well this one's going back

[redfaerythinker]

Last week I ordered a rholodite garnet from Osiris Gems. On the website it looked like a nice deep red. Well it came this morning and I have never been so let down by a gem IRL. The gem in my hands is brown and completely extinct with very few brownish orange flashes in direct light. It's awful. I'm trying to get some photos but the stone is so dark that they're all coming out black, but here is the picture of what I thought I was getting. It was said to be, "Medium saturated tanzanian Rhodolite in my "Liquid Flower" design. Very well cut to show the unusual flowing reflexions. There are some tiny internal veils, but this one is eyeclean to the unaided eye"

 

[redfaerythinker]

Here are two fairly accurate pictures. The quality is awful because I had to take them with my camera, and then take a cellphone pic of the camera because i've already packed the cord!

 

[cellentani]

Sorry to hear about your rhodolite, redfairy - it's always so disappointing to get a gem that's completely unlike the photo. I'm appreciating your snarky file name too, lol. The cut looks really interesting though....

ETA: yeaaahh, I'd be sending that back too -

 

[StonieGrl]

It almost makes one wonder if you got the same stone in the pic, doncha think?????

Do you remember the movie, "A Fish Called Wanda"?

Kevin Kline, in one scene, says: "DisaPOINTment!!!!!"

That is how you must have felt when you realized what you had received.

Ah well, return and on to the next stone!

 

[T L]

RFT,
Sorry about your experience. I have two stones coming from Uli that I'm pretty excited about, and in the past my other two gems matched the photos perfectly, but I tend to stay away from garnets, especially reddish ones, they tend to be very extinct no matter who the vendor is. That's one of the reasons I tend to stay with medium to medium light tone since it's harder to read vendor photos when the stone is of a darker tone. I would still go with Uli for medium light gems.

I will say his cutting, for the price, is extremely reasonable. His gems are really works of art, and I think he's worth another chance if you ever decide to buy anything else from him. He charges based on the quality of the gem, not really his cutting. If there's one thing that drives me bonkers, it's when a precision faceter charges an enormous amount for cutting, even when the quality of the gem is sub-par. For example, Uli does have some less expensive material like quartz and topaz, the prices on those beautifully cut gems is very fair.

 

[newbaglover]

I feel so sorry. I was thinking about purchasing a gem from Uli ( being in europe is a plus for me, not worring about customs) , but now I will wait. Maybe TL is rigth and red garnets are usually very extint?
I learn so much here at PS. I hope everything will be smooth for you to return the gem.

 

[movie zombie]

whether from extinction or just plain old over saturation, red garnets...especially those of any size...are 9 times out 10 overly dark to the point of black.

mz

 

[baby nurse]

That's really too bad, RFT! What a disappointment. As someone else said, on to the next stone!

I ordered a red garnet from him as well, oh-oh...

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

I have a red garnet (Tanga) round brilliant cut from Barry, and it is a bit dark (NOT black though) and gives off so much flash and sparkle!
Maybe Uli cuts look best with lighter stones, but I agree, his pic and your pic are different!

 

[klewis]

I'm sorry you've been disappointed RFT. Regardless of the kind of stone, that is difference between pics is too great. Did you ask any questions of the colour before buying?

If you like that orange red as shown Uli's pic then you might consider the Gypsy Rose garnets from John Dyer http://www.johndyergems.com/catalog_pages/stone-Gypsy_Rose_Garnet1.html
They too are more of an orange red, but the 2 I have are less orange than Uli's pic.

 

[Arkteia]

His stones definitely look different in real life. I ordered two, an ametrine and an amethyst. There is my thread somewhere. They both have grey modifier, but the pattern is seen very well. I mounted them in a pendant and a ring and they look very unusual. I, too, wonder if this cut looks better in lighter stones.

I bought a pink pyrope in a star pattern from him and the stone looks very bright and very true to life. There is miniscule extintion and also what I would call "intentional extintion - a cut is made in such a way that you see "a star" in it. Overall, it is incredibly bright.

I also bought a rhodolite from him and since I had only one rhodolite in my life (from Costco; returned) I do not know what to say about it. It is pretty large, dark-red with some purple, good cut but nothing fancy and no extinction. It is simply a darker garnet. Can not say I am disappointed, though. It is gemmy enough.

He is a very good cutter but I wonder if it would make more sense to discuss each stone separately before you buy it. They do look different than in his pictures. But Soberguy, for example, bought a Songea sapphire which he wanted to mount and put on his wall. (A metaphor, of course). I guess it is always a risky game, since Uli is in Europe and returns may be more costly. But he never charges for shipping and it is a plus.

In the future, I would buy from him. I've had far more problems with other vendors. (And I do not mean Tan here; his stones are far better than what I have recently bought). Uli is also pretty easy to deal with and quite polite.

I just do not want people to be discouraged by this stone (which, I agree, looks very me-eh). If someone else was planning to buy from him and is now in doubt, I'd advise to send him a message via ebay and discuss the stone.

 

[redfaerythinker]

I hope no one is discouraged from buying from this vendor. I was just so shocked that it looked nothing like the stone in the picture. There is NO red, whatsoever, until you use a camera flash from about an inch away. Very strange. However, the fault i'm sure was mine for not asking more questions, but Uli has been very good with responding to my emails about returning the stone.

 

[chrono]

Oh no! I’m so sorry that the stone looks completely different from what you expected. I don’t know what else to say as I’d be so disappointed to open the box to see something like that too.

 

[brandy_z28]

Oh man! So sorry that stone wasn't as expected RFT! I really loved the vendor pic.

 

[Indylady]

Redfaery- Any chance you'd like to GTG? I'm in your town for about 2 weeks, and I'd love to meet you sometime, maybe for lunch downtown on Broad Street? If you're up for it, feel free to message the mods for my email!