Searching for Alexandrite

[icy_jade]

Thanks @icy_jade, very beautiful stone ! Did you find it on a chinese website ? Are you fluent in mandarin ?

Nope on a Japanese website and I use google translate. I find that the Japanese sites have lots of interesting and rare colored stones to admire

 

[cawacawa]

Do you know of some japanese trusted websites you can browse who can ship internationally ?

 

[T L]

The Japanese are mad for alexandrite, and that has been what has been driving the prices up.

 

[LD]

Thank you LD for participating in this thread, I was hoping you'd find your way there !



I didn't suspect that ! I would have thought a seller as reputable would not manipulate the photos. As qubitasaurus said earlier in this thread, their stock is actually from Gem2000 and you can see some videos of some stones there :
https://www.gem2000.com/search-results.php?gsi_request={"onlyPhotos":false,"onlyCert":false,"GemItemNumber":"","GemType":"ALEXANDRITE","GemColor":"Any","GemShape":"Any","GemQuantity":"Any","GemWeightMin":"","GemWeightMax":"","GemPriceMin":"","GemPriceMax":"","MultiItems":"null"}

The colors seem to match, but maybe the videos are manipulated as well, I wouldn't be able to tell honestly.



I would like to buy the stone first then mount it on a custom ring, and I already talked to David about it, he agreed to discuss custom design for the ring after I buy the stone and approve of it.
I actually talked to him about this stone that you mentionned from my original post :
http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?/details/alexandrite/yax860aa/&930512007

For the moment, this is the one i'm most interested in. The heart one you linked is also nice, but seems more included and windowed ?




That was actually the color change I wasn't looking for, and I agree with you on that.

So basically for the moment, I noticed mostly these :

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?/details/alexandrite/yax860aa/&930512007
https://www.africagems.com/alexandrite-oval-0-72-201810466.html
https://www.africagems.com/alexandrite-oval-0-74-201810468.html

What I would love to find is a 1ct stone with this kind of color change :
http://mayerandwatt.com/images/page...2.58cts_TTSXS_bothlights_Horizontal_small.jpg

This is a 2.58ct stone from Mayer and Watt, which is well beyond my budget.

And what do you think about sizes to mount an alexandrite stone ?
I don't know if it needs to be that big for an engagement ring.... I'm guessing a 6.5x4.5 stone would be enough ? So actually if the stone is that size but around 0.7-0.8ct it could work ?
Do i really need a 1.5ct gem with 8.5x6 dimensions for it to be noticeable on a ring ?
She has thin (size 49) fingers also, and i want it to be subtle and elegant, so i'm guessing the stone doesn't need to be massive actually.

Thank you for your help, and to all the people in this thread so far who have been very helpful !

Don't touch the stones from Africa Gems. If you click on the first link you put above and then click on the actual report, look at the photo of the stone and you'll see how different it looks. I've taken a screen grab for you so see below! It's a horrible muddy brown.

In terms of the "Russian" stones from that other vendor? They are very very very poor quality and as TL said are much more like a chrysoberyl. I bet in real life they exhibit hardly any colour change. Are they from Russia? Well I'm not going to argue with IGI but .................. !

One thing (not sure if I've mentioned this before) but you may find your perfect stone looks better either in daylight or in incandescent light. By that I mean it could be a phenomenal green but then the purple/red is less great or the other way around. The 0.72 stone we both like is a little bit dark in daylight but oh my, the change it goes to is just beautiful! Personally, I still like the daylight colour but it's a bit darker than the emerald green you may have in your mind. Please ask David for his honest opinion (if you haven't already done so).

As for the size of stone you're looking for? I would get the best stone you can afford and don't worry about size. Again as TL has said, you can always add melee to make the overall appearance larger or add diamonds of the same size to each side (so a trilogy). There are lots of different ideas but get the best stone - and if you future fiancee has small fingers then you don't want an overbearing rock anyway! Don't forget she has to wear it every day!

 

[LD]

The 1.32 - WWW

Not a good stone. If you look it is very foggy looking with an overload of silk. Strangely, that will enhance the colour change but you'll be trying to wipe the fogginess away from the stone and it will drive you mad in the end! I had one like this and hated it for exactly that reason. Also the vendor says it has a slight cat's eye chatoyancy when viewed at certain angles????? What????? I think they're trying to say it has quite a bit of silk but what an odd way t describe it because there's no way that you'd get a cat's eye effect in this gemstone.

 

[AV_]

@LD The GIA VS-Type II got me thinking that the amount of silk may conceivably be within the limits of 'matter of taste.

 

[icy_jade]

Do you know of some japanese trusted websites you can browse who can ship internationally ?

I feel like most of the Japanese vendors are fairly reliable but at the same time they don’t always ship internationally. The way to get around it is to: use a forwarding service, ie vendor ships to third party who then ships to you; OR you can try to ask if they are willing to let you arrange your preferred courier to pick up from their office/store and for your courier to send to you directly. I was recently forced to use the latter and maybe that’s a better option especially if you are buying a pricy item. Can be quite nerve wrecking either way.

BUT, many of the vendors don’t allow returns so you really need to be sure you want to take the risk. I personally am not comfortable with no returns for higher priced items despite how beautiful/much I like the items.

Shall I send you the link via pm? Let me know how I can contact you. I’m also on purseforum with the same nickname.

 

[cawacawa]

Shall I send you the link via pm? Let me know how I can contact you. I’m also on purseforum with the same nickname.

You can contact me at **edited by moderator no personal contact info allowed for your safety**
But since they don't offer returns, I'd also be interested to have people's opinion on the stones on these websites, in the case i choose to go with one of them, to make sure it is a good choice, so you can post it in this thread I think ?

Don't touch the stones from Africa Gems. If you click on the first link you put above and then click on the actual report, look at the photo of the stone and you'll see how different it looks. I've taken a screen grab for you so see below! It's a horrible muddy brown.

I've noticed the screenshots comparisons yes, but also I've never seen an alexandrite look good on any GIA report. They never have a good pattern or color, and they always have a ton of extinction, so maybe the pictures from AfricaGems are not representative of reality, although you can see the videos on Gem2000 as I linked, and it's pretty similar.... But the pictures on the GIA reports, and especially Gubelin reports (these are the worst) often look pretty horrible. What do you think ?

 

[icy_jade]

I browse on https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/

 

[Nosean]

@ cawacawa

Better you don’t post your email here...

 

[Starfacet]

I'm following this thread because I'm also looking for an Alex. Does anyone know anything about this vendor? Most, if not all, of the stones have GIA certs. The prices seem good, but is it all too good to be true?
https://jupitergem.com/jewelry/rings/alexandrite-rings/

 

[cawacawa]

@ cawacawa

Better you don’t post your email here...

Why is that ?

I browse on https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/

Did you buy from there ? Any trusted vendor on that auction site ? Found a guy named jewelry_climb who has brazilian alexandrite, but not really great stones, or totally overpriced.

 

[Nosean]

Many here have precious collections of gems, jewelry.
It is for your own safety.

And you will get a lot of spam or other things you will not like.

 

[Nick_G]

I often wonder about how representative vendor's photos are of alexandrite too. I have a mineral specimen of alexandrite from Malyshevo (sold as an epidote! ) and in full sunlight several crystals are a beautiful deep emerald green. However, no matter how much I fiddle with the white balance on my camera it just can't 'see' the green properly and it comes out a more muted teal colour. Similarly the purple/red colour in incandescent light shows up more with the camera. Firelight or candelight is needed to see the complete colour change to dark red. In real life the specimen looks much more attractive in daylight than the seller's photos for this reason.

So I don't know how vendors are able to capture the true daylight colours of their alexandrite stones, unless they have a specific camera that is better at true-to-life colour than mine, or whether the photos are manipulated in Photoshop to simulate their true appearance.

 

[T L]

So I don't know how vendors are able to capture the true daylight colours of their alexandrite stones, unless they have a specific camera that is better at true-to-life colour than mine, or whether the photos are manipulated in Photoshop to simulate their true appearance.

I suspect it’s the latter.

 

[AV_]

I had forgotten these www - certainly not dark.

The one @icy_jade mentioned is better than the best I have ever heard of.

 

[LD]

Not to put a dampner on things .......... if you've ever seen a "fake" alexandrite, you'll know how difficult it is to tell - so buying without a returns policy is an absolute non starter. I was sold a stone once but my gut feeling was that it wasn't right. I had nothing concrete to base that on because the colours were right but there was just something setting off alarm bells. Sure enough, I sent it off to a lab and it came back as a synthetic. I kept it to remind myself not to be stupid in the future

 

[icy_jade]

I had forgotten these www - certainly not dark.

The one @icy_jade mentioned is better than the best I have ever heard of.

Ok I looked through the list and like these two:

The one posted earlier. Comes with cert:
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m332909476

Still like it the best.

And this one
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r325253158


Others are either so pricy or have one really dark color.

 

[LD]

Ok I looked through the list and like these two:

The one posted earlier. Comes with cert:
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m332909476

Still like it the best.

And this one
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r325253158


Others are either so pricy or have one really dark color.

It's highly unlikely that second one is an Alexandrite. As for the first one? It's photoshopped to hell and back. I have no idea whether that gem lab is reliable or not - I'm sure others will be able to comment.

 

[icy_jade]

It's highly unlikely that second one is an Alexandrite. As for the first one? It's photoshopped to hell and back. I have no idea whether that gem lab is reliable or not - I'm sure others will be able to comment.

I feel like all pics in vendor sites (even the recommended vendors on PS) are photoshopped? Bothers me depending on how much the pics deviate from reality...

So far I’ve not had really bad experiences from Japanese vendors, and even a case when the stone looked better than the vendor pic. Still, it’s always a gamble when I buy from Japanese sites given the returns policy. Maybe to share a recent example...

The too good to be true pic (which looked neon on the computer):


The maybe possible one:


Reality:


Will love to hear how reliable the lab is as I see the lab being used quite often by Japanese vendors.

 

[cawacawa]

@icy_jade was it the same vendor who sold you that stone ? If that's the case, if the alexandrite is not photoshopped either, and if the lab report is reliable, then that's my favorite so far but that's a lot of ifs. I'm not sure how to verify that.

Which japanese vendors did you have a good experience with ?

 

[AV_]

.
WWW

I find the indigo / magenta type more fun & there can be spectacular color & all else - the green / red is historical & I suspect no one has forgotten which came first...

 

[Starfacet]

.
WWW

Love that 1.65 cushion!!

 

[AV_]

These are something else - light & clear www & larger stones exist www...

 

[cawacawa]

These are something else - light & clear www & larger stones exist www...

These are not what I'm looking for in an alex though. The muddy color doesn't look that good imo.

 

[lovedogs]

I feel like all pics in vendor sites (even the recommended vendors on PS) are photoshopped? Bothers me depending on how much the pics deviate from reality...

Why do you say that? The trusted vendors here typically don't Photoshop. I actually can't think of anyone recommended here that does.

 

[T L]

I think whenever viewing a stone, it should be against a white or light cream colored background. It should also be viewed in various lighting. Many of the trusted vendors here do like to showcase their gems in their best lighting situation to showcase their natural beauty (who wouldn’t?), but many are very accommodating with additional photos and videos.

 

[icy_jade]

Why do you say that? The trusted vendors here typically don't Photoshop. I actually can't think of anyone recommended here that does.

I don’t mean it in a bad way. But more from the perspective to better reflect the color of the gem. Like doing some color correction etc.

 

[icy_jade]

@icy_jade was it the same vendor who sold you that stone ? If that's the case, if the alexandrite is not photoshopped either, and if the lab report is reliable, then that's my favorite so far but that's a lot of ifs. I'm not sure how to verify that.

Which japanese vendors did you have a good experience with ?

The ones I’ve bought from don’t really sell alexes.
Yahoo is like eBay so you can see past feedback etc. As mentioned earlier there is a degree of risk and while I’ve been fairly happy with my purchases so far, none were very pricey and I haven’t been able to bring myself to go for the pricey stuff given the returns policy.

 

[LD]

Buying an Alexandrite is not like buying a garnet. You can't compare the two unfortunately. Alexandrites (good ones) are rare. The lighter coloured ones linked to above are appalling and thank you Cawacawa for not being remotely interested in them - they're the poor relation of the Alexandrite world!

A couple from the All that glitters website look promising BUT I seem to recall that the vendor isn't reliable - apologies if I've got that wrong but I think you might need to do a search for them on this forum to see if people have been happy or not with their purchases.

Why do you say that? The trusted vendors here typically don't Photoshop. I actually can't think of anyone recommended here that does.

Most vendors of Alex have to photoshop because it's almost impossible to capture both colourways. There is a scientific reason for it but I can't remember what it is now. I can look at the stone with my eyes and then look through the lens of the camera and see two totally different things! It's really strange. I don't have that problem with colour shifting sapphires.