Naughty Freke''s gemstone shopping spree!!

[FrekeChild]

Let me know what you think.

I went with a friend to 2 different stores-a non gem store (beads and minerals and other stuff) and a gem and mineral store. This is what I ended up with:

From the non-gem store:
2 Raspberry Rhodolite Garnets (about 1ct each both 6mm rounds) deep raspberry red with brilliant flashes
1 lighter Raspberry Rhodolite Garnet (?ct about 4.5-5mm round) almost a rosy kind of color

From the gem store:
1 Demantoid Garnet (2.75mm round) limey green
1 Tsavorite Garnet (4mm round) stoplight green
1 Indicolite (4.3 x 5.2mm funktified cushion/oval .56ct) kind of a teal color (the cut is wonky with a window and its very deep and fat but I loved the color.)
Plus-he threw in a loupe for free-rock on!

So why don''t you guys try to guess how much they cost me and we can figure out if I got any good deals or not-because at the moment, I have no idea! (And I''ll tell you how much each one was once I get some guesses.

And now, pictures!!!!
Demantoid

 

[FrekeChild]

Tsavorite (it''s brighter and a tiny bit bluer in person-its tiny but eye catching)

 

[FrekeChild]

Indicolite (See the window?) but yum for the color! It's more like the color in the top left corner on the bottom pic-it was hard to capture)

 

[FrekeChild]

Rhodolites (I don''t even think they knew what these were. They didn''t have them marked properly.)

 

[FrekeChild]

And my favorite- the other Rose with a touch of purple Raspberry Rhodolite. Ok! Your opinions please!

ETA: that pic in the bottom left corner is the small one with one of the bigger ones through the loupe.

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 6/20/2008 6:47:59 PM
Author:FrekeChild
Let me know what you think.

I went with a friend to 2 different stores-a non gem store (beads and minerals and other stuff) and a gem and mineral store. This is what I ended up with:

From the non-gem store:
2 Raspberry Rhodolite Garnets (about 1ct each both 6mm rounds) deep raspberry red with brilliant flashes
1 lighter Raspberry Rhodolite Garnet (?ct about 4.5-5mm round) almost a rosy kind of color

From the gem store:
1 Demantoid Garnet (2.75mm round) limey green
1 Tsavorite Garnet (4mm round) stoplight green
1 Indicolite (4.3 x 5.2mm funktified cushion/oval .56ct) kind of a teal color (the cut is wonky with a window and its very deep and fat but I loved the color.)
Plus-he threw in a loupe for free-rock on!

So why don't you guys try to guess how much they cost me and we can figure out if I got any good deals or not-because at the moment, I have no idea! (And I'll tell you how much each one was once I get some guesses.

And now, pictures!!!!
Demantoid

Okay, I'll have some guesses...

2 x 6mm Raspberry Rhodolite Garnets - $35
1 x 4.5mm lighter Raspberry Rhodolite Garnet - $18

1 x 2.75mm Demantoid Garnet - $40
1 x 4mm Tsavorite Garnet - $30
1 x Indicolite Tourmaline - $15

Total - $138

(These are pure off the top of my head guesses - I haven't done any looking up or anything, so if I'm way out I won't be surprised!)

 

[FrekeChild]

Yay! Thanks Pandora for guessing! I was hoping you''d chime in! (What do you think of the stones though? I saw some beautiful green sapphires but I passed on them...for now.)

I will remain mum on the prices for the moment...

Thanks SDL!!!!!

I am in love with the gem store. Holy cow they had so much stuff! Some set jewelry, loupes, all kinds of jewelry stuff. I''m so happy! I''ll have to go over there sometime when I have a lot of time to browse!

 

[Kismet]

Wow, they all look great! I love the rhodolites especially.

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 6/20/2008 7:22:57 PM
Author: FrekeChild
Yay! Thanks Pandora for guessing! I was hoping you''d chime in! (What do you think of the stones though? I saw some beautiful green sapphires but I passed on them...for now.)

I will remain mum on the prices for the moment...

Thanks SDL!!!!!

I am in love with the gem store. Holy cow they had so much stuff! Some set jewelry, loupes, all kinds of jewelry stuff. I''m so happy! I''ll have to go over there sometime when I have a lot of time to browse!

I love the colour of the demantoid, I like the softer shades as well as the neon greens. Nice stone!

The tsav isn''t my cup of tea I''m afraid, but I am hugely picky about the exact shade with them.

The garnets are lovely - especially the matched pair - they''d make nice earrings. Colour is yummy.

The indicolite is a bit too green for me - I like the blue teal ones - but it''s an interesting colour.

I''m being very honest here - so I hope that is what you wanted. I have a bad habit of being very blunt I''m afraid!

If I''m close on the prices you did VERY well!

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 6/20/2008 7:30:33 PM
Author: Pandora II

Date: 6/20/2008 7:22:57 PM

Author: FrekeChild

Yay! Thanks Pandora for guessing! I was hoping you''d chime in! (What do you think of the stones though? I saw some beautiful green sapphires but I passed on them...for now.)

I will remain mum on the prices for the moment...

Thanks SDL!!!!!

I am in love with the gem store. Holy cow they had so much stuff! Some set jewelry, loupes, all kinds of jewelry stuff. I''m so happy! I''ll have to go over there sometime when I have a lot of time to browse!

I love the colour of the demantoid, I like the softer shades as well as the neon greens. Nice stone!

The tsav isn''t my cup of tea I''m afraid, but I am hugely picky about the exact shade with them.

The garnets are lovely - especially the matched pair - they''d make nice earrings. Colour is yummy.

The indicolite is a bit too green for me - I like the blue teal ones - but it''s an interesting colour.

I''m being very honest here - so I hope that is what you wanted. I have a bad habit of being very blunt I''m afraid!

If I''m close on the prices you did VERY well!

I do want honesty! I figured you wouldn''t like the tsav color because you like the deeper tones, but I was looking for a green stone that just popped with how bright it is-and so this little guy does that well. I have no idea what to do with the green garnets...I have them in tiny bags on next to each other and they look really cool-so I''m kind of considering getting another demantoid and maybe making a 3 stone ring with the tsav in the middle. It''d be pretty tiny, but the colors would get some attention...Thoughts? I dunno....

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 6/20/2008 7:25:33 PM
Author: Kismet
Wow, they all look great! I love the rhodolites especially.

Thanks Kismet!!!Me too! They were the surprise. I didn''t really get to get a close look at them until I got home, but they really surprised me!

 

[kcoursolle]

oooh, how fun!!! I''m not good with prices, but I just wanted to say that they would look really nice in a gemstones by the yard style necklace or bracelet. I''d keep all of them except the indicolite, I''m just not diggin the cut on that one.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

I have no idea how much you might of paid for them....

But I like them, and I like the idea of buying a lot of gemstones in one day

 

[innerkitten]

Cool stones! I wish I had a gem store near me.

 

[Gemma12]

Date: 6/20/2008 8:07:58 PM
Author: SanDiegoLady

Date: 6/20/2008 6:51:51 PM
Author: FrekeChild
Rhodolites (I don''t even think they knew what these were. They didn''t have them marked properly.)

I love the richness of these!

Ditto! They are beautiful. Have no idea on prices however...hope you got them for a steal! Can''t wait to see what you do with them.

 

[FrekeChild]

Thank you ladies! Although, I have to admit I was hoping for some wild guesses on the prices. Shall I give them away or wait for a little bit?

kcoursolle-I had the same thoughts. The cut is totally wonked out, but once it's in a setting (I'm thinking ring east-west in silver-too cheap to put into gold-perhaps a bezel or something similar-ish I actually have a design in mind for it which is weird.) So I think I'll probably keep it and play with it maybe or put it into a cheap setting. It was between this one and another that had a lovely cut, but was too dark.

So I picked color over cut.

LtlFirecracker-it was so much fun! And they really weren't expensive! of course, I really don't know what I'm going to do with them yet, but oh my gosh I've never seen so many beautiful gemstones! And I didn't even look at the cabochons.

innerkitten You should poke around and find out if you do-I had no idea that I did, until I asked my local jeweler a random question and he told me straight up about this place. What's funny is that it's in one of the seedier areas in town. My friend was somewhat scared to get out of the car!

Thanks Gemma12!!!!They really are beautiful!

 

[Selkie]

Oooh, I wanna play! I'm trying not to look at other people's guesses. And I really am pretty much guessing, here.

Date: 6/20/2008 6:47:59 PM
Author:FrekeChild

2 Raspberry Rhodolite Garnets (about 1ct each both 6mm rounds) deep raspberry red with brilliant flashes $30

1 lighter Raspberry Rhodolite Garnet (?ct about 4.5-5mm round) almost a rosy kind of color $8


From the gem store:

1 Demantoid Garnet (2.75mm round) limey green $25

1 Tsavorite Garnet (4mm round) stoplight green $15

1 Indicolite (4.3 x 5.2mm funktified cushion/oval .56ct) kind of a teal color (the cut is wonky with a window and its very deep and fat but I loved the color.) $5

Plus-he threw in a loupe for free-rock on!

Eye candy for Freke and the PSer's? Priceless.

 

[Gypsy]

I love all three garnets Freke! You are getting quite a nice collection there!! You can do earrings and a ring with those three. The rose one for the ring, I think.

 

[Harriet]

Naughty Freke!

That''s quite a loot -- I like the rhodolites best!

 

[MonkeyPie]

Freke omg! Where did you find them at? I want to go there now!

 

[FrekeChild]

2 Raspberry Rhodolite Garnets (about 1ct each both 6mm rounds) deep raspberry red with brilliant flashes $29.95
1 lighter Raspberry Rhodolite Garnet (?ct about 4.5-5mm round) almost a rosy kind of color $9

From the gem store:
1 Demantoid Garnet (2.75mm round) limey green $15
1 Tsavorite Garnet (4mm round) stoplight green $39
1 Indicolite (4.3 x 5.2mm funktified cushion/oval .56ct) kind of a teal color (the cut is wonky with a window and its very deep and fat but I loved the color.) $14
Plus-he threw in a loupe for free-rock on!

For a Grand Total of: $106.95

So Pandora, you and Selkie were not very far off. The tsav was the big purchase of the day, but loved the color of it-which really doesn''t come up in the pictures.

Gypsy I was thinking the rose garnet in a rose gold setting. I''m still not sure what I want to do with the two bigger ones. I''ve never bought a pair of stones before.

Hi Harriet!! I know, I think I went a little overboard. I figured everyone would like the Rhodolites best. They are pretty rockin'' for what I paid.

MonkeyPie The non gem store was Mama''s Minerals at San Mateo and Lomas and the gem store (I can''t remember the name!) is on the southwest corner of Central and Louisiana behind the Vietnamese restaurant Que Huong which is next to KFC.

NM GTG anyone??

 

[miraclesrule]

Sheesh, I am learning so much on these boards. I was clueless about any of this stuff.

I was wondering what you were going to do with the stones. My first thought was a tiara.

Then I thought....oh shoes, she''s going to make some sort of shoe embellishment!!!

And then I remembered that you gals don''t buy rings...you make them!!

I think they are all very beautiful.

 

[Catmom]

What a haul, Freke!!! I love the rhodolites!

 

[Pandora II]

Glad to see I wasn't a million miles off!

I declare it a good day's shopping (and so much better than shoes!)

 

[FrekeChild]

I figured out why I like the Indicolite so much.

Lookie at the similarity in color between my cell phone and it(I also have a purse, and several shirts this color.)

 

[FrekeChild]

I should note that these were taking in a room that was hardly lit. The phone is less gray in real life.

 

[FrekeChild]

This is probably the best representation...

 

[diamondfan]

Wow, how fun! I love the colors. A successful day I would agree!

 

[FrekeChild]

And here are all of my loose stones together. In a semi-dark room with my flash (I hadn't used it until now!)

This probably gives the best idea of my London Blue Topaz btw. Yay! And it gives a good idea how big everything is.

 

[FrekeChild]

Thanks miracles, Catmom, Pandora and diamondfan!!!!!

I think I''m done for a while unless I come into some money or see something I can''t live without (Like say, a 3ct+ lavender cushion).