how to id demantoid?

[partgypsy]

Thanks tourmalinelover for advice. Well was originally going to get an inexpensive setting (etsy) to have it put in there, but good point. There is a local jewelry designer store which works with all kinds of gems, in fact the main designer originally worked as a gem cutter, so I''m sure they could give me advice about the soundness of the gem.

Here is the first picture but in a better resolution

 

[chrono]

It’s good that you are getting an gemstone experienced benchperson advise you on setting it. I’ve seen Etsy set softer stones like aquamarine before so it is possible that they might feel confident about setting demantoids.

 

[pitbullmom]

I don''t think most have an idea how tight that network is between the front line gem dealers and the mines and then some people/companies back in the States and other countries of Europe when it comes to first looks and distribution.

I was watching DSN one night when they were the premier and almost only sellers of the copper tourmailnes from Nigeria and Mosambique and a lot of the gem dealers on Ebay were starting to sell them like crazy also. One of the dealers I know well we were chatting in emails back and
forth one night (his daytime) and I made a comment about DSN and he asked if I ever bought anything from them, told him yes a couple
of items, they were always what they described I never had problems other people did except for returns took them forever to refund and
if you don''t call and get on them they "just forget" about refunds... he asked if I ever bought any of their copper tourmalines and I said no
their prices are too high his were MUCH better. He sends me an email with a smiile face and says " I''m their supplier" ... funny .. he said in the quantities they were buying from him as fast as he could get the rough faceted.. was even lower than he was selling to me as a friend. That made their mark up between 200 - 500% per stone depending on the size, color and clarity. Few weeks later I told him about these
deep colored saturated mega size kunzites and he sent me a smilie face again and then said ... you want one, how big ? He was their dealer for those also. He asked who else on Ebay I dealt with on regular basis so I gave him a few dealers sites, they all know and trade with each other I found out. In time I''ve come across 3 other dealers that are the source for DSN and their "exclusives".. and the one that supplies the "Petroke" Kunzite to one of the other shopping channels, one I usually don''t watch except to go by it looking to see what''s on.

World is usually smaller than most of us realize !

 

[T L]

Date: 7/10/2009 4:24:34 PM
Author: pitbullmom
I don''t think most have an idea how tight that network is between the front line gem dealers and the mines and then some people/companies back in the States and other countries of Europe when it comes to first looks and distribution.

I was watching DSN one night when they were the premier and almost only sellers of the copper tourmailnes from Nigeria and Mosambique and a lot of the gem dealers on Ebay were starting to sell them like crazy also. One of the dealers I know well we were chatting in emails back and
forth one night (his daytime) and I made a comment about DSN and he asked if I ever bought anything from them, told him yes a couple
of items, they were always what they described I never had problems other people did except for returns took them forever to refund and
if you don''t call and get on them they ''just forget'' about refunds... he asked if I ever bought any of their copper tourmalines and I said no
their prices are too high his were MUCH better. He sends me an email with a smiile face and says '' I''m their supplier'' ... funny .. he said in the quantities they were buying from him as fast as he could get the rough faceted.. was even lower than he was selling to me as a friend. That made their mark up between 200 - 500% per stone depending on the size, color and clarity. Few weeks later I told him about these
deep colored saturated mega size kunzites and he sent me a smilie face again and then said ... you want one, how big ? He was their dealer for those also. He asked who else on Ebay I dealt with on regular basis so I gave him a few dealers sites, they all know and trade with each other I found out. In time I''ve come across 3 other dealers that are the source for DSN and their ''exclusives''.. and the one that supplies the ''Petroke'' Kunzite to one of the other shopping channels, one I usually don''t watch except to go by it looking to see what''s on.

World is usually smaller than most of us realize !

I like to watch DSN every now and then. I usually don''t watch that long because their inventory has really dried up as far as interesting gems are concerned. I had no idea that they sourced their gems from ebay dealers. They were selling demantoid the other night, and it was very brownish/olive in color, not my cup of tea. Your friend is probably the source for their demantoid as well. People should know that they bait and switch jewelry items and also run fake auctions (CBS news reported this), so it''s not a very reputable company, although some people might have had good experiences.

 

[demanspark]

WOW.. i guess it''s a really small world in this industry..

sorry - don''t really know what DSN is... :p
think we probably dun air that program here in my country

 

[chrono]

DSN is some sort of a shopping network where gems are sold on TV. I sometimes watch with the volume turned down because I can''t handle their sales pitch (world class this and museum quality that).

 

[demanspark]

oooh...ic..

Yikes.. me hate sales pitch too..
i bet they have all the nice spotlights and the spinning tables.. LOLS

 

[chrono]

Date: 7/11/2009 12:17:32 PM
Author: demanspark
oooh...ic..

Yikes.. me hate sales pitch too..
i bet they have all the nice spotlights and the spinning tables.. LOLS

Even though you may not have watched DSN, you''ve described it to a tee. Yes, they have very bright spot lights, complete with spinning tables.

 

[T L]

Date: 7/11/2009 12:11:33 PM
Author: demanspark
WOW.. i guess it''s a really small world in this industry..

sorry - don''t really know what DSN is... :p
think we probably dun air that program here in my country

You can watch the online stream on www.dsntv.com.

In any case, back to the OP''s original question. You can also tell that it''s not a sphene if the stone isn''t double refractive, which sphenes are. Here is a picture of a sphene, which looks quite like a demantoid of mine in color, but you can see the way the facets are "doubled".

 

[partgypsy]

Thanks Tourmaline lover, that is a good pic of that phenomenon. I don''t think my gem looks like that, but I''m not an expert. Not sure when I''m going to get around to either getting the AGL id or visit the jewelry store, short on time and money right now. but will post when new news.