What do you dislike - indicolites

[zeolite]

This will be a rambling series in response to “what do you dislike?” This is not to criticize anyone’s tastes or preferences. It will just show examples that might change your mind.

“most indicolites … - cause they're usually too dark and lack depth of color”. I’m a bit reluctant to show this picture – read on.

I absolutely love blue tourmalines (indicolites). I have 8 in my collection. Here’s why: What are your choices in blue gems? aquamarine, blue topaz, sapphire, tourmaline, tanzanite, iolite, zircon.

Even the finest aquamarine is pastel in tone, with some gray, and low saturation. Swiss blue topaz actually has a pleasant color, but is a man enhanced gem – not rare. While some exceedingly rare blue sapphires can be stunning, most are not of that quality. Many are too dark, and paler, more pastel ones show low color saturation. I was once offered a 3 ct kashmir sapphire 25 years ago- $30,000 wholesale for the stone! I didn’t take it, and still remember it clearly and fondly today.

Tanzanite, in the finest color saturation, and when properly oriented (cut in the blue direction), is a fabulous blue gem. Iolite has such a strong gray cast that it turns me off. Some fine blue zircons have fine color saturation, and are quite attractive.

Blue tourmaline needs to cut very carefully to bring out its finest color saturation, and still be brilliant. The crystals need to selected carefully, and possibly undergo multiple recuts to get the proper balance of saturation and brilliance. Of my 8 blues, about 4 were cut multiple times (one was cut 3 times). Blue tourmalines always have a secondary green hue, while sapphires and tanzanites have a secondary purple hue, so the blue is different. Yet when a blue tourmaline is placed next to a green tourmaline, it is clearly blue.

In summary, I can get a finer saturated blue color in a tourmaline, than any other gemstone, as long as I stay below $60,000 per stone. Below is one of my two finest blue tourmalines, 2.38 ct, opposed bar cut. As hard as I try in Photoshop, I can’t get the picture to match the color of the actual gem. It is MUCH more saturated than it shows here.

 

[Largosmom]

Ooooooooooh. Very nice stone! You didn''t have to convince me though...love the darker shades of blue/aqua.

 

[T L]

Not all indicolites are dark Indicolite is blue tourmaline, so anyone who didn''t like indicolite, would have to rule out a lot of neon paraibas!!

Nice stone Mr. Z.

 

[LD]

That Indicolite, to me, is the PERFECT colour. Stunning.

 

[ma re]

Well that sure is a nice stone...if only there was more than one in a million of them. Price ranges of us mortals however, will usually be enough for something closer to THIS

When I stated the part highlighted above I didn''t mean to say that none of them are nice, just that I rarely (and I mean rarely) see a really nice indicolite.

 

[zeolite]

A funny, true story, about my top indicolite, which I haven't photographed yet. I bought a fine but too dark indicolite in my fourth year of gem collecting, and about 2 month after I began cutting. I showed this emerald cut to a multiple AGTA cutting edge winner. That person said it would not improve with re-cutting. So I sulked and meditated for about a year. What did I know, as a beginner?

But about a year later, I thought "I think it will improve", and I'll risk ruining it to try. No guts , no glory.

I cut it as a much shallower opposed bar, and it absolutely came alive! I am so glad took that chance!

 

[Indylady]

Beautiful indocolite!

 

[jstarfireb]

I like indicolites, and thatone is delicious!

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Your indicolite is stunning! (As usual).

Haha, I actually prefer that color to the neon paraibas.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Of course I need that stone.....

cheers--Sharon

 

[Catmom]

Ooooooooo is all I can say!

 

[Largosmom]

Hmmm, I''m not sure I''m convinced...got any more photos of good indicolites?

 

[chrono]

As with any fine coloured gemstone, a fine indicolite is a stone to behold. The more commonly found/seen indicolites tend to be dark, grayish and with a closed C axis. And of course, those are relatively inexpensive too.

 

[Lovinggems]

The colour is so rich.

 

[Imdanny]

Beautiful.

 

[Kim Bruun]

That stone is indeed nicely saturated, but you state yourself that blue tourmalines always have a secondary green hue - as yours does. And that disqualifies indicolite from the list of pure blue candidates. Dark greenish blue is not a favourite of mine, and that probably turns me off even good quality darker indicolite (on the other hand, I cannot understand how someone could not love the rich, dark violetish blue of a good tanzanite

)

I would add kyanite, spinel, and benitoite to your list. Benitoite is very rare, and probably has a secondary violet hue (I haven''t seen too many in person). Blue spinel is also rare, but still affordable unless you want full saturation. Kyanite is probably too fragile for a ring, but I''ve seen richly saturated material with no secondary violet or green hue.

 

[zeolite]

Date: 1/5/2010 12:47:12 PM
Author: Kim Bruun
That stone is indeed nicely saturated, but you state yourself that blue tourmalines always have a secondary green hue - as yours does. And that disqualifies indicolite from the list of pure blue candidates. Dark greenish blue is not a favourite of mine, and that probably turns me off even good quality darker indicolite (on the other hand, I cannot understand how someone could not love the rich, dark violetish blue of a good tanzanite

)

I would add kyanite, spinel, and benitoite to your list. Benitoite is very rare, and probably has a secondary violet hue (I haven''t seen too many in person). Blue spinel is also rare, but still affordable unless you want full saturation. Kyanite is probably too fragile for a ring, but I''ve seen richly saturated material with no secondary violet or green hue.

No experienced buyer would confuse the blue of tourmaline with that of tanzanite. But I don''t see that violet blue is any better than greenish blue. I accept gemstones for what they are, not what I want them to be.

I have 4 kyanites of intense beautiful blue, but all show a secondary color of purple. While I love spinels, I''m unimpressed with blue spinels. They tend to have pastel color, with a strong gray cast. Even the best natural cobalt colored spinels, which are rare, show saturation only equal to the middle range of sapphire. Ordinary benitoite is quite rare, and properly cut ones are almost non-existent. While properly cut benitoites can show excellent dispersion, their color is pastel at best.

 

[Kim Bruun]

Date: 1/5/2010 1:22:35 PM
Author: zeolite
No experienced buyer would confuse the blue of tourmaline with that of tanzanite. But I don't see that violet blue is any better than greenish blue. I accept gemstones for what they are, not what I want them to be.

I am not saying that it is better - I am just saying that dark greenish blue is not a colour I like. I don't love all colours equally - at least not in gems.

And my only point was that if you wanted blue with no secondary hue, indicolite was not the place to start looking - and that was only intended as a response to your question: "What are your choices in blue gems?"