Looking for Spessartite

[snogirl17]

Hi,

I am new to the colored stones forum but i have been lurking and admiring everyones beautiful stones! I have fallen for the Spessartite and i am wondering how in the world you determine a good one. It doesn''t seem as concrete as diamonds. Is there anyone out there who can help me? I have been looking at Richard Homers gems and they are wonderful, but i am just wondering from people who already have them or know more about them. Any help would be apprecaited. Thanks!

 

[movie zombie]

my avatar is an 8.18 spessartite. spess comes in many ranges of yellow-orange-red and in many qualities. high end stones costs thousands. we spent more on my stone than many do on a diamond. it is not absolutely necessary to go absolutely high end to get a nice stone. like with diamonds, its all a matter of tradeoffs and what your budget can afford. take your time, research the net and past pricescope threads, see as many as you can in person, and then decide. do not expect a $500 spess to perform like a $5000 spess. as you noted, color stone buying isn''t as concrete as diamond buying but just as with diamonds there is something for every budget.

spessartite is a wonderful stone! and when it speaks to you, it SPEAKS TO YOU! welcome to the spessartite fan club!

movie zombie

ps you do not want brown overtones in a spess and windowing absolutely ruins it. however, what is iimportant is if a stone speaks to you and that it pleases your eye....in the end, that is all that matters. also, do a search here at pricescope and see if you can find the e-ring that Mine had made with a richard homer cut spess. i don''t think she participates here anymore but if she''s lurking, i hope she chimes in. Mine''s spess has a very different color tone and look to it than the one i have. i think that is why i love spess so much: its so diverse!

 

[chrono]

Coloured stones and diamonds do have one thing in common - it is the C''s that count but the C''s are different:
1. Colour is everything. Colour is what determines most of the price, where you have to consider the purity of the hue, tone and saturation.
2. Carat weight aka Size
3. Clarity
4. Cut (ugly cut ones are just not worth it).

Let''s first start with a budget, then work out the size you want (to see if it is feasible), then you can start shopping. The purer the orange hue, the more expensive it gets. Not all spessartites are eye clean either, so very clean ones tend to be pricey. Large ones over 3 carats also tend to cost more.

 

[snogirl17]

Thank you for the replies.

Movie Zombie, yours is beautiful. Actually i have been eyeing up MINE!!''s ring... i LOVE that color and her ring in general. I really like Richard Homer cuts, it adds a bit of pizzaz i guess. When you mean windowing it, do you mean putting a halo or bezel around it? I have seen some stones that do have that brown undertone and i do not care for those. I like the ones that have red/orange tones almost like a sunset.


Chrono, the reason i am looking at this is beacuse i would like to give my bf options other than diamonds for an engagment ring. Diamonds are NOT a requirement for me. Speaking budget terms, about $1000 or so. truth be told, i havent seen these stones anywhere else but on this forum and online. I wouldnt even know where to being looking around here for these stones! I do know that i think they are very unique and would make a stand out engagement ring.. i think. Also in terms of size, i think about 1-1.5 would be just fine for me. I dont know if thats possible, like i said i am VERY new to this stone and gems in general

 

[chrono]

If you plan to use a spessartite as an e-ring, I would caution you to baby this ring to death. Spessartite isn''t as hardy as sapphires or spinels. I have a very large spessartite myself but am only considering it as a pendant. Even if you remove it as soon as you get home, don''t wear it to work out, do housework, etc. there is still a risk of the stone getting damaged from hitting it against something. Just a heads up. Otherwise, it''s a very beautiful and lively gemstone.

 

[movie zombie]

windowing has to do with cut and the result being you''re able to see through the stone.....there was an excellent post on another thread about this not too long ago if you can find it.

also, spess is in the garnet famiily and has a moh of about 7.25-7.5 hardness at the most. translated this means that it really is hard enough for an e-ring but not one that is worn 24/7.......unless you do a complete bezel, i guess, and even then i''d be nervous. i do not wear my e-ring 24/7 but only when i leave the house. its the last thing i put on before i leave and the first thing i take off when i arrive home. washing dishes, cleaning house, gardening, etc. are not activities that a spess will hold up against over many years. however, this is also true of many color stones. i''ve seen a sapphire that was worn 24/7 and much harder on the moh''s scale but it looked like a cab after 20-30 years of wear. it was an e-ring that was well loved and worn and the owner wouldn''t have it any other way. my thoughts would have been to start with a cabochon in the first place.....but i digress and it wasn''t my e-ring.

even as well bezeled as Mine''s spess is/was, she frekked the first time she though she had a chip in it........

i do not want to scare you away from spess.....just let you know some of the downsides or thiings to watch for when setting it.

don''t know where you are located but richard homer is going to be in the bay area [california] this month.

also, most color stones are not calibrated as are diamonds. so you may need to have a custom setting..........

i would love to have a necklace with every hue of spess......!

movie zombie

 

[FrekeChild]

A window is when you look straight on at a stone and there is a spot in the middle where you can see straight through it like it''s a pane of glass instead of a faceted gemstone...

This sapphire has a window.

This one does not (for the most part) but this one has a big bowtie. A bowtie are the dark parts of the stone on both sides of the middle of the stone. Does that make sense?

Both the bowtie and the window are undesirable in stones and are very good signs of a not so great cut on a stone.

 

[RevolutionGems]

Hey Zombie,
About 6 months ago, I acquired a small parcel of Nigerian spess rough. The colors are spectacular ranging from the bright lighter orange to the deeper, richer burnt orange with none of the brown overtones. I am cutting them as I get a chance but the thought of a necklace with all the hues??? WOW. That would be tasty.

Now you got me thinking. I may just have to finish out a few stones to complete the range and put something together.


MmMMMmmmmmmmm....

 

[Pandora II]

I''m with MZ on the babying of garnets.

My tsavorite e-ring comes off and goes in it''s box as soon as I get home and goes back on when I go out - and only then if I''m not doing ''dangerous'' things!

A couple of things to remember with spess. It tends to be more included than a lot of garnets and has a higher specific gravity. The SG is also higher than that of diamond, so you need to take that into account when looking at stones. I''d go by mm sizes rather than carat weight.

If you want to keep the price down, you are better off buying calibrated sizes as they will fit stock settings best. The shape of stone you want can also narrow down your choices - rounds are less common on the whole in coloured stones. Ovals and cushions are the most common.

 

[thekinglives]

Hello there. I have a similar (latent)
obsession with spessartite. At one
point I queued up an R. Homer spess and
planned on more or less ripping MINE!!'s
ring off myself (Van Craeynest stopped
me from carrying it out though

).

Linda Penwarden makes a ring fairly
similar to Mine's:

http://www.lindapenwardenjewellery.com/engagement_rings1.html

(Second row far right).

A white gold full-bezel version was
priced @ approx. $1500, to give you an
idea.

Hope that helps

 

[snogirl17]

Wow thank you ladies for the wonderful insight. As you can see i just got caught up in the beauty of the stone and didnt really even take into consideration the stones strength. While i dont think i would beat the ring up, i would be so paranoid with ruining the stone. I did get in touch with Richard Homer and he did suggest one particular stone to me. it is about 7.0mm and 4.9mm deep which he said was about 1.96 carat weight, it is a square cushion and has the same color properties as MINE!!''s did. I have NO idea, but to me it seems "shallow"?

MZ: I would LOVE to go see the stones in person, but i am a midwest gal and the west coast travel is out for me.. but thanks for suggesting it just the same.

Pandora, i also love the color of your stone, thank you as well for your honesty, i know i would forget to take it off and baby it. i like to wear my jewelry and i want to make sure that it lasts a lifetime.

thekinglives- are you thinking about a spessartite for an ering?? what are you going to do? that link you sent had some beautiful items to it....

i guess now i am seriously considering not doing that because i do not want something that i will have to be so carful with. grrrrrrrrrrrr... but i truly appreciate all of your honestly.

what other stones could a perhaps consider besides a diamond that will be a bit more sturdy would an aquamarine be better???

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 6/3/2008 6:24:00 PM
Author: beanie

what other stones could a perhaps consider besides a diamond that will be a bit more sturdy would an aquamarine be better???

No, no and thrice no! Aquamarine isn''t much harder than garnet.

In my opinion, no stone should be worn 24/7. Diamonds may be the hardest substance on earth, but they are not strong. Hardness and strength are not the same thing. Hardness is merely the ability of a material to resist abrasion when a pointed fragment of another substance is drawn across it without sufficient pressure to develop cleavage. Jade is far far stronger than diamond and yet much softer.

If you hit or knock a diamond in the right place, you can split it in two. You can also chip them.

If you want to wear a ring more of the time, I would choose a sapphire. Even then you shouldn''t wear it for housework or anything dangerous.

You also need to keep the setting in mind as well - pave is delicate and needs careful handling. Sleeping in your rings isn''t a good idea as the prongs can catch on the sheets when you''re asleep.

 

[RevolutionGems]

Beanie,
If you are looking for something that will be a 24/7 type ring you can go with sapphire which is a 9 on the mohs scale and is reasonably tough, topaz (8 mohs, cleavage can be a problem if you bump it wrong) or even somethong like chrysoberyl ( alexandrite, color-change or just plain-jane) which (I believe) is between 8 and 9 mohs.

Since you like the nice orange color, you could get a sapphire that would be pretty close though it will take some looking. You could also maybe score an Imperial topaz.

Good luck in your search!

 

[Pandora II]

Orange sapphire would be amazing.

Make sure you look at reputable vendors - there is a LOT of BE treated orange sapphire out there.

 

[snogirl17]

Pandora,

you are right... after thinking about it the rings that i do have arent worn when i go hiking or cleaning... what would make this any different. I guess if i decide to go with the Spess, i will now know that this is not a superman stone and that i will just have to be a bit more delicate with it. do you feel like you are always watching over your ering??? Also, when you said that garnets had a higher specific gravity, did you mean that they will sit up higher because they are deeper?

I also like saphires, but i guess that orange/red makes my heart skip a bit more. As for the setting, i would not do any pave, i think it is beauitiful, but it isnt me. I would love to do a thin halo around it like Neatfreak''s. I would like to do something like Ellens new aqua setting from Leon, with a bit thicker band.

in regards to that richard homer stone that i was talking about earlier, it is about 1.96 carat weight, and about 7.0 mm wide and 4.9 mm deep in a square cushion cut. does that seem to shallow??? he said that i could have it shipped to me so i can take a look at it.. but i kinda of wanted to hear the wise wisdom of all of you before jumping into that.

 

[snogirl17]

Date: 6/3/2008 7:03:56 PM
Author: Pandora II
Orange sapphire would be amazing.

Make sure you look at reputable vendors - there is a LOT of BE treated orange sapphire out there.

Orange Sapphires??? OHHHHHHHHH are they orange orange, or orange/red .... or does it simply depend on the stone...
who would be some reputable vendors??

you are being so darn helpful.. all of you.. thank you so much!

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 6/3/2008 7:12:26 PM
Author: beanie
Pandora,

you are right... after thinking about it the rings that i do have arent worn when i go hiking or cleaning... what would make this any different. I guess if i decide to go with the Spess, i will now know that this is not a superman stone and that i will just have to be a bit more delicate with it. do you feel like you are always watching over your ering??? Also, when you said that garnets had a higher specific gravity, did you mean that they will sit up higher because they are deeper?

I also like saphires, but i guess that orange/red makes my heart skip a bit more. As for the setting, i would not do any pave, i think it is beauitiful, but it isnt me. I would love to do a thin halo around it like Neatfreak's. I would like to do something like Ellens new aqua setting from Leon, with a bit thicker band.

in regards to that richard homer stone that i was talking about earlier, it is about 1.96 carat weight, and about 7.0 mm wide and 4.9 mm deep in a square cushion cut. does that seem to shallow??? he said that i could have it shipped to me so i can take a look at it.. but i kinda of wanted to hear the wise wisdom of all of you before jumping into that.

I was super paranoid when I first got it, but not so much now. I'm pretty careful with my hands anyway. I do have a box in my bag and in my drawer at work so I can take it off if I have to carry boxes etc

Basic description of Specific Gravity - SG:

Take a 1cm cube of lead and a 1cm cube of glass.

They are the same 'volume' but have different weights. The lead is denser than the glass. The lead has a higher SG.

You can apply the same principle to gemstones.

1ct equals 0.2 grams

A 1ct diamond will be larger than a 1ct spessartite because although each weighs 0.2grams the specific gravity of diamond is 3.52 and that of spessartite is between 4.12 - 4.20. Spessartite is therefore a 'denser' substance

I don't think the dimensions of the stone seem shallow - they sound good to me. Best to ask Richard all the questions you want about it. I'd be very surprised if he cut a stone 'off'. He sourced me some stones and recut one because he didn't think it was bringing out the best in the stone.

Orange sapphire comes in all shades - be warned, top colour doesn't come cheap. If it's cheap be suspicious about treatments. Heating is fine in my book, but BE treatment is a no-no. You can get a nasty shock if you get your stone repolished and the colour comes off!

Hope this helps a bit!

 

[snogirl17]

ahhh thanks for the lesson

i had no idea if that was really shallow or not. In my head it seemed off. He did say that if i wanted to see it in person he would send it to me vs. taking a picture.
did you get your beautiful stone from him too?

i did a quick search on orange sapphires and found out that they can be quite expensive, i guess what does heating do to the stones?? when looking at different stones i see that they have different treatments, i also read that Spessartites dont have any treatments? is that correct or should i still be leary of that?

i just really appreicate your comments because i want to feel more comfortable with the stone before i go ahead and see it for myself... but then again thats probally a smart thing to do.. considering i have never seen one in real life.. i just think they are mezmorizing even online!

 

[movie zombie]

beanie, let richard send you the stone. it is the only way you''re going to, pardon the rip from hendricks, get experienced. it was this kind of transaction i was referring to when i said to see as many stones as you can. many vendors have done business with many pricescopers. i never met the man i bought my stone from.....still haven''t, but would like to!

as stated above, even a diamond shouldn''t be worn 24/7 yet most do. imo, nice rings should never be worn 24/7......its damaging to the ring and a potential danger to the person wearing said ring. to the bet of my knowledge, spess is not know to be treated. however, things change all the time: tanzanite is now being treated to deepen color and not always being disclosed as such.....as is a lot of topaz, most aquamarine, and amethyst.

Revolution/Jeff S., i have an idea or two re that necklace.........want to start another thread and see what kind of creative ideas you get from pricescopers?!

movie zombie

 

[ptorraca]

Wow -- when you guys cover a topic, you do an absolutely thorough job of it. All I can do is agree with most of the above. But I think I can add one little tid-bit with regard to keeping rings & their stones safe:

My wife is a chemist and spends a good deal of time in the lab. That means she wears gloves a lot -- which makes wearing her ER impractical. (She finds it uncomfortable and the setting tends to rip the gloves.) So I made it a point to buy high quality gold chain with a high quality clasp; I also had the jeweler solder the o-rings linking the chain & the clasp. When she heads into lab, her ER comes off and goes on the chain. The same applies to gardening, rock-hounding, and whatever else we do where she would rather have the ring off. The ring is either on her hand or on her chain -- it doesn''t get set down anywhere else.

 

[marcy]

I think spessartite or orange sapphire would be a lovely stone for you. They both look dynamite in orange.

 

[movie zombie]

Date: 6/3/2008 9:38:15 PM
Author: ptorraca
Wow -- when you guys cover a topic, you do an absolutely thorough job of it. All I can do is agree with most of the above. But I think I can add one little tid-bit with regard to keeping rings & their stones safe:

My wife is a chemist and spends a good deal of time in the lab. That means she wears gloves a lot -- which makes wearing her ER impractical. (She finds it uncomfortable and the setting tends to rip the gloves.) So I made it a point to buy high quality gold chain with a high quality clasp; I also had the jeweler solder the o-rings linking the chain & the clasp. When she heads into lab, her ER comes off and goes on the chain. The same applies to gardening, rock-hounding, and whatever else we do where she would rather have the ring off. The ring is either on her hand or on her chain -- it doesn''t get set down anywhere else.

great idea!

movie zombie

 

[Pandora II]

LOL, I''d be paranoid about clonking it on something when I bent down!

 

[snogirl17]

thank you all for your replies. i think we will get the stone sent to check it out. I am sure this wont be the last you will hear from me. i really have appreicated your help and if we decided to get the stone i will take some pictures. Thanks so much!

 

[Pandora II]

Quick question beanie,

I was wondering why you thought that the stone seemed shallow? Can you explain? Sorry, just interested!

 

[snogirl17]

Honestly I really dont know. i guess when i thought about the measurements of the stone for some reason it just didnt seem right. But like i said i dont know squat about this stone, let alone other stones... so i just wanted to make sure you all thought the measurements seemed ok. Just like in Rocky Talk people are always saying this stone is to shallow or deep or the table is to large.. and since i havent seen the stone in question, i just needed some positive feedback from people here who know more about "proper" measurements.. i guess i just needed some reasurance

Which i seemed to have received from you!

 

[innerkitten]

My spess is a smaller stone and It still took me a while to find one that was well cut and had no brown tones. Totally worth the wait though!

 

[pamplemousse]

Just to chime in on the babying issue... I have a sapphire e-ring and I wear it most of the time but take it off to do chores of any kind -- dishes, laundry, gardening, cooking, whatever. When I first got it I wore it once while I was making the bed and snagged it on a sheet, banged it on the bedframe (which is wooden, but still). After that, I started taking it off pretty much whenever I was using my hands and there was a chance I could clank my ring on something hard. The girdle of my stone is also really exposed (it''s an oval in a four-prong setting), so I try to be really really careful even when I take it off and put it down. We have ring holders all over the place now.

I love being able to wear my ring fairly often, but twenty years from now I want it to look as good or close to as good as it does now.

 

[snogirl17]

Pamplemousse~ exactly, if we do choose to get the stone, i will just have to be a bit more aware of my actions. i guess i am glad that i found out though that it a bit more delicate and it does need some extra care before i decided to get it and then find out that i should have been a bit more careful with it.

 

[movie zombie]

i''m glad you''re going to have it sent to you to look at! its the only way to see if its THE ONE!

movie zombie