Alexandrite for engagement ring (Singapore)

[ungana]

Hi all,have been lurking over here for the last few weeks and reading through the various guides, has been very useful

So the time has come for me to prepare proposing to my significant other, and have decided to get an alexandrite engagement ring for her (am absolutely floored by the colours)

Thing is, am in Singapore and stores carrying alexandrite are pretty scarce, and the ones I have seen so far have not been very impressive as well

Am looking for a more blue-green stone of a carat or less (understand the brazilian stones have great blue-green colours), looking to spend in the ballpark of less than 10k total

Have read the guides and trawled through the web and found a few which I think are promising, and would like to get opinions over the following stones, with many thanks:

Alexandrite Oval 0.730 CTS | YAX861aa | Multicolour.com

Natural Alexandrite Oval weighing 0.730 CTS in Single loose gemstones category at Multicolour.com

www.multicolour.com

Alexandrite Oval 0.720 CTS | YAX860aa | Multicolour.com

Natural Alexandrite Oval weighing 0.720 CTS in Single loose gemstones category at Multicolour.com

www.multicolour.com

Alexandrite Oval 0.870 CTS | YAX852ad | Multicolour.com

Natural Alexandrite Oval weighing 0.870 CTS in Single loose gemstones category at Multicolour.com

www.multicolour.com

Loose gemstones, rare colored stones, pearls and certified diamonds.

Buy loose gemstones and certified diamonds direct. Choose from over 10.000 real time gemstone inventory, including alexandrite, sapphire, ruby, tanzanite, tsavorite, spinel and tourmaline.

www.multicolour.com

Have also found this website but not sure if it is legitimate, and would like to get some advice if possible!

Alexandrite Gems: Natural Color Change Alexandrite Gemstones

Alexandrite Gems: Natural alexandrite gems at mineralminers.com, your on-line link direct to the alexandrite mines and gemstone faceting shops for natural color change alexandrite gemstones that change colors from green to red-violet. We have natural color change alexandrite gemstones available...

www.mineralminers.com

I understand really good alexandrite can cost quite a bit, and was thinking of perhaps settling on a colour change garnet if I am unable to find the right stone.... but have not found a good colour changing garnet with similar colours to alexandrite. Am also worried about the wear and tear of garnet during daily use, as it is not as hard.

Would be grateful if any of you can help point me in the right direction, or have experience buying a piece of good alexandrite in Singapore. Many thanks!

 

[lovedogs]

Congrats on the upcoming engagement! The most important thing is your fiances preferences. Did she say she wants an alexandrite? If not, you need to explicitly ask her.

 

[ungana]

Congrats on the upcoming engagement! The most important thing is your fiances preferences. Did she say she wants an alexandrite? If not, you need to explicitly ask her.

yep its a surprise but i've surreptitiously run some pictures by her and she loves them

 

[lovedogs]

yep its a surprise but i've surreptitiously run some pictures by her and she loves them

Perfect! Is 10k for stone and setting? Or just the stone? And what kind of setting does she want?

 

[lovedogs]

Multicoulor is good for alexandrite, but here are options from fine water. I would ask him for videos of any you like.

Alexandrite

Fine and unique gemstones personally sourced from around the world

www.finewatergems.com

 

[LilAlex]

yep its a surprise but i've surreptitiously run some pictures by her and she loves them

Killjoy warning:

Does she know that they never look like the vendor pictures? Have you seen one in person or only online? If not, go to the nicest jewelry store in the biggest city near you and see what $10K+ buys. Or even $20 or 30K. I think you will be underwhelmed.

And know it will spend much of its life in the twilight zone between incandescent and natural daylight.

I would make sure she sees the stone while you can return it and before it's mounted.

 

[ungana]

Perfect! Is 10k for stone and setting? Or just the stone? And what kind of setting does she want?

was hoping on 10k all in! hopeful.... from what I know she prefers over/cushion/round settings, but wanted to find the ‘right’ stone before delving on it further

Thanks for the recomms! i did see the finewater ones but felt their colours weren’t as pronounced as the multicolour ones.. wondering what do you think? many thanks!

 

[ungana]

Killjoy warning:

Does she know that they never look like the vendor pictures? Have you seen one in person or only online? If not, go to the nicest jewelry store in the biggest city near you and see what $10K+ buys. Or even $20 or 30K. I think you will be underwhelmed.

And know it will spend much of its life in the twilight zone between incandescent and natural daylight.

I would make sure she sees the stone while you can return it and before it's mounted.

yep more or less... which is why wanted to get one thats similar to the online pics (heard multicolour is quite accurate)

yes have seen a few in person! but the stones did not seem very good so far (mainly from india on tanzania, was hoping for a brazilian one). the expensive one’s I’ve seen were more expensive i feel because of the size (2+ carats) rather than the colour i feel, so wasnt a good representation as well

yep definitely intend to get one where i can return it in the time period, thanks for the advice!

 

[lovedogs]

was hoping on 10k all in! hopeful.... from what I know she prefers over/cushion/round settings, but wanted to find the ‘right’ stone before delving on it further

Thanks for the recomms! i did see the finewater ones but felt their colours weren’t as pronounced as the multicolour ones.. wondering what do you think? many thanks!

I think the color is more important than shape bc of how rare alexandrite is. I like the fine water options bc you can get more videos, and he has multiple pics in natural light. Returning to multicoulor is also harder since they are in Thailand (although maybe thats less of an issue for you since you are in Singapore)

 

[lovedogs]

Ps. The owner of multicoulor has a jewelry website. These alexandrite ring options are pretty nice for the price. Just make sure you check the origin of the Alex, how strong the color change is, etc.

All jewelry at David Wein Fine Jewelry Store

Browse all jewelry at David Wein Fine Jewelry Store. Results 113 out of 612

www.davidwein.com

 

[Obscura]

A viable option is there is color change sapphires, and I've seen a couple that have colors Alexandrite-like.

Sapphire is also hard enough for daily wear. Good luck and congratulations!

 

[Burmesedaze]

You could try checking out Asiatique at Lucky Plaza. The owner has good sources for stones and you can get to view them in person. You will need to negotiate with him though.

 

[qubitasaurus]

Alexanderite is notorious for looking like its mixed light photos most of the time. I.e. it usually does not look blue green and it doesn't look red purple either. It almost always looks like the mixed light photo which is a mix of both colours at the same time.

I think you need to see some in person before buying from overseas. Once you have one youll also need a singaporean jewler to set it -- so youll need to hunt through the local jewelers anyway.

AJS gems had some alex's from memory (although not many), finewater too. You might like to flip through their selections as well.

Remember returning stones from singapore is basically impossible to do in an insured way. Unless the vendor agrees before hand to send you a rerurn shipping label with insurance (almost unheard of but you can ask. Most vendors dont even ship or dont ship fully insured to singapore. Almost none will help you return a stone you dont like. There is only one shipping option you can personally access as a private individual to return lose stones insured overseas and it is horendously expensive -- think in the thousands of dolars. If you want to return a stone you are unhappy with it will basically be via uninsured registered mail). Alex is a notoriously tricky stone to buy (due to the fact that it almost never looks like either colour way -- as almost all lighting situations are mixed light and thus lead to mixed colours). Make sure you see some in person before buying from overseas.

 

[ungana]

I think the color is more important than shape bc of how rare alexandrite is. I like the fine water options bc you can get more videos, and he has multiple pics in natural light. Returning to multicoulor is also harder since they are in Thailand (although maybe thats less of an issue for you since you are in Singapore)

Agreed! yep lucky for me I do have a friend in Thailand who can help go down to take a look at the gems, so hopefully that will help in procuring one

Alexanderite is notorious for looking like its mixed light photos most of the time. I.e. it usually does not look blue green and it doesn't look red purple either. It almost always looks like the mixed light photo which is a mix of both colours at the same time.

I think you need to see some in person before buying from overseas. Once you have one youll also need a singaporean jewler to set it -- so youll need to hunt through the local jewelers anyway.

AJS gems had some alex's from memory (although not many), finewater too. You might like to flip through their selections as well.

Remember returning stones from singapore is basically impossible to do in an insured way. Unless the vendor agrees before hand to send you a rerurn shipping label with insurance (almost unheard of but you can ask. Most vendors dont even ship or dont ship fully insured to singapore. Almost none will help you return a stone you dont like. There is only one shipping option you can personally access as a private individual to return lose stones insured overseas and it is horendously expensive -- think in the thousands of dolars. If you want to return a stone you are unhappy with it will basically be via uninsured registered mail). Alex is a notoriously tricky stone to buy (due to the fact that it almost never looks like either colour way -- as almost all lighting situations are mixed light and thus lead to mixed colours). Make sure you see some in person before buying from overseas.

Yep.. Thanks for the advice as well, understand it is especially tricky during this time period with the pandemic going around and all

A viable option is there is color change sapphires, and I've seen a couple that have colors Alexandrite-like.

Sapphire is also hard enough for daily wear. Good luck and congratulations!

I was considering this too! but haven't found one with colours that similar to alexandrite. wondering if you know anyone who could point me in the right direction?

You could try checking out Asiatique at Lucky Plaza. The owner has good sources for stones and you can get to view them in person. You will need to negotiate with him though.

Thanks! Have gotten in touch with him, fingers crossed

 

[Obscura]

The one I had bookmarked has sold, it was on the same site, multicolour.com. The other I have bookmarked is very included and pale.

You can also email sellers to see if they can get ahold of one. They are uncommon, but seem to pop up every once in a while, so it may be more than you're willing to wait.

 

[ungana]

Hi all, want to thank everyone for the advice. after painstakingly searching, managed to find a stone online which i really liked. eye clean, about 1ct, brazilian origin, which just arrived today. tried taking some photos of it but yes it was quite hard to get the exact colour... and these are sort of the best ones i managed to take.

cant wait to set it in the ring soon. thanks all for the advice

 

[minousbijoux]

Wow, that looks great - excellent colorways! Are there times when more of the stone is lit up?

 

[ungana]

Wow, that looks great - excellent colorways! Are there times when more of the stone is lit up?

yep tried making sure it wasnt that dark a stone before purchasing

took the stone out a bit today to film again before bringing for setting

https://streamable.com/xqouoc - day and mixed light (colours quite accurate)

https://streamable.com/fv2ndr - incandescent light (looks a bit lighter purple in the video, has a bit of a darker red hue in real life)

 

[Gemjardine]

Hi all, want to thank everyone for the advice. after painstakingly searching, managed to find a stone online which i really liked. eye clean, about 1ct, brazilian origin, which just arrived today. tried taking some photos of it but yes it was quite hard to get the exact colour... and these are sort of the best ones i managed to take.

cant wait to set it in the ring soon. thanks all for the advice

Gorgeous colour change! I’m sure your fiancée will be thrilled with it!

I was wondering which online retailer you used, how long shipping to SG took and whether you had to pay duties/customs in SG?