors) stone. This is very strong in unheated stones. Heated stones can appear to be Dichroic (2 colors), as browns and yellows burn off to blue. The colors are most easily seen using a dichroscope. Your jeweler should have one, if not I can purchase one from Amazon for under $30.
Even a heated stone with you will be able to distinguish the 3 colors, but you need to rotate the stone and look at it at different angles.

Most lab created materials used to simulate tanzanite a flame fusion corundum which would show only 2 colors and with weak separation of color. Another material used to simulate tanzanite is Forsterite. This too will only show 2 colors.

It doesn't look as if the prongs extend above the table, so a refractive index reading could be taken. Tanzanite will measure 1.685 - 1.707. Synthetic corundum will be around 1.76, and Forsterite will be 1.63 - 1.67.

You can also look through the crown and focus on the pavilion facets from a slight angle. If you see facet doubling this is a clear sign of forsterite as tanzanite doesn't have high birefringence and will not display this effect.

Natural tanzanite is also inert to both long wave and short wave UV light, where as Forsterite will show a brownish green.

Now go educate your jeweler!

This is a picture of a natural unheated tanzanite showing 3 colors as viewed from different axis (sided) of the stone.

Thank you Gene.
Super helpful!

 

[Efleon]

Ok guys so I think this particular piece is a non-starter for me.
I went in and chatted with my jewelers partner today and he was very NOT into sending it for certification. His attitude was very much puzzled by why I would want that. I honestly don’t even know if he knows the price of the piece.
So I suggested that if I was going to take a chance on the piece and buy it uncertified then the price would have to be very much relaxed and he just shook his head and basically it was conversation over.
I honestly don’t understand that type of attitude but I guess they think it will sell as is.
Perhaps they are right but I doubt it.
Oh well…at least I’m in possession of some really great knowledge about tanzanite.
Thanks all!!!

 

[LemonMoonLex]

I too would second the idea of passing on this guy and purchasing a killer tanzanite from the excellent seller mentioned. I am always drooling at his stones! You'll get the best color & cut with him & will have faith in knowing the stones ARE what he says they are.

Also there's a lot of fun to purchasing a loose stone, holding onto it for a few months or years while you save up for & dream up your ideal setting for it! I think the ring that would result from this process will end up being higher quality. Although there are people that hate the design process and prefer to have things "easy" and purchase premade. There's nothing wrong with that either.

It's just a matter of distinguishing which person you are.

**Edit**
I see we posted at the same time ha & you indeed are passing on this guy! I think you're making the right decision especially if you're enjoying your research into tanzanite! Just be Aware that tanzanite isn't the only beautiful richly toned gemmy rock, & by opening the door you may indeed fall down a rabbit hole of color!

Beware! It's highly addicting!

 

[qubitasaurus]

I think you can safely assume it is heated. They almost all are, as they mostly come out of the ground brown in colour. Would be highly anomalous for that stone to be unheated.

Paraiba International actually has a very very large selection of tanzanite. It's not a rare stone, you should be able to find whatever you want at a price point you're comfortable with (more than 1k per ct seems high to me).