Opinions on blue zircon pair

[Treenbean]

Hi everyone. Just wanted opinions about the blue zircons listed here. I think they are pretty but I will defer to the experts. Are they priced well? Zircon prices seem to be all over the place.
http://cgi.ebay.com/6-61-CT-FLAWLESS-BL ... t_1058/url]

 

[Treenbean]

I suck at this url thing.... Re-try.http://cgi.ebay.com/6-61-CT-FLAWLES...emstones_1&hash=item2a09acfb59#ht_2261wt_1058

 

[davi_el_mejor]

Are they natural? The price is way high for blue zircon that doesn't have a cert IMO. Nearly all blue zircon is heated. I'm sure there are better deals out there than that listing.

check out a natural "blue" zircon at wildfish http://www.wildfishgems.com/inc/sdetail/13382

 

[Arcadian]

That particular pair you showed I wouldn't buy at that price. For that price you should be in the windex blue range, which those aren't.


btw davi, Thats a very interesting stone you showed. I wonder what methods that were used to check if it was unheated.


-A

 

[T L]

Geesh, I didn't realize blue zircon could be so expensive!!!

 

[davi_el_mejor]

That particular pair you showed I wouldn't buy at that price. For that price you should be in the windex blue range, which those aren't.


btw davi, Thats a very interesting stone you showed. I wonder what methods that were used to check if it was unheated.


-A

IDK, hopefully Mr. Bristol could explain...

 

[Arcadian]

That particular pair you showed I wouldn't buy at that price. For that price you should be in the windex blue range, which those aren't.


btw davi, Thats a very interesting stone you showed. I wonder what methods that were used to check if it was unheated.


-A

IDK, hopefully Mr. Bristol could explain...

yeah I would really love to find out. its always been said you can't tell if zircon has been heated or not. But apparently that may not be true.

Its something I'm pretty interested in (I have a ton of zircon...I blame it on being a December baby)

-A

 

[T L]

I think Gene mentioned that some blue zircon is being irradiated as well.

 

[Lee Little]

Those are pretty and the cuts look good, probably no windows but that price is just too high. They are probably from Cambodia and have been heated. Best regards, Lee

 

[colorluvr]

IMHO, that pair of zircons do not qualify as "deep blue", but are rather a pretty common blue color for heated zircons. Don't get me wrong, they are a pretty color and I have a couple in that color tone, but I didn't pay very much for them at all (under $30 ea) so I'm not sure why these are so expensive. "VVS - Flawless" blue zircons are pretty common and those don't appear to be precision cut, so the only thing I can think of is the fact that they are selling as a matched set, but I still think they are way way too expensive. As far as the luster goes, most decently cut zircons have great luster. He says they are natural, but doesn't specifically call out that they are unheated, so I would believe that they are heated.

Here is one that I recently purchased. It isn't a perfect cut, but it's not bad IRL and the color is spot on to this vendor photo. I've been looking for a zircon this color in my price range (under $200) and I finally found one from a vendor that I have purchased from several times before. I had the option of getting a cert, but I passed because of the price of the stone. One of the reasons I like this vendor is the fact that I can almost always be assured that the stone will look better IRL than it does in his photos! For some reason, they usually look more like photos I would take than professional ones and I can always return them (to a US address) if I don't like them.

3.83 CT.
SIZE : 9.2 mm. X 6.3 mm. X 5.7 mm.

 

[Treenbean]

Thanks for the advice! If I could find them that size under $30.00 I would buy them, even if they were heat treated.... It's interesting about the color, I thought they were a fairly deep blue until I saw the other post from Colorluvr. Maybe I have no color memory.

 

[chrono]

I always presume that all blue zircons advertised and sold are heated unless it is clearly stated and proven. The zircons you are interested in look to be easily available elsewhere for less. They are nothing spectacular to warrant that price point. I have one that is over 3 carats precision cut by Richard Homer with better colour that costs about the same!

 

[Treenbean]

Chrono that's a beauty! My search continues...

 

[cellentani]

Holy smokes, Chrono - that zircon is gorgeous! I'm not a big fan of concave cuts, but I really think in this case, it suits the stone perfectly.

 

[Treenbean]

Ok multicolour has some but I want them to be bigger. They have a weird bowtie in the middle too. Price is better, what do you think?

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?/details/pair/zircon/yzi244ai/&1244716636

 

[Arkteia]

I think Gene mentioned that some blue zircon is being irradiated as well.

I read about them being irradiated several times. The book is at my work, but it is something pretty generic. Zircons are naturally radioactive, too, and while there is "good" and "bad" (decaying) zircon, all of it can emit! It is zircon.

http://nature.berkeley.edu/classes/eps2 ... ect11.html

Doesn't look too good... Incidentally, searching for this article, I came across an old article in American Mineralogist (1947) commenting on results of irradiating different stones. They used beryllium. Most of the stones (including diamonds) did not change their color! How science has developed since that time.

And here is more... It is zirconium. It is from Wikipedia. "High uranium and thorium content..." I know it may be peanuts compared to a single CT study, but still sounds scary!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zircon

 

[Treenbean]

Well then that settles it. I guess I don't need to wear radioactive material, even if it is a pretty windex blue

I will now move on to obsess about garnets and tourmaline....

 

[Arkteia]

A little bit off-topic but I imagine the next phase of gem treatment would be something like the Great Hadron Collider...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyJDdaXcCy8