'blind' opinions on demantoid please?

[Lupinbunny]

I'm getting a pair of demantoid studs made up, and have two sets of stones to choose from... and I'm having trouble deciding. So, without seeing pictures, what would you do in my situation?

Both pairs are the same price.
Both pairs are very, very similar in colour. Pair A is a touch more mossy and is deeper in colour, Pair B maybe best described as 'grassy.' Probably has a touch less brown in it.
Pair A is African, 5 mm across, big, bold flashes of light and loads of red and blue flashes. Definitely look bigger than Pair B. Clean.
Pair B is Russian, 4.5mm across, doesn't have the same bold red and blue flashes. They have smaller, more glittery sparkles. One stone has an inclusion juuuuust visible to my eye that is apparently a horsetail under loupe. I think the other may have some loupable inclusions also, but I can't see them for the life of me.

So - size and fire; or origin and slightly better colour?

 

[chrono]

What do you mean by mossy? How deep is the colour?
What do you mean by grassy?
Overall, how brown are both?

If the colouration is very similar, then I would pick the pair with more fire. 0.5 mm isn't noticeable enough in size to sway me one way or the other. The clarity on the Russian Pair B sounds small enough to not be an issue or consideration.

If the colouration is similar, when did you type that one pair has slightly better colour? Is it similar or is it not? Sorry but I'm somewhat confused.

 

[Lupinbunny]

Yeah, that did sound a bit vague, didn't it? There's a barely perceptible difference in colour, but Pair B is probably slightly nicer. A bit brighter. Pair A are darker. I'd hesitate to call them more brown, but they are a touch more olivey? Which I guess means the brown is there. Both are a good colour, neither are that super-wow-tsavorite shade. I sacrificed that for fire happily, because it's not quite to my taste.

I guess they're both hovering around the colour of the stone on the left of this image (except without the big smooshy byssolite in the middle):
http://jcrs.com/newsletters/2008/images_2008-01/Tsav-Demantoid.jpg

The inclusions don't bother me at all. They're more a proof of origin thing.

Strangely, my colourblind husband 'sees' the green more easily in the darker pair. He says they're greener (they're not. He just sees funny. He also describes purple as a 'blueish red' or a 'reddish blue,' like the two primaries don't quite mix properly into a new shade for him).

 

[chrono]

Since the two are quite close, have you played around with them under different lighting conditions? I find that demantoids colour shift quite a bit under fluorescent lighting. Some become horribly olive (grayish yellowish green) and I just cannot keep them, even if they look spectacular outdoors.

Actually, your DH sees colour just fine. It could just be semantics for him since purple IS a mixture of blue and red. When the blue is greater than red, or red is greater than blue, you get a variety of purples.

 

[minousbijoux]

Lupin - its really hard to offer any thoughts without pictures. If everything else is equal, including price (though I wouldn't be surprised if the Russians were more expensive due to the inclusion and the lack of a brown modifier), then it comes down to which color you like best. Or, if you bought them because of flash, which color and scintillation you like best. Sorry to say, I'm not sure what you really want us to answer - are you asking a "how do I make up my mind" question? or a "what qualities would you look for?" or "what's the better investment?" Can't really tell. That said, without seeing them, my limited experience is to seeing demantoids at opposite ends of the spectrum. To date, every African demantoid I have seen has been too olivey for me to really enjoy even though there is a certain sparkle or fire - the only time they don't read as olive or brownish green is when they are out in the sun. Based on that, I would get the Russians if it really is a truer green with a horsetail, and still with a good deal of scintillation. But I haven't seen them , you have!

 

[partgypsy]

I would go with the one that had more color play (fire) and looked larger, as long as there were no tint/inclusion etc issues that detracted.
I know for myself, other than diamond studs, colored stone studs in a 4.5 mm size or smaller just don't show up well on my ear so I don't buy them anymore.

 

[minousbijoux]

colored stone studs in a 4.5 mm size or smaller just don't show up well on my ear so I don't buy them anymore.

Ooh, I didn't catch that before - that is pretty small...

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Yeah, that did sound a bit vague, didn't it? There's a barely perceptible difference in colour, but Pair B is probably slightly nicer. A bit brighter. Pair A are darker. I'd hesitate to call them more brown, but they are a touch more olivey? Which I guess means the brown is there. Both are a good colour, neither are that super-wow-tsavorite shade. I sacrificed that for fire happily, because it's not quite to my taste.

I think you have your answer right here: you prefer fire over color. As you said, the colors are close and you value fire, so go for Pair A.