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Darker red spinel from Jeff Davies

eac

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Sep 12, 2006
Messages
153
This post is for everyone who's looked at a stone that was on the dark side and thought, "How will that look once it's set?"

This Jeff Davies spinel was bounced to me via Diamondbistro. I was looking for a spinel to replace a blah stone, a really mediocre ruby/sapphire, in a setting that had sentimental value to me. (The ring was made by a jeweler I used to work for, and I was very fond of the gentleman, went to his wedding, etc.) To avoid overwhelming the blah stone, he had set muted chrysophrases beside it in the white gold requested by the original customer. I wanted the setting to have a decent stone in it. This oval spinel was the perfect size for the elevated prong setting - around 9 x 7 mm.

Here's the dealer photo of the spinel:
1805141.jpg

I didn't manage to get any photos of it outside the setting - it arrived during a wet, dark week, not great for photos. However, here's the set spinel in a black velvet box, in full sunlight:
spinelinbox.jpg

Here's the spinel on my hand, deliberately at a mediocre angle for the stone so you can see it on its bad behavior:
spineldarkerhand.jpg

And here's the spinel on my hand at its best, catching the light:
spinel-sunlight.jpg

Motion brings out the best in this stone - it is VERY well cut and has a constant sparkle on my hand. I'm very pleased with this, especially for the reasonable price. The jeweler who did the reset for me had several jewelers and gemologists in the shop, and one of the gemologists asked to have a look. She was favorably surprised. "It is a spinel, and one of the nicer ones I've seen. Even though it's dark it's got a good red tone - more and more of them are muddied with brown nowadays."

Finally, here's the reddish-purple corundum that the spinel replaced - it actually looks better out of the setting, which drained it of richness and enhanced a long brown inclusion in the middle. It looks reddish under fluorescent light, and can muster a pretty flash or two, but sunlight shows its true colors.
ringproj-purplecorundum.jpg
 

Acinom

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
May 15, 2013
Messages
10,535
Thank you for this post! Very informative.
Your ring is stunning!!!! I bet you cannot stop looking at your hand. :love:
The red and the chryso's are stunning together.
 

GliderPoss

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Sep 25, 2008
Messages
2,936
Wow! What a beautiful stone - it's great to see some of the richer, darker stones on display. Love the cab sidestones too - how unusual! :appl:
 

chrono

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 22, 2004
Messages
38,364
Beautiful ring; I love the cat's eye sides and the spinel looks to be a nicer replacement than the original stone.
 

eac

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Sep 12, 2006
Messages
153
Thank you everyone. Yes, Chrono, it wasn't difficult to do better than the previous stone after being on Pricescope!

I wore the ring today in overcast light, and it really brings out the red - I'll post a picture tomorrow.
 
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