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Benitoite? anyone own one?

craighnt

craighnt

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Sep 8, 2013
Messages
133
I have been obsessed with this stone lately. For those who are unfamiliar with it, very rare, blue stone discovered in California about 100 years ago, its the official sate gem but no one here even in CA seems to have heard of it. I have even gone to downtown LA to the jewelery mart where all the trade people are and no one carried it. I have found a few places on line but the samples are very few and far between.

Anyone here one a Benitoite? If so, how happy are you with it, I hear its a lot softer then a sapphire.

I fond this guy selling some but not much of a selection.

http://www.steveperrygems.com/gems/benito.htm
 
I don't own any but this one really appeals to me.

http://www.thegemtrader.com/Mar13Ben.htm

Benitoite is 6.5 on mohs scale (sapphire is 9) so yeah, not particularly hard. IIRC it's dispersion is greater than that of diamond which is cool.
 
I love it too but haven't bought any. Brad at the Gem Trader usually has a good selection of it. It's super as a collector gem & is used in jewelry too but with care because it isn't real durable. Crystals tend to be small-ish, too, so you can't wear a honking big one. Beautiful stone!
 
I have a set of graduated benitoite, from white to dark blue. They are melee sized but gorgeous little things.

Have you checked out Capistrano?
 
It's more of a collector's stone due to the rarity, tendency towards a smaller size and softness.
 
JewelFreak|1413978057|3770883 said:
I love it too but haven't bought any. Brad at the Gem Trader usually has a good selection of it. It's super as a collector gem & is used in jewelry too but with care because it isn't real durable. Crystals tend to be small-ish, too, so you can't wear a honking big one. Beautiful stone!
Click to expand...

Have you seen the 13mm flawless beauty at Capsitrano? :love: I would love to see it in real life, it must be amazing with all the sparkle.

I want to get a second graduated line, to set in a little band, going from light to dark over the finger. Wouldn't that be lovely? My setter will murder me, though.
 
Yes! I have one in a pendant. It's a cute little thing, and SO BLUE. Even though it's tiny, you can see it from far away because it's just insanely blue.
 
I have several....all unset. most too small to consider setting. but I do love looking at them.
faceted large sized [1 carat or more] benitoite is very rare.
check this guy out: http://wsfgems.com/benito.html
I was at his shop about 10 years ago and I can say those bennies are lovely!

eta: his dad had a bennie mine........
 
Like with any gem, there's good quality and not so good quality. I own one, and to be honest, it looks exactly like some blue spinels I own. I prefer blue/violet spinel though because its much much harder, and my blue/violet spinels also have the nice RI that benitoite has. Benitoite is rather soft for a ring stone, and it's so rare, it's really expensive. My advice to you would be to look for a pretty blue/violet spinel unless you like collecting uber rare stones. Another down side to these stones is that they rarely come in sizes above a 1/2 carat, let alone a full carat.

I prefer nice uncut crystals like this since they do form beautiful crystal formations, but full crystals like this are super rare.

18-4-benitoite_1_.jpg
 
BTW, The Gem Shopping Network, believe it or not, had a TWO carat one, nice color for a benitoite as well. However, for the price, I wasn't awe inspired. It looks like a nice blue spinel to me.

file.jpg
 
movie zombie|1413992485|3771005 said:
I have several....all unset. most too small to consider setting. but I do love looking at them.
faceted large sized [1 carat or more] benitoite is very rare.
check this guy out: http://wsfgems.com/benito.html
I was at his shop about 10 years ago and I can say those bennies are lovely!

eta: his dad had a bennie mine........
Click to expand...

A very good advice! :appl: :appl:

And ...

www.rarestone.com

Rick Kennedy too :appl: :appl:

http://earthstreas.com/gemstones/benitoitegems.html

Capistrano is overpriced in my opinion. :!:
 
Some pics....



Benitoite and Neptunite on Matrix - a large opake Benni crystal and 3 cut stones. In the middle a small eyeclean cutting rough on matrix - extremely rare course the cut everything!!



A 0,38 ct light blue IF round, a 0,13 ct colorless and a 0,53 light to medium blue fat pear ( the stone is windowed course the table facet is vertical to the c-axix - best color is parallel to c-axis). The c-axis goes from the tip of the pyramid to the tip of the other pyramid.
 
These folks had a fair selection at a gem show I attended about 5 years ago....If I recall, they had very decent pricing and a nice selection of stuff...Have no idea if they currently have anything, but would be worth the time and effort to contact them if you are looking for something to buy...

http://itecoinc.com/
 
You guys are killing me, got to get one of these puppies soon! Thanks for the links, I did not find most of them in my original Google search.

By the way, I am curious why they dont cut the stone more like its natural shape. It's my understanding that it can grown in a triangulated shape which is quite beautiful on its on. Not a trillion with curved sides, its more angular with beveled edges and architectural lines.

I found this one which seems to have done just that, but rare to see it actually cut that way. Wish the pic was a little clearer.

http://www.rarestone.com/index.php?page=product_details&product_id=3956
 
Selling trillions and other triangular shapes is much, much harder than rounds and ovals.
 
craighnt|1414045835|3771447 said:
You guys are killing me, got to get one of these puppies soon! Thanks for the links, I did not find most of them in my original Google search.

By the way, I am curious why they dont cut the stone more like its natural shape. It's my understanding that it can grown in a triangulated shape which is quite beautiful on its on. Not a trillion with curved sides, its more angular with beveled edges and architectural lines.

I found this one which seems to have done just that, but rare to see it actually cut that way. Wish the pic was a little clearer.

http://www.rarestone.com/index.php?page=product_details&product_id=3956
Click to expand...

The best color is vertical to the c-axis - this is the reason why many bennis are ( long) oval or pears and why rounds ( waste of weight) are really expensive!!!

Trilliants or my fat pear or the stone you post from rarestone.com often show a paler blue mixed with a bit greenishgray.

The dichroism is colorless to greenish grayblue parallel to c-axis and AWESOME blue ( hauyne to deep tanzanite violettblue) vertical to c-axis!!

If you buy an benitoite please buy a dichroscope - a lot of joy!!!

I prefer light to medium blue course you see the dispersion and sparkle - the kill every blue diamond course you will see deeper blue flashes - again the dichroism

Super size and price is around 0,25-0,40 ct - price for eyeclean stones should be around 800-1100pct - then the price jump like a kanguruh!! :D

Scroll to page 6 - fantastic cut stones ( orange is heated from colorless stones)

http://www.mineral-auctions.com/benitoite/benitoite.pdf
 
I prefer the lighter blue which allows one to see the dispersion better.
 
I was also told that they always fluor blue under shortwave UV light, so that's something to use if someone tries to pass another stone to you, instead of a benitoite. Spinel (especially synthetic blue spinel), kyanite, iolite, might be used as less expensive simulants.
 
:love: :love: :love: Wow, some great pictures in that Benitoite PDF link, thanks for the info!
 
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