Anyone want to help me WISELY spend ~$1K?

[Kelli]

Hello all! I've been putting some cash aside for a while now, and am just about ready to make a purchase. I have my eye on a few stones already, but don't want to post them yet as I don't have them on hold. I also thought maybe you ladies and gents with more experience and a better eye could point me in a direction I haven't thought of yet.

What I'm looking for is something festive and fall-colored, as this is one of my favorite times of the year. Think pumpkin spice lattes, jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin ales and Oktoberfest, fall leaves, etc. I know browns are not the most prized tones in most gems, but I actually quite like them- meaning if a stone is substantial in size and super sparkly and its only flaw is a brownish or yellowish undertone, it's possibly right up my alley.

I'd like at least 8mm and an awesome cut over anything else. Shape doesn't matter as much although I'm always a sucker for a nice chunky round. The stones I'm looking at currently are all garnets, but I don't suppose it has to be a garnet. Anything nice I can get for around $1K is good. Thanks in advance!

 

[chrono]

Garnet seems to fit the bill easily, colour-wise, size-wise and budget-wise. Spessartite and Malaya garnet come easily to mind.

 

[Kelli]

The ones I'm looking at are spess and malaya. Maybe I'll shoot the vendor an email so I can get a few stones on hold for a day or two while I make up my mind.

 

[JewelFreak]

If brown appeals, have you thought about smokey quartz? When well cut, it is stunning. I'll always regret not buying this pair from Doug Menadue -- but they wouldn't show up as earrings against my brown hair. Love the cut & color (of stones, not hair. )
(Already sold)


(Sold)
And a single stone:


Citrine is fall colored too, though not good for everyday wear.

 

[deskjockey]

I'm not the most knowledgable, but here are a few I like (though a big too big for me personally)

Topaz:

(to me it doesn't look super brilliant/sparkly, but kind of relaxing and deep and interesting. There's another similarly cut one at the same site)

A different topaz:

(More brown/champagne than orange, but looks quite sparkly!)

And a zircon:


Those are all from the same site (should be easy to find) and relatively inexpensive

(also, the very last spessartite on gemfix is pretty cool, I think)

 

[movie zombie]

champagne/brown diamond.......

 

[marymm]

Maybe check out Roger Dery's site... though enormous, I absolutely love the Heliodore cushion (I have two Heliodores so am obviously biased), and for some reason the Spess stone also intrigues me (I think the sugar would be less noticeable IRL and the thing may have a glow, but of course check with Roger), and there's also the Tourmaline cushion which is a very nice Autumn color and a great cut.







My other thought is to see if Doug at Bespoke Gems has any great saturated Citrine rough in stock that he can cut in his Acorn or one of his other rounds (the Antique Brilliant or the Pop's Orange maybe?) http://www.bespoke-gems.com/SacredGeometrics_Gemstones_Designs_Intro.php

This seems like a fun project - please keep us up to date!

 

[FrekeChild]

I know someone who has a beautiful bronze-y apricot zircon that might be just what you're looking for....

 

[pregcurious]

You didn't say yellow, but if I had ~1K, and no specific color or stone, I would go for this cushion yellow sapphire for $1200.

http://www.gemfix.com/sapphire_yellow_orange.html

 

[colorchange]

You clearly could find some sapphires in the 1k mark as well. While saturated oranges are extremely expensive, the price drops so fast with saturation that you can find some 2-3 Ct orange with some brown in your budget. Especially from Africa, there were loads of orange with a small violet dichroism that made the gem look brownish on the market a few years ago, and I bet it's still not hard to find. And these were usually not heated.

 

[Kelli]

Wow! You guys are wonderful; thank you so much for the suggestions and the eye candy! Yesterday I emailed a vendor about four stones I was looking at. I got a quick reply with some further descriptions and comparisons between them. I was also advised that the one I was really leaning towards (which was also described as the best performer of the four) was also being asked about by someone else. Naturally, I POUNCED! I wasn't planning on making a snap decision like that, but it was the one I kept coming back to and I figured I'd be kicking myself if I missed out. I'll post pictures when I get it. Thanks again

 

[deskjockey]

What kind of stone? Can't wait to see

 

[Kelli]

Also, I'm glad to see that such a variety of stones come in colors such as these. I hope you all are as quick to help me blow my money in the future!

 

[Kelli]

I got the first gemfix spess. The last one was actually my second choice. I was kind of back and forth between the two and was told I couldn't go wrong either way, but the first was the top performer in terms of brilliance.

 

[deskjockey]

Yay!

I really like some of the darker ones towards the bottom of the page. The middle one in the second to last row makes me think of the eye of Sauron. We totally wants it, my precious.

 

[chrono]

Do let us know how it compares to Andrew's pictures when it arrives.

 

[pregcurious]

Exciting!