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Chatham Alexandrite

TheWolfman

Rough_Rock
Joined
Sep 2, 2015
Messages
2
Hey ya'll, I'm working on a custom engagement ring for my girlfriend, and stumbled across this site. You guys are rock stars! Please forgive the pun...

I'm looking at using an alexandrite, her birthstone, because it's what she told me she wants (I'm good at the subtle hints). She also absolutely does not care where the stones came from, be it the ground or a lab. Obviously, with those choices, I'm going to get a synthetic stone, as it's much friendlier to my budget, and should allow me to get a nicer stone and better setting.

The company I'm working with to design the ring gets their synthetic alexandrites from Chatham, which I've read good things about on this forum. However, every marketing picture I see shows a blue to purple color shift, which I know is NOT the proper color shift for an alex. Has anybody bought one of these stones? Are they actually alexandrites, or something else? I'm not sure I'll be able to get my hands on the stone they're using in order to see it in person, but in the pictures they've sent, it's blue-purple, with emphasis on the blue.

If that's not the real synthetic deal, where can I go to get one that is?

Thanks!
 

marymm

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 21, 2010
Messages
5,520
OP, Forum Policy 2(a) disallows discussion of man-made gemstones, which includes Chatham Alexandrite. https://www.pricescope.com/content/forum-policies

However, as a quick answer to your question, (natural) Alexandrite exhibits a bluish-green in daylight to a purplish red in incandescent light. http://www.gia.edu/alexandrite (I think Alexandrite from India has a slightly different color-change, but still not blue-to-purple.)

It has been noted that much of the synthetic/man-made Alexandrite in the market is more akin to color-change Sapphire, exhibiting a blue-to-purple color change/shift.

Hope this helps (and hope this post is okay, Mods).
 

TheWolfman

Rough_Rock
Joined
Sep 2, 2015
Messages
2
Whoops, my apologies to the community. I admit that I checked the box agreeing not to talk about diamond simulants, but didn't actually read the policies to see that any man-made stone was off limits.

The diamonds in my setting are real, but since I don't really have any questions on those, I shall return to lurking!

Edit:
I do have one question, though. It seems odd that the policies prohibit talking about "any other man-made stones", but there's an entire subforum for "Lab Grown Diamonds". Are synthetic diamonds excluded from this rule?
 

LD

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Messages
10,261
Wolfman - I think most of the info on Alexandrites you've read on here are not about Chathams, they're about natural Alexandrite. Chathams look different to the natural stones but offer a good option if budget is limited and you don't mind a synthetic stone. Their daylight colour is typically much more blue than the green you see in the natural stones and it's one of the things that sets them apart. You very rarely see blue in an Alex. It may have blue as a secondary tone but overall the colour you see is green changing to a purple.

On this forum the majority of us are gemstone junkies so only natural will do! There is another forum within Pricescope where I think you can discuss synthetics but I'm afraid (as mentioned above) it's not the colored stone forum.
 

Niel

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Joined
Jul 23, 2012
Messages
20,044
TheWolfman|1441211255|3922663 said:
Whoops, my apologies to the community. I admit that I checked the box agreeing not to talk about diamond simulants, but didn't actually read the policies to see that any man-made stone was off limits.

The diamonds in my setting are real, but since I don't really have any questions on those, I shall return to lurking!

Edit:
I do have one question, though. It seems odd that the policies prohibit talking about "any other man-made stones", but there's an entire subforum for "Lab Grown Diamonds". Are synthetic diamonds excluded from this rule?

I have inquired on this and though lab diamonds are allowed lab grown colored stones are not.
 

chrono

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 22, 2004
Messages
38,364
There are many new synthetic methods but I think the Czochralski Pull Method comes tends to show too much blue. The flux grown is closest in colour to a natural alexandrite in that it shows green and has inclusions that look natural.
 

Ella

Brilliant_Rock
Staff member
Premium
Joined
Jan 18, 2010
Messages
1,621
Niel|1441215455|3922691 said:
TheWolfman|1441211255|3922663 said:
Whoops, my apologies to the community. I admit that I checked the box agreeing not to talk about diamond simulants, but didn't actually read the policies to see that any man-made stone was off limits.

The diamonds in my setting are real, but since I don't really have any questions on those, I shall return to lurking!

Edit:
I do have one question, though. It seems odd that the policies prohibit talking about "any other man-made stones", but there's an entire subforum for "Lab Grown Diamonds". Are synthetic diamonds excluded from this rule?

I have inquired on this and though lab diamonds are allowed lab grown colored stones are not.

For now yes we allow discussion of lab diamonds in that particular forum only. Synthetic anything is excluded.
 
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