does anyone have heart-shaped stones?

[Arkteia]

Not that I fancy them, but I bought a couple from Tan, and they are quite pretty , but I never set any so I am looking for inspiration...

1) is a 1.4 ct. Mahenge, likely, old material, so I decided to buy it, and honestly, of all my stones, I like this best. I do not care if it is orange, red or pink, it is neon-ish and that's what matters. But it is a heart-shaped stone and I do not know how these stones are set...

 

[Arkteia]

and this is how it looks under the most orange lamp I have... It is on my table, a small lamp from Ikea that is gentle on the eyes...

 

[Arkteia]

This stone is not even certified, was sold as unheated. I did not bother to certify it because I regretted the purchase the moment I clicked the button. But it arrived, and came out quite pretty, so I am going to certify it here. If it is Be-treated, the vendor will, likely, take it back. it is very pretty, not as insolently-blue in real life, and not dark-violet like I prefer, but it holds its own (color).

The spinel next to it is less orangey in real life, again, you can see the light which does not favor it, I thought I would return it back, but given the size and price, and what goes around, I may keep it. It is over 2 ct. and under 1K.

 

[kenny]

Pretty hearts; I especially like the pink one in the first pics.

We have two heart-shapped fancy colored diamonds.
I gave my SO a little heart diamond to mark our 10th year together.
GIA 0.19 ct., Natural Fancy Vivid Orange Yellow, VVS2.

Its not set yet, unless this flower from a rosemary herb counts.



I just ordered this GIA 0.16 ct Fancy Intense Orangy Pink diamond.
The cut and clarity are poor but I love the color itself.

 

[Arkteia]

Fantastic stone. It looks so hu-uge on the picture! Congratulations on your anniversary!

 

[Lovinggems]

I have a heart shaped Sunstone, it's being set into a pearl enhancer by JKT at the moment, inside an upside down triangle.
Lovingdiamond recently bought a gorgeous heart shaped gray diamond. I love your Mahenge Spinel.

 

[T L]

I wish rockhugger were posting again (I miss her), but she had a ton of heart shaped gems, so search out her threads. I currently have two heart shaped FCD's that are set in a new ring I just had made, but I'm waiting to post pictures after I pick it up from the jewelers.

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Raising Hand.....
I would buy a heart if I had a few good setting ideas.....

Crasru, your little gems are lovely !!!!
I particularly love the little mahenge heart, such a pretty color

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

I wish rockhugger were posting again (I miss her), but she had a ton of heart shaped gems, so search out her threads. I currently have two heart shaped FCD's that are set in a new ring I just had made, but I'm waiting to post pictures after I pick it up from the jewelers.

Ooooooooo HURRY !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[marymm]

I was never a fan of heart-shaped stones but came across a very inexpensive Tanzanite heart at OdysseyGem and won it (less than $10) - it is quite pretty IRL, and I plan to set it in a simple bezel mount, either plain or with just the inner edge milgrained.

I love your Spinel heart - wonderful color, and I think the heart shape works well with its glowiness.

DanielM did a nice bezel for PandaKeeper - http://www.etsy.com/transaction/45239698




I also really like James Allen's heart bezel ring - http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/solitaire-rings/ring/item_57-7659.asp

 

[Pandora II]

I wouldn't bother Be testing the blue stone. It's only used on overly dark blue sapphires as it lightens the colour rather than improving the actual shade and that one looks a bit too light toned. Plus blues can contain Be naturally so it's a tricky one. Do you know where the stone came from ie Sri Lanka or Thailand? If Sri Lanka then relax as they don't do Be treatment there.

 

[LD]

I'm going to say this first ........... I hate heart shaped stones and would never purposely go out to buy one BUT because I buy for colour first and foremost, over the years I seem to have amassed a small country's quota of heart shapes! Here are some of them!

Photo 1: Grey diamond heart

Photo 2: Necklace with 2x peach/orange/brown/pink diamonds and a purplish pink diamond in the centre

Photo 3: Montage of hearts (from the top): Amethyst, irradiated 1ct blue diamonds, natural 1.01ct yellow diamond, blue sapphire, cuprian tourmaline, 2x rubies, 8ct Tanzanite and CC Garnet with Alexandrite colour way.

Photo 4: Large Morganite (think it's around 5ct but can't remember)

How about setting yours in a necklace like the yellow diamond in photo 2? The chain has little white diamonds in bezels on it as well (like a Diamonds by the Yard).

 

[Arkteia]

LD, your stones are lovely! And your grey diamond! A big wow!

I do not mind heart-shaped stones, or rather, don't care if they are heart-shaped or not, but I was concerned about setting them. I like it that many of your stones are not bezeled. In my view, spinels should not be bezeled, but as I am looking at your stones that are prong-set, it gives me hope for a nice setting. Too bad the stone is small, the color is much better than many other stones I had.

Pandora - thank you so much for giving me the advice. I wanted to send the stone back, but, funnily, everyone in my office who is not a collector absolutely loved it so I thought I could keep it for a while till I find something bigger and darker. It looks pretty bright, but I am not yet sure...

 

[y2kitty]

LD, your stones are lovely! And your grey diamond! A big wow!

I do not mind heart-shaped stones, or rather, don't care if they are heart-shaped or not, but I was concerned about setting them. I like it that many of your stones are not bezeled. In my view, spinels should not be bezeled, but as I am looking at your stones that are prong-set, it gives me hope for a nice setting. Too bad the stone is small, the color is much better than many other stones I had.

Pandora - thank you so much for giving me the advice. I wanted to send the stone back, but, funnily, everyone in my office who is not a collector absolutely loved it so I thought I could keep it for a while till I find something bigger and darker. It looks pretty bright, but I am not yet sure...

crasru - May I inquire as to how the pricing on the Tan spinel was compared to spinels from other vendors? Cheaper per carat or more expensive?

 

[Arkteia]

Tough question... If you are asking about stones in general, Tan's prices are better. Spinel is a totally separate issue. In short, somewhat cheaper, but I have to explain some details.

Well, first of all, Tan does not photoshop his pictures. It is a HUGE deal! To compare the expectations/reality, I'd say that Tan's stones meet expectations and in this way, are safer to buy. Some stones that I have bought from other vendors were photoshopped to the extreme. (Sorry for grammatically incorrect phrase, but I think you understand what I mean). I do not want to undermine people's businesses and hence am not posting two photo/real stones that I recently purchased (from different vendors), but the pictures/stones were night and day! Expensive, too.

At the same time, the prices for spinel have gone up considerably and the price of, say, pink portuguese-cut spinels has quadrupled on Tan's website. The small heart-shaped spinel that I have bought is cheaper than what I saw with other vendors. Same for the other spinel in my picture. I have not seen the pink spinel portugueze-cut pair from Gemfix in real life, but the price of this pair is comparable to similar pairs that Tan sells now. Not higher at all. Assuming they are equal in quality, but no one so far has complained of Gemfix's stones. (I suspect they are very pretty judging from what another PS-er has just bought from them). So Tan's prices for spinel have, really, gone up.

Very large spinels are cheaper on Tan's website. Personally, I do not like the orange-red pear he is selling now, but it is cheap as compared to what I see on other websites. Again, I can not always vouch for the picture/real life stones on other websites, but I think I can guestimate.

This being said, I never bought from AJS and can not compare their pictures with real stones. If their pictures accurately reflect the real colors, then the prices are comparable with Tan's.

If you want to invest in a more expensive stone, I'd advise to ask for a hand picture first. Tan complies, Jeff White offers it himself, even sends the rough to examine, I see Gary Braun started doing it, and Roger Dery had the courtesy to do it as well when I asked him to. There is one vendor who pretended he did not get this message and did not answer me, and when I received the stone, I understood why.

It is a long answer, and I have gotten off on a tangent, but "cheaper" is a very relative term, and I did not want to be unfair to other vendors, so I had to explain what I meant. In short, Tan's prices have gotten up considerably, but they are still somewhat lower; plus, it is very safe to buy from him because of true-to-life pictures, good return policy and his willingness to work with the customer.

Everything that I have posted does not apply to Lisa because she lives so close and I can see her stones and buy them through her jeweler.

 

[T L]

Crasru,
I wish you would say who these vendors are that heavily photoshop. I understand that you might not want to, but I think it would save a lot of people grief if you did, and it might make them tighten their business practices.

 

[Arkteia]

And in general - if you count the number of topics on spinel on this page, it becomes obvious what drives up the prices of this stone! It is a great stone, but can we coin up some abbreviation or a special word for the PS-ers?

 

[Arkteia]

Crasru,
I wish you would say who these vendors are that heavily photoshop. I understand that you might not want to, but I think it would save a lot of people grief if you did, and it might make them tighten their business practices.

TL - wait for a couple of days and I shall post pictures compared to real stones. It will be more telling so that it does not sound like defamation...

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Crasru,
I wish you would say who these vendors are that heavily photoshop. I understand that you might not want to, but I think it would save a lot of people grief if you did, and it might make them tighten their business practices.

TL - wait for a couple of days and I shall post pictures compared to real stones. It will be more telling so that it does not sound like defamation...

I think that's fair....

BTW, I took heart ( ) from your pretty pictures and went ahead
and pulled the trigger on a small pink spinel heart of my own !!!
Another little one that I had been looking at for awhile...

No, not the gorgeous Mega-Heart TL posted on the other thread,
don't I just wish......

Mine is a humble little Tan heart, but I think I'll like it

 

[bluebirrrd]

I understand they aren't for everyone, but I like hearts. This is a heart sunstone set in U-prongs by DanielM.





This last one isn't something I own, just an inspiration photo from the natural sapphire co.

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

OHHH This is just perfect, THANKS !!!!!!!

 

[Arkteia]

You know what? I think that if I do not find a nice-looking ring setting for the heart-shaped spinel on a budget, Peter Lees's aura can always save the day...

http://www.peterlees.com/productDetail.php?Piece=35

It is an open bezel and as such, allows the light to get through the stone. This ruby is small 1.14 ct, which means that my 1.4 ct. stone may not be too small for his aura. I would like to wear the stone on my finger, of course, but may end up with his design. I have noticed that he uses auras for earrings, too, which helps, because I have some paired stones which I do not want to bezel. I wonder if the auras can be suitable for rings, though.

Another thing I have noticed is that these auras may work well for beautiful stones with much extinction. The "spill" of color on the dish may mask these ugly black spots.

I hope Kismet sees this thread and "chimes in"; she knows excellent jewelers and has interesting ideas.

 

[marcy]

I am a sucker for hearts. I have a rhodolite, a garnet and diamond heart RHR's.

 

[Kismet]

You know what? I think that if I do not find a nice-looking ring setting for the heart-shaped spinel on a budget, Peter Lees's aura can always save the day...

http://www.peterlees.com/productDetail.php?Piece=35

It is an open bezel and as such, allows the light to get through the stone. This ruby is small 1.14 ct, which means that my 1.4 ct. stone may not be too small for his aura. I would like to wear the stone on my finger, of course, but may end up with his design. I have noticed that he uses auras for earrings, too, which helps, because I have some paired stones which I do not want to bezel. I wonder if the auras can be suitable for rings, though.

Another thing I have noticed is that these auras may work well for beautiful stones with much extinction. The "spill" of color on the dish may mask these ugly black spots.

I hope Kismet sees this thread and "chimes in"; she knows excellent jewelers and has interesting ideas.

Unfortunately, I don't own any heart shaped stones. I've set one pear shaped stone and one trillion shaped stone and both of them just went into a plain bezel setting, so not a lot of creativity there.

I can't imagine that PL's aura design would work well (in a practical sense) as a ring. Can you just imagine the gunk that would collect in the dish?

I would kind of be tempted to set the blue and pink hearts together in a negligee necklace type setting.