Pics for first time you fell in love with a CS?

[pregcurious]

For me, I remember browsing a now defunct jewelry site, which I believe was the original Miadora. They used to carry high end watches and jewelry. In 2000, Miadora closed, but it (or only its name) appears to have been resurrected for lower end, mass marketed jewelry.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB969668213269022369

On the site was this gorgeous (to me) green beryl ring. It has this beautiful green seafoam color. I wish I had saved a picture of it. I think I was in college when I saw the ring (which is consistent with when MIadora was in business as an online jeweler).

I think this was the color, but ironically, it wouldn't look good on my pastel skin. The original ring had either a halo of diamonds, or was a 3-stone with diamond sides.

Can you believe I still remember the color?

 

[gingercurls]

The first time I saw pictures of a Spessartite Garnet I knew I was hooked on gemstones. Pictures of Mahenge Spinels then pulled me in even further lol! Here are some of the first pictures that I remember being drawn to:

 

[pregcurious]

Gingercurls, I recognize that spess picture. Who is that from? Luscious!

 

[gingercurls]

Hi Preg,

The picture is from All That Glitters. Here is a link to the page:
http://www.atggems.com/Photos_Spessartite.htm

I couldn't agree more about the color being luscious!

 

[soberguy]

This!

 

[LoversKites]

My fascination started when I was a child. My parents let me buy lots of low grade cheap cabs, freeforms and mineral specimens. I still have them somewhere and now I can identify a few of them. Unfortunately I don't remember one of the first CS I liked that I saw online. Before I understood colour properly I liked a lot of dark stones.

 

[chrono]

Here are some of the first pictures that I remember being drawn to:

Wow, this picture brings back memories.

 

[dk168]

Not a pic as such, as it was the ruby cluster ring that my mum bought in the 70s that started my liking for pink red/raspberry stones.

I knew then that ring would be mine one day, and am so glad that I can wear it again after having it re-sized recently.



DK

 

[Siameseroo]

DK - I've said this before but I really love your mums ring! It's very special when a piece you love is handed down by a loved one. My love for CS was kindled when my mum gave me some of her jewellery and loose stones. The little ruby ring that she gave me is probably my favourite piece.

 

[missy]

Not a pic as such, as it was the ruby cluster ring that my mum bought in the 70s that started my liking for pink red/raspberry stones.

I knew then that ring would be mine one day, and am so glad that I can wear it again after having it re-sized recently.



DK

Beautiful! And my experience is similar to yours. The first colored stone I fell in love with wasn't through a pic but when I first laid eyes on my mother's Cartier Black Opal ring. OMG I was in love and it hit hard. And while I didn't know it would be mine one day it is and I am still in awe of it.

And what I love so much about it is that it was bought with pure joy and love because both my parents truly love beautiful jewelry and were (and still are) so in love with each other when my dad insisted on buying this ring for my mom in 1972. That makes it even more special. That it was bought with such love for each other as well as such an appreciation for the beauty of this ring.

 

[LoversKites]

Those are sweet stories, Missy and DK.

 

[T L]

I don't have it, but it was actually a picture of emerald rough in host rock, in a book I had when I was a little kid. I went searching for that piece everywhere, even in my backyard, naive child that I was, LOL! Yes, I've been addicted to gems for a very very very long time. As a result for my love of gems, I got my first colored gem piece when I graduated from grammar school, it was an aquamarine ring (my birthstone) that my parents bought me. They asked me what I wanted, and I told them.

 

[EvangelineG]

Great thread idea, and wonderful stories!

My fascination started when I was a kid, mostly from descriptions of gems in books, such as the Arkenstone in The Hobbit or Anne's fascination with the amethyst brooch (Anne of Green Gables). My Mom was also a big Royal family fan back in the Diana days, and so I got lots of gem fascination fodder there too, but the interest mostly lay dormant until stumbling on PS while researching diamonds.

It was the demantoid garnet jewelry on http://romanovrussia.com/ (found through PS) that really clinched it for me- the awakening of the childhood curiosity again. A gemstone the colour of spring with diamond-like brilliance and strange inclusions called horsetails? I mean c'mon! Does it get anymore evocative than that? I fell down the rabbit hole of CS, and have been continuing to fall ever since.


(owned by PS member irinaalexandrovna)

 

[minousbijoux]

Boy, do I WISH I had pics - or maybe I have the lack of pics to thank for my obsession.

As far back as I can remember, I always loved colorful shiny sparkly things and was drawn to colored stone jewelry with no discrimination as to real or costume. I was a voracious reader, and loved fables and fairy tales, where good (almost always) conquered evil (still have a hard time when good doesn't prevail, lol). Often times, along with getting the daughter's hand in marriage, the triumphant good brave soul would be rewarded with "riches." Sometimes this meant "cloth of the finest silks" (kinda disappointing to me), a barrel full of silver (ho hum), a satchel of gold pieces (yawn), or some sort of "vessel brimming" with dazzling, gemstones in every color of the rainbow. SIGN ME UP! Forget about the rest of it, I'll just take the jewels, thank you! I think part of my obsession was the fact that I had to imagine them, as there were no pictures. So it was my imagination that saw these vivid, sparkling colors tumbling out of whatever they were in. Umm, but never mind the fact that in reality, there would be terrible abrasion if emeralds and rubies, sapphires, pearls and diamonds all hung out together

 

[Acinom]

Great thread with beautiful stories.

I do not have a photo, but I loved playing with my mums beauty case. She never used it for make-up but to store here jewelry. That's how my love for sparkly things started.

 

[LoversKites]

Boy, do I WISH I had pics - or maybe I have the lack of pics to thank for my obsession.

As far back as I can remember, I always loved colorful shiny sparkly things and was drawn to colored stone jewelry with no discrimination as to real or costume. I was a voracious reader, and loved fables and fairy tales, where good (almost always) conquered evil (still have a hard time when good doesn't prevail, lol). Often times, along with getting the daughter's hand in marriage, the triumphant good brave soul would be rewarded with "riches." Sometimes this meant "cloth of the finest silks" (kinda disappointing to me), a barrel full of silver (ho hum), a satchel of gold pieces (yawn), or some sort of "vessel brimming" with dazzling, gemstones in every color of the rainbow. SIGN ME UP! Forget about the rest of it, I'll just take the jewels, thank you! I think part of my obsession was the fact that I had to imagine them, as there were no pictures. So it was my imagination that saw these vivid, sparkling colors tumbling out of whatever they were in. Umm, but never mind the fact that in reality, there would be terrible abrasion if emeralds and rubies, sapphires, pearls and diamonds all hung out together

I love this post, it really made me smile.

 

[Arcadian]

I don't have pics unfortunately, but I was 14 years old and had 'mined' my very first quartz. How I managed to hang on to it all these years is somewhat funny but its always been with me since the day I found it.

 

[dk168]

My mum has another ring bought around the same time as the ruby diamond cluster ring.

It was a long and narrow oval imperial jade that was very clear, glassy even, in a very lively green colour. The jade was set in a double diamond halo in 14K WG. It was a lovely ring and I loved it, and begged her to let me borrow it when I was started working full time.

She loaned it to me back in the 90s, and I wore it to a black tie work function, got so drunk that I managed to lose the jade from its setting (it was prong/claw set).

I discovered what happened at about 02:30h in the morning when I woke up. I immediately went down to the function room to look for it everywhere, retraced my steps as much as I could remember, and sieved through the contents sucked up by the vacuum cleaner, with no sign of the blooming stone.

Needless to say, I was gutted.

When I told my mum, her response was rather philosophical, in that she believed the jade was lost while absorbing some of the bad energy that was directed at me (she was and still is, rather superstitious). Bless her.

That event made me dislike anything prong/claw set (every ring I had custom-made since then had been bezel-set), and I would not buy or wear jade, and became a bit more sensible with the amount of alcohol I drink at social events.

I sold the setting to the jeweller that made my large ruby ring as payment towards the new ring, and I saw it on their website with a new centre stone some time later. I did consider keeping it and find a suitable stone to replace the jade, however, it would bring back unpleasant memories, so I decided to sell it.

DK

 

[lilmosun]

Like many, my love for jewelry came from my mom. She wasn't a discriminating buyer but she was constantly buying, redesigning, trading up and going to gem shows. But she wasn't into CS.

As a kid, I desperately wanted an aquamarine so she had a custom ring made for me in my teens. I later had it reset (below) which now seems crazy given the only value of the stone was sentimental.



When visiting her for her 79th birthday, she suddenly seemed interested in getting a ring with her birthstone (peridot). So for Christmas, I had a peridot set into the original aqua setting and gave it to her. It makes me very happy to see her wear it.



The first time I totally fell in love with a colored stone itself was the paraibas in my avatar ring. I'd never seen stones glow like that. (I had CS rings but usually bought more for the design of the setting than the stone itself). But after seeing the ring (which took me a year to buy as I never had an expensive CS ring), I was on a mission to find rings like it...which lead my jeweler to finding the cuprian that brought me here...and we all know that PS is dangerous

 

[LD]

I was about 5 or 6 years old when I realised my Mum had wonderful jewellery. I used to play with it and became totally hooked.

The ring that started my love affair was an Emerald (emerald cut) with a single round brilliant cut diamond either side that my Mum had inherited from her Mum. I have the ring now as it passed to me. It's one of those pieces of jewellery that I would grab in a fire to ensure it was safe. It's a stunning very clear, very beautiful Emerald and even now, when I look at it, I can recall playing with it. How on earth my Mum trusted me to play with an Emerald ring I have no idea!!!!

 

[carmen1]

I originally came to PS for the diamonds, but came over to the CS side after seeing Justin's ring on Jewel of the Week



It is still my hope to have something similar someday, though I'll probably have to settle for a smaller version

 

[GliderPoss]

Boy, do I WISH I had pics - or maybe I have the lack of pics to thank for my obsession.

As far back as I can remember, I always loved colorful shiny sparkly things and was drawn to colored stone jewelry with no discrimination as to real or costume. I was a voracious reader, and loved fables and fairy tales, where good (almost always) conquered evil (still have a hard time when good doesn't prevail, lol). Often times, along with getting the daughter's hand in marriage, the triumphant good brave soul would be rewarded with "riches." Sometimes this meant "cloth of the finest silks" (kinda disappointing to me), a barrel full of silver (ho hum), a satchel of gold pieces (yawn), or some sort of "vessel brimming" with dazzling, gemstones in every color of the rainbow. SIGN ME UP! Forget about the rest of it, I'll just take the jewels, thank you! I think part of my obsession was the fact that I had to imagine them, as there were no pictures. So it was my imagination that saw these vivid, sparkling colors tumbling out of whatever they were in. Umm, but never mind the fact that in reality, there would be terrible abrasion if emeralds and rubies, sapphires, pearls and diamonds all hung out together

I love this post, it really made me smile.

Ditto as I can totally relate to this!!! I've always had a really vivid imagination and read lots of fantasy books as a child. I also collected tumbled stones and crystals so I've always been a CS girl at heart. One of the first pics I ever saw of precision faceting was this one below by Jeff Graham (RIP) and that really set me on the road to collecting precision gems...

 

[minousbijoux]

One of the first pics I ever saw of precision faceting was this one below by Jeff Graham (RIP) and that really set me on the road to collecting precision gems...

Wow, just wow. No wonder he is so famous.

 

[stracci2000]

My mom has a huge jewelry collection, and as a kid, I would always play in it and hoped to someday have as much jewelry as she did.

When I was in 2nd grade, Dad bought me a small costume jewelry ring with a sapphire rhinestone in it. That was the beginning of it all. Also, that same year, a friend gave me a birthday gift of a small plated rose pendant with a pearl glued in the middle. Hence my love of pearls.

In 6th grade, I talked Dad into letting me order some rings from catalogs. I had a garnet ring set in sterling from Lillian Vernon. I also had
a few sterling rings, one with turquoise. I wore them everyday and thought of them as my "signature" rings. I must have read this term in some book or magazine. I thought I was sophisticated!

 

[pregcurious]

DK, that is a lovely ring!

 

[pregcurious]

"cloth of the finest silks" (kinda disappointing to me), a barrel full of silver (ho hum), a satchel of gold pieces (yawn), or some sort of "vessel brimming" with dazzling, gemstones in every color of the rainbow. SIGN ME UP!

 

[pregcurious]

As a kid, I desperately wanted an aquamarine so she had a custom ring made for me in my teens. I later had it reset (below) which now seems crazy given the only value of the stone was sentimental.

This ring is such a good example of using a complementary metal setting.

 

[pregcurious]

One of the first pics I ever saw of precision faceting was this one below by Jeff Graham (RIP) and that really set me on the road to collecting precision gems...

I've never seen a stone cut like that. It looks like a rose.

 

[dk168]

Jeff Graham died a good few years ago.

He had lots of designs, books and tools, and was highly regarded as a gem cutter.

His family left his website up for a while after his death, however, it has been taken down now.

Shame, as I used love trawling his site for heart cuts as he has a number of them.

Some of his designs can still be found on the web.

DK

 

[tourma-guy]

Jeff Graham died a good few years ago.

He had lots of designs, books and tools, and was highly regarded as a gem cutter.

His family left his website up for a while after his death, however, it has been taken down now.

Shame, as I used love trawling his site for heart cuts as he has a number of them.

Some of his designs can still be found on the web.

DK

You can still find an archive of his website here: http://web.archive.org/web/20110710220410/http:/www.faceters.com/properties/index.shtml
Some good stuff on there

Ditto as I can totally relate to this!!! I've always had a really vivid imagination and read lots of fantasy books as a child. I also collected tumbled stones and crystals so I've always been a CS girl at heart. One of the first pics I ever saw of precision faceting was this one below by Jeff Graham (RIP) and that really set me on the road to collecting precision gems...

That rose cut stone was actually the first picture to get me hooked as well. I really wish I could find one with that cut