buying spinel

[Arkteia]

Dear Chrono, you mentioned that the size of spinel stone is important. Eric from Swala has e-mailed me the dimensions of the stone he is offering. The stone is intense pink.

"dimensions of the gem are the following: 10.3 x 7.3 x 4.2 mm
The cutting of the gem enables it to "spread" out quite well. It is not deep
the least bit."

What do you think? To me, it sounds shallow.

 

[chrono]

It does appear shallow on paper, but certain cuts are naturally shallow like trillions. Sometimes, pears can also be cut quite shallow without showing any window. In this case, it’s best to verify with a picture of the gem for any cutting issues. Do you mind posting a picture of the stone?

 

[Arkteia]

I should have checked out posts first, but I didn''t. It was my birthday, so I just went ahead and bought the stone. Now it is on its way from Tanzania. Eric seems easy to deal with. If I don''t like it I am sure I can upgrade it or change it for something else, there are so many stones on his website.

I just saw your posts with cobalt spinel - amazing! Museum-quality stone. Unfortunately, I did not see any cobalt spinel on Swala website, but he may not have it now. Is galenaspinel any blue spinel or only iron-colored one?

How does it look in real life? Does it resemble a bright-blue sapphire? The only sapphire that I ever really liked was a beautiful Kashmir (isn''t it a surprise?) but it was way above my budget. But if your spinel is as bright, intense blue as in your pictures, perhaps I should look for something similar instead of a sapphire?