a YELLOW thread

[velouriaL]

I really enjoyed that recent red stone thread. I feel like red and blue are the most commonly discussed colors here. I, for one, would like to learn more about yellow stones.

For example, what is the difference between a brown modifier (not good) and "golden" (good)? Also, I heard it said that some yellow sapphires always look "dirty." What causes this, and how can it be avoided? What unique properties do different yellow species have?

I assume we'd be talking about sapphires and chrysoberyls, but all discussion of yellow is welcome.

The goal of the thread is education, but feel free to show off any awesome yellows you think someone should buy.

And for good measure, why not show off your yellows! (Not necessarily for critique, except self-critique.)

 

[Jereni]

I like this idea! I am having a yellow garnet set right now and will definitely come back and share when its done. In the meantime, here is the stone:




Sometimes I think it looks slightly brown in photos, but it never looks like that in real life. Just golden and super sparkly!

 

[katharath]

I like this idea! I am having a yellow garnet set right now and will definitely come back and share when its done. In the meantime, here is the stone:




Sometimes I think it looks slightly brown in photos, but it never looks like that in real life. Just golden and super sparkly!

What type of garnet is that? I really like it!

I love this thread bc I just happened to buy my first yellow gems today; I posted about them in another thread but this is apparently the right place now, lol. I know next to nothing at all about yellows, as I usually buy blues and greens. I'd love to follow along and get educated. I'll post a pic of my sapphires; I bought them more for the sparkly cut than the color, and they were a bit of an impulse buy.

 

[katharath]

Ok, I tried to copy my post from earlier where I showed the sapphires; but it won't upload my photo from my phone (earlier I did it on the computer). I'll get a pic up tomorrow but in the meantime, if any one is interested enough to look, check out my "introducing myself thread", the yellow Sapphires are at the end of that thread. They are small, 3.5 mm. Want to pick them apart? I'm kind of kidding but not, I mean I'd welcome any comments about them, good and bad.

 

[Dioptase]

What type of garnet is that? I really like it!

My guess would be grossular or andradite (or a mix of both).

Any love for yellow topaz? Precious and Imperial topazes are excellent evening stones: they perform well in low light conditions; the color "glows" nicely. It's hard to describe.

 

[JewelFreak]

Oh, great idea! One of my dream rings would be a clear saturated yellow with white diamonds. A yellow diamond is not in my future, sob, but I've kept an eye open for other yellow stones -- round possibly but in my mind I see a cushion, minimum 6.5 mm. Sometime I even check out citrines, but they tend to be too orange or have brown modifiers. Jereni, do you mind telling where you found that pretty garnet? Can't WAIT to see it set!!

--- Laurie

 

[chrono]

I love yellow stones but good yellows are incredibly difficult to find. By good yellows, I mean a stone that is well saturated without being heavily treated. I often see brownish yellow described as golden (marketing too, me thinks ) because golden means very buttery yellow like pure gold, right? I think the reason some yellow sapphires look "dirty" is when there is a brown tint to it. Some yellows will shift and the most common modifier is green. I don't mind yellow with an orange tint either. Brown is not a true modifier as it is related to saturation. When a stone is not well saturated, it will look brownish. My favourite yellow are FCDs followed by chrysoberyl.

 

[pregcurious]

Any love for yellow topaz? Precious and Imperial topazes are excellent evening stones: they perform well in low light conditions; the color "glows" nicely. It's hard to describe.

Dioptase, I've never seen a yellow topaz in person, but it sounds interesting. I've only recently started appreciating the pin-prick flash versus glow of certain stones. I never quite understood the appeal of yellow topaz, but you've piqued my interest.

BTW, thanks for posting the red spinel in the controversial red thread. I wanted to respond to you, but I also didn't want to keep on bumping the thread up for other reasons. Someone (I think LD?) posted the same exact picture as an example of an ideal red in the past, so it was good to see it again.

 

[chrono]

I'd love to see some very yellow topaz as well since those I've seen have all been underwhelming.

 

[colorluvr]

My little 1.02ct yellow tourmaline. It used to have a little window and Dan Stair spiffed it up for me. He told me that he has only seen a couple of tourmalines this pure of a yellow. Too bad it's not a little bigger, but will probably make a cute pendant someday. Thanks to his improving the pavilion, it's now a glowy stone for a tourmaline. (any black is a reflection).

 

[OTL]

My small canary yellow tourmaline from Malawi. It is very vivid and neon and bright and I just love it.

 

[katharath]

Wow! Those are amazing yellows! I've never paid much attention to yellow tourmaline (or any yellow gems), so this is all educational for me.

These are the yellow sapphires I bought yesterday. I know it's really helpful for me to see gems "in real life" so that I can start to get a sense of them (I'm a very small time collector but I would consider myself a collector nonetheless). So, these sapphires are the first yellow gems I've ever purchased; I just liked them, but I'm completely ignorant of yellow color nuances. They are very small and didn't break my budget, so hopefully will be a good purchase for my first yellow gems. I didn't have any set ideas of certain things I was looking for with these. One of the reasons I bought them is that they're untreated, and I always prefer to buy gems that way when possible (it's a psychological thing on my part). If anyone wants to point out anything about the gems color-wise, I'd enjoy hearing any thoughts.

 

[pregcurious]

This is a very educational thread for me.

Velouria, thanks for starting it. You are right that PS has a lot of threads on reds and blues, and I learned things from those, but not as much as I already have here. There are also a lot of green stones around here. I never knew yellow tourmalines could look like that. I love that glow.

 

[erinl]

I can't wait to see some of these yellows! I know someone recently purchased a beautiful yellow zircon from Gene at precisiongem-- I would love to see her real life photo!

I have a chrysoberyl that goes yellow in the sun, but still shows quite a bit of green at the same time.

 

[velouriaL]

I'm so pleased with the way this thread is turning out! Such beauties, and some good information. For some reason, my brain is biased against harder stones these days, so it didn't even occur to me that some of the greatest yellows would be tourmalines or garnets.

Katharath's sapphires are very pretty. To me, they do look like they have a bit of "brown," but the effect is more "golden," which is a look I like. Although I respect it and understand the importance for determining value and finding good deals, in terms of taste, I am not card carrying member of the Pure(st) Colors Only Club. As in my clothes, my house, my everything, I am fan of all sorts of muted, shaded, mixed up colors. What I DON'T like, though, are colors that black-out or look dull, dingy, or dirty. I feel like I can really only tell the difference in person, less so online. I feel like yellows are much harder for me in this respect than reds or blues. Also, I'm not really sure what an orange vs a brown modifier looks like.

I really, really like all the stones posted so far, but they are all so different, and i don't really have a language for describing them. Why is my (our?) language for yellow so impoverished?

 

[NKOTB]

Here are my two yellows, a chrysoberyl cut by Peter Torraca and a grossular garnet cut by Gene. Diffused sunlight, which is often my favourite way to see my gems.

I've got another yellow coming in a couple of weeks, will post when I get it.

 

[katharath]

I'm so pleased with the way this thread is turning out! Such beauties, and some good information. For some reason, my brain is biased against harder stones these days, so it didn't even occur to me that some of the greatest yellows would be tourmalines or garnets.

Katharath's sapphires are very pretty. To me, they do look like they have a bit of "brown," but the effect is more "golden," which is a look I like. Although I respect it and understand the importance for determining value and finding good deals, in terms of taste, I am not card carrying member of the Pure(st) Colors Only Club. As in my clothes, my house, my everything, I am fan of all sorts of muted, shaded, mixed up colors. What I DON'T like, though, are colors that black-out or look dull, dingy, or dirty. I feel like I can really only tell the difference in person, less so online. I feel like yellows are much harder for me in this respect than reds or blues. Also, I'm not really sure what an orange vs a brown modifier looks like.

I really, really like all the stones posted so far, but they are all so different, and i don't really have a language for describing them. Why is my (our?) language for yellow so impoverished?

I agree with everything you said. I'm newer to the hobby so I wonder if eventually the "color purist" in me will come out, but so far it hasn't . I am also really enjoying learning more, though. I love to read the critiques; I am just too inexperienced to offer any of my own. Really enjoying the yellow gems!

 

[erinl]

Here is my chrysoberyl looking very yellow:

 

[pregcurious]

OTL, I really like your yellow tourmaline. Is there any down side to it, or in general yellow tourmalines? Does it hold that color in other lighting? If not, how does it change? (For example, with chrysoberyls, I always pay attention to the amount of shift to green or brown.)

 

[globalmujer]

oooolala....that second one is beautiful!!!!

 

[NKOTB]

Here is my chrysoberyl looking very yellow:

Best. Chrysoberyl. Ever.

 

[erinl]

Thanks NKOTB!

Which stone is which in your pictures? I love both of them. i have wanted a yellow garnet forever and have had no luck in finding one!

 

[GregS]

Here is my chrysoberyl looking very yellow:

Gorgeous chrysoberyl, it looks radioactive.

 

[erinl]

My small canary yellow tourmaline from Malawi. It is very vivid and neon and bright and I just love it.

That is a gorgeous tourmaline OTL-- where did you find it?

 

[chrono]

These beautiful yellows are prefect and in time for a happy, sunny and fresh spring.

 

[NKOTB]

Thanks NKOTB!

Which stone is which in your pictures? I love both of them. i have wanted a yellow garnet forever and have had no luck in finding one!

Thanks! The chrysoberyl is the cushion on the left, garnet is on the right.

 

[OTL]

OTL, I really like your yellow tourmaline. Is there any down side to it, or in general yellow tourmalines? Does it hold that color in other lighting? If not, how does it change? (For example, with chrysoberyls, I always pay attention to the amount of shift to green or brown.)

Thanks! It doesn't shift at all. I didn't notice any brown in it either. Maybe a hint green. I would say it looks like a canary yellow diamond because it is so bright and shiny but color is much more saturated. I used to have a yellow tourmaline from Mozambique, large and perfect cutting, it has a good deal of brown in it, but I don't recall any color shift, just not as bright.

 

[ChrisA222]

Erins Crysoberyl has driven me crazy...darn you Erin! I wish I never saw that thing....haha.

I agree with NKOTB. Best. Chrysoberyl. Ever.

 

[LD]

I have a real issue with seeing brown in yellow stones because they look mucky! I realise that's a totally personal preference!

I took this photo about a year ago of 2 of my natural yellow diamonds. I think it really illustrates how modifiers can change the colour of a stone.

The second photo is of a yellow diamond with huge dollops of brown. Actually, this is the weirest diamond on earth because sometimes it looks totally brown and sometimes totally grey! I have no idea why or how - it just does!!!

Last photo shows a selection of yellows - I naturally gravitate towards the brighter yellow ones!

 

[pregcurious]

LD, I surprised myself, but I really like your brown/gray asscher. It looks great with those trilliants. My fav yellow of your is the pear on the right.

OTL, thanks for telling us about your tourmaline.