Cranberry red tourmaline?

[cookies]

I am getting a custom cut rubellite, and just heard back from one custom gem cutter (through Wink). He has a top quality Nigeria tourmaline rough. He describes the color as strongly purplish red (red primary hue) but very saturate, and it will cut a gem like a rich vibrant cranberry with no orange or brownish undertones at all.

I thought cranberries (the fruit) always have some orangeish/brownish hue.. Am I wrong? What does a cranberry without orange/brown undertone look like? Could anyone show me some pictures of tourmaline in such color? I need to choose between this rough and another rough he has (a Brazilian tourmaline that is also strongly purplish Red, but a little lighter in tone than the Nigerian tourmaline and it will have some eye visible veils in it). Both are natural, no treatment. Ideally, I would want a ruby red color with some purple or blue undertone.

Shall I ask for pictures of the roughs before making a decision? I heard the outcome might look very different from the rough..so I am not sure. Your suggestions will be very helpful. Thank you!

 

[T L]

Ask for photos in natural and artificial light.

 

[LD]

One person's cranberry is another person's raspberry! It's absolutely impossible to know exactly what the person looking at the rough is seeing. You're right that rough can look very different cut. If I were you, I'd get a sample of the colour YOU want, email them a picture and then trust their judgement to give you the one that matches best.

 

[Jim Rentfrow]

Rough gemstones are very hard to describe in color. The color will more than likely change saturation with cutting as well. Getting pictures will help but just realize they may still not be accurate of the finished product, or even the rough depending on the lighting.

 

[Arcadian]

Cranberry Colors huh? It can be very subjective. I tend to go by Pantone colors and cranberry is a sort of purplish color for print(flat and gloss) In web colors however its a totally different hue!

This may or may not help, it would depend on what your monitor is calibrated to.

http://www.atlasembroidery.com/embroidery/thread-color-chart.php

Personally I think you should find the color you like, find an example of it, and send it to the cutter. This way they know exactly what you want.



-A

 

[Michael_E]

Shall I ask for pictures of the roughs before making a decision? I heard the outcome might look very different from the rough..so I am not sure. Your suggestions will be very helpful. Thank you!

You heard correctly. Tourmalines are almost always strongly dichroic and a picture is always going to show some mix of the two different colors. Typically looking down the long, "C", axis will show a much darker color, or if backlit will even show a different color than what you'll actually end up with. Looking across the short, "A-B" axes can often show a very light and similar shade or even a completely different color. If the A-B axis is greenish, then the entire stone will show as somewhat brown since the green and red mixed look brownish. About the only thing looking at a pictures will tell you is if the finished stone will show any green on any of the axes and this is so obvious that your cutter will already have taken this into account when they told you that the stone will show no brown. Your choices are lighter and slightly included or darker and not included. There's now way of showing you what the actual tone and hue will be until it's cut, since even the cutter can't know precisely. How large is the stone and how concerned about inclusions are you? If it's a fairly large stone, over 9mm, I'd go with the cleaner, more deeply colored stone, since inclusions are easier to see in larger stones and clean rubellites in larger sizes have a traditionally higher value. I also prefer deeper colors, so take my advice with a large grain of salt.

 

[cookies]

How large is the stone and how concerned about inclusions are you? If it's a fairly large stone, over 9mm, I'd go with the cleaner, more deeply colored stone, since inclusions are easier to see in larger stones and clean rubellites in larger sizes have a traditionally higher value. I also prefer deeper colors, so take my advice with a large grain of salt.

The stone will be fairly large, 11mm round. I personally prefer fewer inclusions.

I really appreciate everyone's suggestions. I guess I am going to find some color samples, and let my gem cutter pick a stone that would match best to one of the samples.