Another chunk of Topaz

[FrekeChild]

So I conducted a little experiment with GemSelect-everything went through fine, but what I got wasn''t exactly what I was expecting from looking at the pics. I ordered a Topaz and a opal, and the total of my purchase was $27.04 so I''m not really disappointed being that the money I spent was so little. I won''t share the opal (that was the real experiment honestly) because it''s really not what I was expecting-but for what I paid for it- ($3) I''m really not upset.

As for the cut, I haven''t ever seen a step cut in real life so I decided to invest. Also, I haven''t seen a London Blue Topaz in real life, except in my tiny bezel ring-which doesn''t give me a great idea of the color. So that was what was up with the choice of stone. The color was really hard to capture-I don''t know that my camera can do it. It''s less gray and more blue green.

Anyway. Without further ado, I present the Topaz:

Specs:
9.14mm x 9.04mm x 5.76mm
3.89cts
London Blue
VVS
Square Emerald (Kind of)

To give you an idea of proportion-(and my ring looks pretty!)-but the topaz looks a bit dark...

 

[FrekeChild]

Better idea of color, but kind of dirty.

 

[FrekeChild]

More steps. And blue flashes.

 

[MonkeyPie]

From what I can see of the color that''s gorgeous! I love London Blue topaz, it has a special little niche in my heart. I think it''s lovely

 

[FrekeChild]

Looking a bit dark here too. I''m thinking that if I set it I''ll put it in a pendant perhaps...

Last one...

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 6/11/2008 9:21:34 PM
Author: MonkeyPie
From what I can see of the color that''s gorgeous! I love London Blue topaz, it has a special little niche in my heart. I think it''s lovely

Me too MonkeyPie!!! Part of the reason I wanted to check it out was so that I could see if I wanted London or Swiss blue for my ering-and While I love this piece, and think the color is amazing, I think that BF prefers it lighter blue. I think he''ll win out here because I want my ering to pop more, so I think Swiss Blue will do that. I also want to not get any questions about whether or not it''s a sapphire.

But that won''t keep me from having a massive collection of London Blue. Heh heh heh...

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 6/11/2008 9:31:40 PM
Author: FrekeChild

Date: 6/11/2008 9:21:34 PM

Author: MonkeyPie

From what I can see of the color that''s gorgeous! I love London Blue topaz, it has a special little niche in my heart. I think it''s lovely

Me too MonkeyPie!!! Part of the reason I wanted to check it out was so that I could see if I wanted London or Swiss blue for my ering-and While I love this piece, and think the color is amazing, I think that BF prefers it lighter blue. I think he''ll win out here because I want my ering to pop more, so I think Swiss Blue will do that. I also want to not get any questions about whether or not it''s a sapphire.


But that won''t keep me from having a massive collection of London Blue. Heh heh heh...

I hear you. Swiss Blue is equally lovely (I am somewhat biased, as yellow topaz/citrine is my birthstone, hah). I think London Blue looks best in pendants or earrings, since it isn''t easily identified by the casual viewer. This stone you have would make an awesome pendant, in a kite setting

 

[FrekeChild]

That''s EXACTLY what I was thinking! I have a kite set sky blue topaz but it''s pretty small (maybe 4.5mm or so?) and of course super light blue, so I''m thinking that this would be a perfect older brother for that pendant!

Have you seen any cool kite set pendants out there lately?

I wish I had a cooler birthstone! Mine is a diamond (I know, I know!!Don''t kick me off PS for saying it, but it''s just not my favorite!) and I just love color!!! So if I could do it, a blue diamond would be ideal, but that isn''t going to happen until we both get out of school. So for now, it''s all about blue topaz. Which is my favorite stone anyway, so it''s all good!

 

[MonkeyPie]

I didn''t used to care for my birthstone, until I got married and saw a ring with my citrine in the middle with a ruby on either side (my husbands stone). I didn''t get a chance to buy it before they sold it, but now I REALLY want one. At least blue topaz is fairly inexpensive

You can buy more!

Ooohh since you have that lighter blue topaz, it would look really delicious if you set them in kite on top of each other - smaller topaz, maybe a teeny round diamond, then bigger topaz. That idea is making me want to buy one now!

 

[FrekeChild]

Oh MonkeyPie, it''s too bad you didn''t get back there in time. I bet that would be a gorgeous ring!!

And your idea for the sky blue down to the London blue is mighty interesting...I might just have to give that some more thought!

SDL! Thank you!!!

 

[marcy]

Very pretty color.

 

[Gypsy]

I think I''ve still got my so windowed you could drive a truck through it stone from gemselect around here. As an experiment, it was worth the 20 something bucks. Wouldn''t do it again though.

Your topaz is MUCH nicer than my Gemselect gem. I quite like it, honestly.

 

[FrekeChild]

Thanks Marcy!!

I know Gyps. I don''t think I ever saw pics (do you have any?) of it, but I remember finding the thread when I did a search for GemSelect a while back. I''m not incredibly impressed with the topaz (I keep buying Barry Bridgestock gems-he''s ruined me!)-but from the pictures it looked as though it was cut deeper-I''m not sure why that was important to me, but it was something I was interested in. So to my eyes, it is rather flat. Having said that, it is still quite sparkly and IMHO, rather pleasing to the eye. It gives off some very nice lighter blue flashes and would probably perform well in a setting of some kind. I am pleased with the purchase-it''s not everywhere or any type of stone that you can buy at almost 4 carats for under $25. You know? Having said that though, I wouldn''t do it again either-at least with GemSelect-now maybe multicolor (I have my eye on some topaz over there as well-

). But I''m out of money to be spent on gemstones at the moment anyway (unless they are local!) so I doubt I''ll be posting anything new for a while.

But I like it. $23 and whatever cents well worth it.

 

[Catmom]

It''s very pretty Freke!

 

[RevolutionGems]

I don''t usually buy cut stones off of ebay, but I had purchased another stone from this seller and this was a stone I grabbed to fill out the order.

I was quite surprised when I got the stone yesterday. It is flawlessly clean, very nicely colored and possibly the best native cut stone I have ever seen. It is a darker sky blue (not quite swiss) cut in an opposed bar. Excellent polish and overall a very nice stone.

Just goes to show you, if you look, you can find real bargains.

By the way Freke, I have purchased from GemSelect before and always been reasonably happy with the product.

(I did a few hand shots but my hands are far too ugly and hairy. You fine people don''y need to be subjected to the kind of visual torture.)

 

[RevolutionGems]

By the way, it is 12.35 cts. Big and beefy but classy.

 

[mercoledi]

Step cuts are all about crown height, I bet your stone is plenty deep, but it's all in the pavillion. Keep an eye out for something with a higher crown. It is a pretty color though. I've bought both london blue and swiss blue topazes from silverjewelryclub.com. The stones aren't the best cut, but I've seen way worse and they are always very clear.

It's a pretty color, maybe set it so that there's a shiny metal trough behind it to enhance its light return.

ETA: Jeff, that stone looks awesome. I love wacky geometric cuts.

 

[FrekeChild]

I want to see hand pics, Jeff!!! And any other pics you''ve taken!!! I don''t mind hairy hands!! And if you don''t mind me asking-how much did you get your topaz for? And what else was it that you bought?

Thank you Catmom!!!

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 6/12/2008 12:12:13 PM
Author: mercoledi
Step cuts are all about crown height, I bet your stone is plenty deep, but it''s all in the pavillion. Keep an eye out for something with a higher crown. It is a pretty color though. I''ve bought both london blue and swiss blue topazes from silverjewelryclub.com. The stones aren''t the best cut, but I''ve seen way worse and they are always very clear.

It''s a pretty color, maybe set it so that there''s a shiny metal trough behind it to enhance its light return.

ETA: Jeff, that stone looks awesome. I love wacky geometric cuts.

That''s what I figured mercoledi. I''ll go ahead and post another pic from the side of it so you can get a better idea. It''s really a pretty color, and it does give decent light return-it''s just hard to capture. Better than I expected anyway....but the shiny metal idea sounds like a good idea if I decide to set it.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Looking at it from the side makes it look like a squishy bit of jello. I wanna eat it.

Jeff, that is a brilliant stone, and humongous! What are you going to do with it?

 

[RevolutionGems]

Ok, heres the story. You may want to sit down for this one...

This is the stone I originally got. It is a 5.35 ct bicolor tourmaline. Typical native cut but nice material.

 

[RevolutionGems]

Hand shot of the same stone...

 

[RevolutionGems]

I hate to get just one stone in a shipment so I looked at the other stones that were available. I found this sorta goofy litle carved topaz. About 6 carats. Interesting novelty. Paid $3 for it....

 

[RevolutionGems]

Then I saw the previously posted topaz. Looked nice. I ended up pay...are you ready for this?...$5. Bargain of the century!

 

[RevolutionGems]

So, heres the summary. I got a 5ish ct bi color tourmaline for $27, a silly carved topaz for $3 and a 12+ carat fine topaz for $5 and a shipping charge of $8. Total cost: $43.

I don''t know what I am going to do with the stones yet but I have had an idea for a pendant floating around in my head for a while. I may try to put it together with the big topaz.

 

[FrekeChild]

Jeff, I want to see inside your head!!! I love them-what are the dimensions of the funky carved topaz? I keep seeing carved topaz everywhere on the net but I can't picture them in real life-they always end up looking like paper weights in my head-I don't know why!

I saw about 5 swiss blue topazes on Gemselect and came up with a necklace design for them, but I can't afford to make anything like that right now...

ETA: I'm jealous of your $5 topaz. It's pretty. And what are you going to do with the tourmaline?

 

[RevolutionGems]

The last thing you want to see is inside my head...trust me on this one!

The carved topaz is about 10mm wide and probably 6mm deep. The front is flat and polished like the table of a faceted stone and when it is laid on its face, it looks a lot like a minature...um...paperweight.

I''m not really sure what the practical use or application of it would be but I thought it was kind of neat. Maybe I will put together some sort of kitschy little pendant or something.

My mom and I were looking at some tourmalines on the net and found a really tasty bicolor pink. It was a little out of my price range (by a thousand dollars or so) and then I came across this one on ebay. I think I am going to make a simple litle pendant for her. No firm plans yet though. Any ideas?

 

[FrekeChild]

I''ll think about it. What are the dimensions?

 

[RevolutionGems]

I am guessing here but it appears to be about 9x14

 

[MonkeyPie]

Jeff, that bi-color would look delicious in a yellow gold setting for a necklace - the kind that has a curvy little line of metal crossing over the stone to hold it into the setting. I''ll look around on break and see if I can find an example picture, but I saw one just like it in a store once and I wanted it SO BAD, even though I hate yellow gold. The yellow does make the lighter bits stand out a lot better than silver though.