Advice in Red Spinel

[Bailey_Lou]

Hello gem experts! I am looking a for a round, red spinel under $900 for an existing setting. Of course, this drastically reduces my options. This is for my mother, whom I have gifted my old setting to for an upcoming anniversary. The ring fits her perfectly and is the Whiteflash bead set. My mother only likes red and blue stones. Plus she works in a school with children. It looks like in the 8 mm size we can't get a sapphire. So we went with spinels and I would like your advice on this well cut spinel. I have read all of the information in the guide sticky. I am a total noob and have only experience with ideal cut diamonds. This spinel that I'm asking about looks dark (extinction?) I don't see a window, however, but it is a nice size at about 9 mm and in some of the pics looks to be a delicious raspberry color. What do you think? Please help!

 

[Bailey_Lou]

Pic 1

 

[Bailey_Lou]

By the way, this stone is for around $900 and is 9 mm

 

[Bailey_Lou]

Last pic

 

[Lady_Disdain]

This spinel will look black all the time, unless someone is shining a penlight on it. Look at the background on the first picture - see how it is over exposed? The photographer is pouring a lot of light to just bring out some raspberry in the stone. At $900 or around $250-300/carat, it seems very overpriced.

 

[Marlow]

Do you have some information ( weight, orign).

Can't help but it looks like a rhodolite. This is not negative!!!! I have spinel and rhodolite from Sri Lanka with exactly the same color!!!

Do you have a strong magnet? Forget it - you want to buy it....it is not at your home.

With a magnet you could easily seperate them.

 

[T L]

Can't help but it looks like a rhodolite.

I thought the exact same thing when I saw it before reading your comments.

Although some rhodolites are very beautiful, this one (whether spinel or rhodolite) is really too extinct and dark to be such, if the photos are accurate. Often times if a stone is dark in a vendor photo, it will be as dark or even darker in real life. At least that's been my experience and from what I've seen on PS.

 

[NKOTB]

Not only would I be concerned about the darkness of that stone, I'd also be concerned that it would be too big for the setting, if it's meant for an 8 mm. Does it have to be a spinel? Steve at Westview Gems has a nice looking red spessartite for 1/4 of that price. It's 7.8 mm, which should fit nicely into an 8 mm setting. http://www.stevorocks.com....

 

[Bailey_Lou]

This spinel will look black all the time, unless someone is shining a penlight on it. Look at the background on the first picture - see how it is over exposed? The photographer is pouring a lot of light to just bring out some raspberry in the stone. At $900 or around $250-300/carat, it seems very overpriced.

Aww so sad. It looked so pretty in the first pic. Thank you.

 

[Bailey_Lou]

Marlow - it's being sold by the vendor as a spinel. He has actually offered to let me see it in person as he doesn't want any disappointment. But if it's going to be very dark there's no point.

 

[Bailey_Lou]

Not only would I be concerned about the darkness of that stone, I'd also be concerned that it would be too big for the setting, if it's meant for an 8 mm. Does it have to be a spinel? Steve at Westview Gems has a nice looking red spessartite for 1/4 of that price. It's 7.8 mm, which should fit nicely into an 8 mm setting. http://www.stevorocks.com.....

Hi NKOTB,
WF can make a bigger head for me. I just don't want to go too much below 8 mm because I think it would look great at that size . Would spessarite be okay for everyday use? And thanks again for your help guys!

 

[movie zombie]

spess is not a 24/7 stone and should be "protected"........bezel or partial bezel helps.
it is not as hard as spinel on the MOH scale.
while it can come in a darker red/orange color it too can suffer from extinction.

I do not wear my spess every day.
I put it on when I leave the house and take it off when I get home.
yes, I wear it to the farmers' market, the garden center, and everywhere.....but it is not an everyday ring.

however, you could chance it.

 

[Bailey_Lou]

Thank you moviez, unfortunately it is a setting that is 6 prong and open. Imagine the setting below but with a colored stone.

 

[Bailey_Lou]

I forgot to say that she only likes blue or red spinel/sapphire and has expressed in indicolite tourmalines. I found one on rw gems cut by Lisa Elser that was cut incredibly well but very dark. What do you think of this spinel?

 

[Bailey_Lou]

This is the vendor description for about 200:
Red Spinel from Burma (Mogok). Similar to Ruby in that under indirect outdoor lighting or fluorescent light, the color is saturated with sort of a reddish to smokey red color. Under incandescent light, the red is more evident as it flashes and dances. The color under incandescent is very much a ruby color. The photos above were shot in daylight.
This piece is unusual in that it is a round and weighs 1.42ct and measures 6.5mm.

 

[movie zombie]

Thank you moviez, unfortunately it is a setting that is 6 prong and open. Imagine the setting below but with a colored stone.

a spess in that setting would be lovely but impractical for everyday 24/7 wear.
special occasion would work.


until you actually see a stone in person you won't know if it "speaks" to you.
it is always about tradeoffs for those of us with champagne taste but a beer budget: I don't like extinction but I HATE windows.

 

[Bailey_Lou]

Haha moviez,
That is so true! It really is hard to compromise when you've seen the lovelies here on the colored forum. I really, really dislike windows. I'd take a darker color over a window. I'll take pics to let you guys see what they look like in different lights. He also has that indicolite that I first saw. It's dark too (beating a dead horse I know) but here are pics. Thanks for the advice and hopefully I'll update soon! Outside in the sun it actually looked good. What does that mean as far as extinction?

 

[Bailey_Lou]

Vendor pic 2 (dusty)

 

[Bailey_Lou]

Pic outside in semi sun in a setting. It looks really nice here. But again, I'm a colored stone noob and may not know any better.

 

[Bailey_Lou]

Do you have some information ( weight, orign).

Can't help but it looks like a rhodolite. This is not negative!!!! I have spinel and rhodolite from Sri Lanka with exactly the same color!!!

Do you have a strong magnet? Forget it - you want to buy it....it is not at your home.

With a magnet you could easily seperate them.

Marlow, I will ask to verify it is a spinel not rhodolite on Wednesday. I think it's pretty too! How do you like your rhodolite?

 

[Bailey_Lou]

Not only would I be concerned about the darkness of that stone, I'd also be concerned that it would be too big for the setting, if it's meant for an 8 mm. Does it have to be a spinel? Steve at Westview Gems has a nice looking red spessartite for 1/4 of that price. It's 7.8 mm, which should fit nicely into an 8 mm setting. http://www.stevorocks.com.....

NKOTB,
She said no to the spessarite. I think some people have a negative view of garnets until they see one in person. That's a shame because it's so pretty.

 

[Bailey_Lou]

Sorry here's a better pic in case you couldn't see it. The indicolite outside:

 

[T L]

What does that mean as far as extinction?

"Extinction" in a gem means dark areas in the gem where light cannot reflect back. If a stone is overly extinct, it's very dark. You need light to properly see color and sparkle, and overly extinct gems just look almost black. Some gems go more extinct depending on the lighting (natural vs. artificial). For example, I've seen tourmaline that look great in artificial light, and then go very extinct in direct sunlight.

 

[Marlow]

Do you have some information ( weight, orign).

Can't help but it looks like a rhodolite. This is not negative!!!! I have spinel and rhodolite from Sri Lanka with exactly the same color!!!

Do you have a strong magnet? Forget it - you want to buy it....it is not at your home.

With a magnet you could easily seperate them.

Marlow, I will ask to verify it is a spinel not rhodolite on Wednesday. I think it's pretty too! How do you like your rhodolite?

I love Rhodolite. I think it is not necessary to ask the vendor - but if a spinel looks like a rhodolite I wouldn't buy it course the rhodolite
is much cheaper!!! Hardness 7 1/4 - 7 1/2 against 8 and a little higher RI - so why paying much more for nearly the same.

http://wsfgems.com/garnet.html

Look at the rounds and the price. An interesting vendor btw.

 

[chrono]

Tourmaline (indicolite) and garnet (spessartite) have about the same level of durability, so if spessartite is a no-go for you, then indicolite should not be considered.

 

[Bailey_Lou]

Marlow and Chrono,
Thanks for the information. I think her not wanting the spessarite is because it's a garnet. I tried to tell them that they're quite pretty but I'll have to convince them. They're old school-rubies, sapphires and emeralds only.

 

[T L]

Tourmaline (indicolite) and garnet (spessartite) have about the same level of durability, so if spessartite is a no-go for you, then indicolite should not be considered.

Having owned both, I would say that garnets are a bit more durable, including spess. Tourmaline is really chippy.

 

[movie zombie]

they like what they like.
it is what it is.
you have a budget and they'll have to live within it.
and they may not have an educated eye and therefore not mind a less than perfect budget stone.

 

[chrono]

Champagne taste with a beer budget...have you considered diffused corundum? Those look great and are very affordable.

 

[Starzin]

This is 6.9mm and precision cut, meaning you will get all the sparkles available. Would you really rather hold out for a lesser stone at more cost for the sake of 1.1mm?

Middle of the last row http://www.gemfix.com/spinel.html