Help?! Assessing Vendor Photos/Videos....

[Coco914]

Urgh. I've been browsing around, looking for a decent mahenge spinel lately and its proven to be quite a challenge. This would be my first Mahenge purchase (unfortunately coming in a bit late), which I think may be making it even harder... I do love both of the Mahenge looks - the red and pink. Either would be fine, as long as it has some nice neon. Anyway, I'm finding a lot of the vendor photos hard to interpret. Would those of you who've purchased these gems online tell me what you think of these? There's some definite windowing going on, but I'm not opposed to a small window if the color is vivid enough...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-59ct-Topnotch-Heart-Natural-Strong-Pinkish-Red-Spinel-/330635070442?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cfb62cbea

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-52ct-Extraordinary-Beautiful-Oval-Natural-Pink-Spinel-/250829157303?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a669533b7

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-47ct-Mind-blowing-Cushion-Vivid-Orangy-Pink-Spinel-/250832529772?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a66c8a96c

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-54ct-Notable-Oval-Natural-Strong-Intense-Pink-Spinel-/370555765218?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5646d841e2

Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Thanks!!

 

[LD]

All of the ones you have picked have quite strong orange tones so will be more brown pink than red pink. Is that what you want?

 

[Coco914]

Unfortunately, no... I'm not really wanting a brown-pink. I would be okay with some orange flashes, but not a muddy ole brown. Ack. Guess I'll head back to the drawing board!

 

[LD]

These won't be muddy brown but they have orange and so won't be the screaming hot pink you may have seen on this forum.

 

[minousbijoux]

What amazes me is how attuned you have gotten to photos - its a unique skill all on its own. The fact that TL can see the white balance is off, the fact that you can see a slight modifier and know what it will mean in real life astounds me.

[Now here's where they need to have the little bowing down icon]

 

[T L]

Yes, these appear to be all the newer material that have a stronger orange cast to them, which is fine if you like orangy pinks, and of those, the heart is my favorite by far. However, what you really want, if you're looking for a finer mahenge, is a pinkish red. Here's my stone from the same vendor to show you what a more highly saturated pinkish red should look like. These are screen shots from the video, and now compare it to the video of the heart mahenge. See the desaturation?

 

[athenaworth]

If you like true pink, take a look at this one. http://www.ajsgem.com/gemstones/spinel/spinel-1.49-carats.html

I owned it for a while and only returned it because I didn't really like the shape, but it was an amazing glowing pink color.

Of the ones you've listed though, I like the heart best.

 

[Coco914]

Thanks so much for the responses! Loving Diamonds - I see what you mean about being more of an orangy pink (but not muddy)...which I think is okay, but not quite what I'm looking for. TL - That trilliant Mahenge is gorgeous! I have to say, I do love the color of the trilliant - I'd definitely prefer this color. Are most of this vendor's stones pretty true to the color shown in the videos? I've left myself pretty open to the cut, as long as the color is vivid. I wish I'd discovered this gemstone sooner.

Athena, how did the inclusion look IRL? Did you find it distracting? I LOVE your new Mahenge ring, btw. It's absolutely stunning.

 

[athenaworth]

I couldn't really see it IRL, only when I took macro pics of it. I thought at first that it would cause a problem while setting, but my jeweler said it wouldn't. Here are the pics I took of it when I had it. [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/well-dam-it-take-a-look.164478/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/well-dam-it-take-a-look.164478/[/URL] It really did glow like crazy. I regretted sending it back when all of my other Mahenge attempts were turning out so badly, but I had sort of given up, until my newest stone opportunity came at me (thank you btw).

 

[T L]

Thanks so much for the responses! Loving Diamonds - I see what you mean about being more of an orangy pink (but not muddy)...which I think is okay, but not quite what I'm looking for. TL - That trilliant Mahenge is gorgeous! I have to say, I do love the color of the trilliant - I'd definitely prefer this color. Are most of this vendor's stones pretty true to the color shown in the videos? I've left myself pretty open to the cut, as long as the color is vivid. I wish I'd discovered this gemstone sooner.

Athena, how did the inclusion look IRL? Did you find it distracting? I LOVE your new Mahenge ring, btw. It's absolutely stunning.

Thank you Coco,
I suspect my stone is older material, and therefore, it's much more difficult to find. It even glows this unworldly neon color on cloudy miserable days. It seems that most sellers are providing the newer material these days, and the more saturated pinkish reds are becoming more difficult to find. I don't think this vendor has any more of this material, but keep watching his listings, as you never know. I do believe his videos are true to life. I would also go to a gem show if you have one near you, as you may be able to find something.

 

[Coco914]

TL - I would definitely say your trilliant is older material. I haven't seen too much color that compares to your stone. I've been in contact with many vendors, inquiring about their available Mahenge and it just doesn't seem like high quality rough has been available over the last few years. It's really disappointing.

Athena - OMG... I remember that AJS stone! You posted photos, right? I'll have to do a search and look through them again. I think I remember being very fond of that particular stone. Thanks for reminding me! Unfortunately, I think I'm going to have to go the same route you did. Ordering and returning. Some of the vendor photos are very tricky - hard to interpret.

Thanks again for your help, it's greatly appreciated!