Please help with spinel pear

[Dizzie]

I am currently have just reset my diamond into the ring for my mom and looking for a spinel pear to put into the original setting. Ideally a stone should be as close to 7.5x5.5 mm as possible. It will be bezelled so it should not be too dark. It would be my first try with the coloured stones and considering international shipping, I'd better get it right the first time.

I am not set on any specific color, but try to avoid overly dark stones, as they might go black in the setting. I also try to stay away of the stones with too much gray
I currently have two contenders. Both are dark blue. Could you please comment, especially on the cut of the stones, as unfortunately i cannot judge it at all with coloured pears.

 

[chrono]

I would go with something lighter since the pear will be bezeled. The cut of the second pear doesn't look good and is likely to black out once bezeled.

 

[Dizzie]

Thanks, Chrono. Well, that helps to rule the second stone out.
Ideally I would love to find a reach blue pear, something very saturated, reminding of a good sapphire, but I just cannot seem to find it in the right size and shape

 

[chrono]

The other thing to watch out for is "fatness". Even though the 2 pears you posted are both 7.5 x 5.5 mm, one is clearly fatter than the other and you have almost zero wiggle room when it comes to an existing bezel setting.

 

[LoversKites]

Thanks, Chrono. Well, that helps to rule the second stone out.
Ideally I would love to find a reach blue pear, something very saturated, reminding of a good sapphire, but I just cannot seem to find it in the right size and shape

Neither of those are well saturated. Both are greyish blue. I've only seen blue spinels coloured by cobalt that are particularly vivid. But these are hard to find, expensive and usually small. For a more affordable nice blue gem kyanite is a nice but soft and rather fragile option, so I wouldn't recommend it for a ring. Sapphire is durable but can be pricey if well saturated, even if heated. Zircon is a nice sparkly stone with decent hardness and good blue colour but it's not sapphire like. In a ring you 'd have to be careful with it.

If you like some grey then a greyish blue spinel is a good option.

Example of a good cobalt blue spinel: http://www.palagems.com/php/db_search.php?action=gemdetail&inventory_number=16650

 

[T L]

Thanks, Chrono. Well, that helps to rule the second stone out.
Ideally I would love to find a reach blue pear, something very saturated, reminding of a good sapphire, but I just cannot seem to find it in the right size and shape

To find such a stone in a blue spinel is not going to be easy, and then trying to find the right size and shape will make it that much more difficult. Spinels rarely come in the saturation of a good sapphire. Almost everyone here has tried to get a fine blue spinel. You might be better off going with a sapphire to be honest.

The stones you picked above are both too dark and too grey.

 

[chrono]

Blue spinels that rival the colour of rich blue sapphires are very rare, so you might find your search easier if you start looking at blue sapphires.

 

[Marlow]

not blue but ....

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?429777275

maybe you like it?

Another one

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?171957111

 

[SparkliesLuver]

I know the shape is a bit different, but ...

1.30 ct.
Vietnamese pink spinel
7.6 x 5.5 mm
Untreated
Loupe clean
$552

http://www.thegemtrader.com/Dec14VSpinelPage.htm

 

[Dizzie]

Thank you very much to everyone wo has answered this thread. Sorry for not answering so long, but my daughter was ill and I did not spend time in the internet.

Thanks to your input, I decided that dark blue would not be a good idea for a bezel.
I am currently looking at various other colors. unfortunately I am not quite a fan of pink.

There are some more contenders. Is any of them decently cut?

 

[Dizzie]

not blue but ....

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?429777275

maybe you like it?

Another one

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?171957111

I actually quite like the second one. Is this bow-tie something that would bother in real-life though?

 

[Dizzie]

I know the shape is a bit different, but ...

1.30 ct.
Vietnamese pink spinel
7.6 x 5.5 mm
Untreated
Loupe clean
$552

http://www.thegemtrader.com/Dec14VSpinelPage.htm

Unfortunately there is no way I could squeeze it into my existing bezel. But thanks anyhow for looking

 

[T L]

When viewing a stone in a vendor picture, please make sure that it's table (the top of the stone) is directly facing you so that you can see if there is a window in the gem. It is impossible to ascertain if there is a window in the second photo above (of the tsavorite). The third gem has a very large and distracting window. The top gems are a pretty orangy pink spinel color reminiscent of some padparadschas, and they have no major window. You do have to make sure that the spinels do not go "brown" in some lighting, as many orangy pink spinels do.

 

[VirginiaZee]

not blue but ....

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?429777275

maybe you like it?

Another one

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?171957111

I actually quite like the second one. Is this bow-tie something that would bother in real-life though?

People have different tolerances for things like bowties... some don't mind a small one (and many pears have at least a bit of a bowtie given their shape). If you copy the image and shrink it down to life-size (I did this in a gmail message to myself, sorry I don't know how to save that and post it here!) the bowtie looks much smaller (at least to me) than it looks in the larger image. You could always contact MC and ask about how noticeable it is in real life, I've never dealt with them but I've heard they're very reasonable to deal with.

 

[pregcurious]

There are some more contenders. Is any of them decently cut?

I've outlined the window.

The window is the part of the stone that makes it look like you are looking at a flat sheet (or window) of lighter colored stone. Do you see how there appear to be no/few facets, and the color is much lighter than the surrounding stone? This area is only considered a window when you see this when you are looking straight onto the top/table of the stone. The lower the refractive index of the stone, the easier it is to see a window. Light is not reflected back at you in the windowed part of the stone, so the area looks dead of light, and the color looks dead also. (Diamond has high refractive index and reflects light well when cut properly.)

This stone is very poorly cut in terms of light return. Most likely, the stone is too shallow, and was cut to maximize weight and "face up" size.

 

[Marlow]

not blue but ....

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?429777275

maybe you like it?

Another one

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?171957111

I actually quite like the second one. Is this bow-tie something that would bother in real-life though?

Try it - the stone has a very good price...

 

[pregcurious]

I know the shape is a bit different, but ...

1.30 ct.
Vietnamese pink spinel
7.6 x 5.5 mm
Untreated
Loupe clean
$552

http://www.thegemtrader.com/Dec14VSpinelPage.htm

I'm not a fan of this pear because the color distribution is so uneven. The pear cut tends to concentrate color at the ends, especially the point. It's very pronounced in this stone.

 

[LoversKites]

I know the shape is a bit different, but ...

1.30 ct.
Vietnamese pink spinel
7.6 x 5.5 mm
Untreated
Loupe clean
$552

http://www.thegemtrader.com/Dec14VSpinelPage.htm

I'm not a fan of this pear because the color distribution is so uneven. The pear cut tends to concentrate color at the ends, especially the point. It's very pronounced in this stone.

Brad's description says the complete opposite, it says 'The slightly elongated shape is somewhat nontraditional, but interestingly it has the effect of diffusing the color nicely and eliminating the typical 'pooling' of color at the ends'

Maybe it's the tweezers obstructing the light in some way or shadowing the ends? I don't know.

 

[Dizzie]

There are some more contenders. Is any of them decently cut?

I've outlined the window.

The window is the part of the stone that makes it look like you are looking at a flat sheet (or window) of lighter colored stone. Do you see how there appear to be no/few facets, and the color is much lighter than the surrounding stone? This area is only considered a window when you see this when you are looking straight onto the top/table of the stone. The lower the refractive index of the stone, the easier it is to see a window. Light is not reflected back at you in the windowed part of the stone, so the area looks dead of light, and the color looks dead also. (Diamond has high refractive index and reflects light well when cut properly.)

This stone is very poorly cut in terms of light return. Most likely, the stone is too shallow, and was cut to maximize weight and "face up" size.

Thanks a lot. This was very helpful indeed. I finally got how the window looks

That helps to reduce the number of contenders on my .

I will go and try a bunch of rings tomorrow to see what color would I rather see on my hand.
For now emerald (though out of budget) and red spinel are my main contenders

 

[Dizzie]

I wanted to thank everyone for the help. I finally found my pear. I hae received it some days ago and it is beautifull - no window, brilliant from any angle and it has a very attractive shade once put into a bezel setting.

Unfortunately I only have a vendor picture, as the stone is being set now, but i promise to post the photos once it is done

 

[LoversKites]

I wanted to thank everyone for the help. I finally found my pear. I hae received it some days ago and it is beautifull - no window, brilliant from any angle and it has a very attractive shade once put into a bezel setting.

Unfortunately I only have a vendor picture, as the stone is being set now, but i promise to post the photos once it is done

That looks great. Looking forward to you pics.