Mystery Stone... Help?

[Saffyre]

Well I havent been back in a long while.. but I have been following and reading alot of the posts and information over the last 3 or 4 months. I am new to the Colored Stone side of things and like most noobies I think I made a decision based on looks.

I bought this stone which was listed as a Spessartite Garnet. Once I received it, to me the color didnt look quite right and it is very clean. I used my UV pen light and it shows bright red flouresence, which pretty much told me this is NOT a spessartite as listed. I had it looked at.. and the Gem tester showed it in the ruby-sapphire range.. I think he said the RI was 1.75. He didnt have all his tools at home, so couldnt run it through all the tests..

Just wondering what anyone had to say about the mystery stone here...

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Well, I say it's really REALLY pretty!!!!!

 

[m76steve]

how about hessonite garnet? i had a similar stone several years ago-my stone was said 2 b spess but tested as hessonite-steve...

 

[chrono]

It looks to be cut quite well! I have a few questions to help narrow things down:
1. Can you tell if it has single or double refraction?
2. Is it pleochroric? (Changes body colour when viewed from different angles)
3. Can you please double check the RI?
I guess my concern is that the stone is a synthetic based on the few clues you’ve given us.

 

[Saffyre]

how about hessonite garnet? i had a similar stone several years ago-my stone was said 2 b spess but tested as hessonite-steve...

I was under the impression that hessonite or spessartite are inert or faint.. this is a Bright neon glow under UV. Also the Gem tester measured alot higher then Garnet.. all the way to ruby and sapphire.

I will have to go back over to his place to double check the RI..
Oh I forgot to mention that it is Single Refractive
And from what I can tell it doesnt change body color from different angles. but it seems to slightyly in different light.

 

[LD]

All garnets are singly refractive, they can fluoresce but as you say it's normally faint fluor. Some garnets would fit having an RI of 1.75 - and of course you have to allow for the fact that the tester may not be calibrated correctly. If I recall there was a find in 2008/09 of garnets that had stronger than normal fluor but honestly that's going from memory and the fluor on yours is exceptionally strong.

Very few gemstones are singly refractive but those that are would include Spinel and, alas, glass.

You can rule out Ruby/Sapphire as they are doubly refractive.

YAG doesn't fit the bill because of the RI and the colour of the fluor although I don't think you can rule that out.

The gemstone has a "look" of garnet and a colour that would fit but it's very clean and well cut and the fluor is throwing me off saying it's a garnet. All of these mean that it arouses my suspicions.

The only other guesses are synthetic spinel (which has an RI of 1.72), which would be singly refractive AND you'd see this type of fluorescence. However, if you've remembered the RI correctly then synthetic spinel may not be in the running.

 

[Saffyre]

All garnets are singly refractive, they can fluoresce but as you say it's normally faint fluor. Some garnets would fit having an RI of 1.75 - and of course you have to allow for the fact that the tester may not be calibrated correctly. If I recall there was a find in 2008/09 of garnets that had stronger than normal fluor but honestly that's going from memory and the fluor on yours is exceptionally strong.

Very few gemstones are singly refractive but those that are would include Spinel and, alas, glass.

The only other guesses are synthetic spinel (which has an RI of 1.72), which would be singly refractive AND you'd see this type of fluorescence. However, if you've remembered the RI correctly then synthetic spinel may not be in the running.

I had about 10 stones checked that night, ( didnt get paper on them just verbal) and unfortunatly I didnt take notes, which i should have. so i am going of memory.. There is a good chance it was actually 1.72 RI.

The thing that threw him of about this is the test of ruby/sapphire on the gem tester so he figured it wasnt glass. ( although he said certinly not conclusive) He mentioned somthing about flux and sapphire but I didnt follow what he ment and dont know enough to question. His best guess was a Synthetic but he couldnt be sure with the microscope and further testing.


I also had a gem tested which he concluded was indeed spessartite: Gem tested as garnet with gemtester, with a RI of 1.81, single refractive, with great orange color and typical inclusions of a spessartite.

 

[LD]

Well without the certainty of the RI, and that it may well have been 1.72, I am inclined to agree that it's synthetic because things just don't add up - sorry

 

[Saffyre]

thanks for the help .... I figured it was too good to be true.

 

[davi_el_mejor]

What about synthetic orange sapphire? It has a lot of the same characteristics


It's a very pretty stone whatever it is