cobalt spinel inclusions

[Bonsai]

is cobalt spinel known for inclusions/ chips?
Ibought a cobalt ring off LT. had a jeweler check it and said it was good, now that I look very very very closely I notice 2 Knicks not visible to the naked eye.They are on the edges of the facets on the side and I think they might have always been there as I hardly wear the ring. I cant imagine what would have caused it as it's been worn a few hours twice or so. Anyway would they weaken the stone? It does appear to have a lot of inclusions inside, well not a lot but more than my other stones.

 

[Bonsai]

*its a real cobalt spinel it has a report.

 

[Arcadian]

Spinels in general can have all kinds of interesting inclusions inside, but also if you wear a ring, be it diamond or whatever,you can cause damage to it.

Because I would lose my mind, I stopped looking at my rings too close. I enjoy wearing them, I take them in every few years for a tuneup of the prongs, and let the jeweler tell me if they see anything that is worrisome at that time. Last time my most loved zircon ring needed a light polishing but all others were fine.

Basically what you're describing is normal wear and tear. it happens. If we never wear them they'd stay perfect! But the reality is, we all do unintended hand stuff that is just being human and if we wear our rings, ditto. My feeling is that the stone is probably OK but maybe a trip to the jeweler is what you need to do for peace of mind?

 

[JackTrick]

Inclusions in spinels are not uncommon. Also, cobalt spinel is especially rare so most material found isn’t terribly clean.

got a picture?

 

[Skyjems]

is cobalt spinel known for inclusions/ chips?
Ibought a cobalt ring off LT. had a jeweler check it and said it was good, now that I look very very very closely I notice 2 Knicks not visible to the naked eye.They are on the edges of the facets on the side and I think they might have always been there as I hardly wear the ring. I cant imagine what would have caused it as it's been worn a few hours twice or so. Anyway would they weaken the stone? It does appear to have a lot of inclusions inside, well not a lot but more than my other stones.

Yes, I've attached a pic of some cobalt rough, instead of being single large crystals, almost all of the rough comes in these crystal clusters.

This is why a clean vivid cobalt spinel can demand such a massive price, I know someone who sold a 0.65ish carat stone for $18k USD because it was loupe clean.

 

[arkieb1]

African cobalts tend to be way cleaner than Vietnamese cobalts (which are generally heavily included and the material can be quite crumbly as well). Spinel in general frequently has inclusions.

 

[Skyjems]

African cobalts tend to be way cleaner than Vietnamese cobalts (which are generally heavily included and the material can be quite crumbly as well). Spinel in general frequently has inclusions.

I don't know that I have seen any African cobalt spinel? Do you have any? Pics? Info?

My curiosity is peaked!

 

[arkieb1]

I don't know that I have seen any African cobalt spinel? Do you have any? Pics? Info?

My curiosity is peaked!

Blue spinel comes from Africa, Vietnam, Burma and I've read Sri Lanka (although I'm not entirely sure if the blue spinel from Sri Lanka has been taken into there from Africa, like most of the pinks and reds...)

I know a guy that had shares in a mine in Africa that had some brighter blue spinel that I believe also had traces of cobalt in it like the Vietnamese stuff. But no it's not as bright or as vivid as the Vietnamese spinel. Other places you can find cobalts;

Canada but no one can get access to it (yes I've tried)

Scientists figure out origin of cobalt-blue spinel in Canada’s Arctic

Small spinel stones with good transparency and fine cobalt-blue colour can sell for about 10 times the price of a comparable sapphire.

www.mining.com

And I've heard dealers talk about remote deposits of the bright neon blue cobalts in war torn parts of Afghanistan that have not really been mentioned or strictly identified, and again at this point it time it's near impossible to get access to it.

 

[JackTrick]

Curious. The pictures of Canadian cobalt spinel I've seen have looked brilliant brilliant blue. Those look more like what I expect of general purple spinel.

 

[Nick_G]

Blue spinel comes from Africa, Vietnam, Burma and I've read Sri Lanka (although I'm not entirely sure if the blue spinel from Sri Lanka has been taken into there from Africa, like most of the pinks and reds...)

I know a guy that had shares in a mine in Africa that had some brighter blue spinel that I believe also had traces of cobalt in it like the Vietnamese stuff. But no it's not as bright or as vivid as the Vietnamese spinel. Other places you can find cobalts;

Canada but no one can get access to it (yes I've tried)

Scientists figure out origin of cobalt-blue spinel in Canada’s Arctic

Small spinel stones with good transparency and fine cobalt-blue colour can sell for about 10 times the price of a comparable sapphire.

www.mining.com

And I've heard dealers talk about remote deposits of the bright neon blue cobalts in war torn parts of Afghanistan that have not really been mentioned or strictly identified, and again at this point it time it's near impossible to get access to it.

I have a few specimens of sapphire blue spinel from Afghanistan and Pakistan that apparently contain cobalt. The best blue colour is one of the Pakistan specimens from the Hunza Valley, probably Aliabad. The crystals are deep saturated blue, although they aren't the bright neon of the best Vietnamese material. Pic below:

The colour has less of a violet modifier in person, but does look a bit like that in incandescent light.