AJS has quite a few nice-looking Nigerian spessartite garnets. Does anyone know if there prices are pretty competitive for that material? They seem a little high to me?
What sizes are you looking at? I just took a quick peek at a ~4 carat and the price looked pretty good. I wish I could speak for experience, but I know that if I were going to check it out, as long as they had a rock solid (hee hee) return policy, I'd give 'em a go!
Pricing seems fair for the "sale" items. If shopping there, always look for a stone with a saturation level one step higher than you really want. This because AJS's photography seems to amp up the colour somewhat but it is consistent for all their stones.
Same here with regards to the profile and pavilion shots. They used to do such requests and because of that, I was able to better determine the clarity level of the red spinel I purchased from AJS. I could clearly see a feather from the back (and it was a good sized one too) but it was not as obvious from the crown view. It also helps me spot any potential major cut issues.