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Elbaite Tourmaline and their value. Any idea?

JewelryLover

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BTW! .. the round Old European cut blue gemstone that I dont know exactly what is, it's turning white under UV (like an ice cube).
 

T L

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minousbijoux|1350850515|3289792 said:
TL|1350846824|3289745 said:
minousbijoux|1350846719|3289741 said:
TL: tell us about the ring is that yours? Stats stat, m'dear!

That's not my ring Minou, that photo was taken at a very expensive 5th avenue store in NYC by someone admiring it in their case. I forget the poster and the name of the store.

:(sad ;( ;( :(sad :(( :blackeye: Well lets just pretend - you have beautiful hands, too, TL ;))

Those weren't my hands.
 

T L

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JewelryLover|1350857400|3289847 said:
minousbijoux|1350857297|3289845 said:
JewelryLover|1350851096|3289804 said:
Oh ... that's a bummer!! I would've cried ...

Pink Cuprian Tourmaline (first picture), heated to the sad grayish color.

http://www.mardonjewelers.com/blog/the-perils-of-paraiba-jewelers-tears-2/

Wow, that's gotta be one for the record books...

Yeah, it sure is tragic .. I feel sad for the owner of it.

The purplish pinks should not be heated, they always seem to go pale. It's the greyish violets or greyish blues you need to heat.
 

chrono

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I read that if you overheat the blue greens, the blue is neutralized, leaving it looking like a regular green tourmaline.
 

Art Nouveau

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The old blue stone you posted looks too brilliant to be an aquamarine. Just a wild guess, but I think it may be a blue zircon.
 

JewelryLover

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Art Nouveau|1350868215|3289944 said:
The old blue stone you posted looks too brilliant to be an aquamarine. Just a wild guess, but I think it may be a blue zircon.

Thank you for the opinion. I were able to find stamps on the original mounting (on the outside of the ring). It's stamped with 3 crowns and the letter "S" also marked "900". The stamps were only used in Sweden, from year 1913-1988. I think my ring is from somewhere between 1913-1950's at a maximum, as this is the only period of time that make sense. I think I might send it to AGL for a gembrief report just to see what type of gemstone it is, not because of the value, but because it's just interesting to know.
 

T L

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JewelryLover|1350868498|3289950 said:
Art Nouveau|1350868215|3289944 said:
The old blue stone you posted looks too brilliant to be an aquamarine. Just a wild guess, but I think it may be a blue zircon.

Thank you for the opinion. I were able to find stamps on the original mounting (on the outside of the ring). It's stamped with 3 crowns and the letter "S" also marked "900". The stamps were only used in Sweden, from year 1913-1988. I think my ring is from somewhere between 1913-1950's at a maximum, as this is the only period of time that make sense. I think I might send it to AGL for a gembrief report just to see what type of gemstone it is, not because of the value, but because it's just interesting to know.

It could be synthetic spinel or corundum too.
 

JewelryLover

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TL|1350869119|3289954 said:
JewelryLover|1350868498|3289950 said:
Art Nouveau|1350868215|3289944 said:
The old blue stone you posted looks too brilliant to be an aquamarine. Just a wild guess, but I think it may be a blue zircon.

Thank you for the opinion. I were able to find stamps on the original mounting (on the outside of the ring). It's stamped with 3 crowns and the letter "S" also marked "900". The stamps were only used in Sweden, from year 1913-1988. I think my ring is from somewhere between 1913-1950's at a maximum, as this is the only period of time that make sense. I think I might send it to AGL for a gembrief report just to see what type of gemstone it is, not because of the value, but because it's just interesting to know.

It could be synthetic spinel or corundum too.

Okay, I personally dont know when they started to use synthetic gemstones. The gemstone do turn "ice-cube" white under UV. That's all I know.
 

Art Nouveau

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The beautiful paraiba ring in the picture posted by TL was from Kaufmann de Suisse. The store is on Madison Ave in New York City. I saved the picture too, but can't remember who posted it.
 

chrono

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I would suspect synthetic due to your observation of its UV reaction. Synthetics have been around since at least the 1900's.
 

JewelryLover

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Chrono|1350873329|3289986 said:
I would suspect synthetic due to your observation of its UV reaction. Synthetics have been around since at least the 1900's.

Okay :)
 

LD

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JL one thing that is important is that stones can be switched out of settings so the stamps on a setting don't necessary correspond with the age of the stone. As others have said synthetic corundum/spinel was very popular in older rings.

Are you sure you're seeing white fluor? I've never known a gem have this. Could it be a pale yellow?
 

JewelryLover

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LD|1350936618|3290372 said:
JL one thing that is important is that stones can be switched out of settings so the stamps on a setting don't necessary correspond with the age of the stone. As others have said synthetic corundum/spinel was very popular in older rings.

Are you sure you're seeing white fluor? I've never known a gem have this. Could it be a pale yellow?

That might be correct.

I dont know if it's the fluorescence that is white, or if the UV kind of "neutralize" the blue in the stone. It is not yellow, it's completely white. It has the same exct color as an ice-cube.

Hard to see, but the background is white as well, and it do almost "disappear" into the background. You can see it gets that "white" light as well. I did find only one type of gemstone that can fluorescense white. I will see if I find the name of it again!

20121023_005704.jpg

20121023_005718.jpg
 

JewelryLover

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LD|1350936618|3290372 said:
JL one thing that is important is that stones can be switched out of settings so the stamps on a setting don't necessary correspond with the age of the stone. As others have said synthetic corundum/spinel was very popular in older rings.

Are you sure you're seeing white fluor? I've never known a gem have this. Could it be a pale yellow?

The name of the gemstone that are Blue and can look White under UV is named Grandidierite. I dont even know what that type of gemstone is, never heard of it before.
 

ChrisA222

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I thought it might be glass...but this is what I found in an article about early American glass:

Four colors of fluorescence have been observed with Early American cut glass: yellow-green (usually found in the oldest pieces of Brilliant, indicating the presence of manganese and possibly some traces of uranium salts); a blue-green (primarily manganese); a steel blue-grey (also manganese), sometimes referred to as blue-ice; finally pink (or pinkish-blue, indicative of sodium used in reproduction items).
 

JewelryLover

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ChrisA222|1350949943|3290504 said:
I thought it might be glass...but this is what I found in an article about early American glass:

Four colors of fluorescence have been observed with Early American cut glass: yellow-green (usually found in the oldest pieces of Brilliant, indicating the presence of manganese and possibly some traces of uranium salts); a blue-green (primarily manganese); a steel blue-grey (also manganese), sometimes referred to as blue-ice; finally pink (or pinkish-blue, indicative of sodium used in reproduction items).

Okay. If it's a synthetic the closest color would be blue-ice (manganese).
 

chrono

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I'm unsure of what I'm seeing and wondering if perhaps it's your technique as well. When a stone reacts to UV, the entire stone show the same colour evenly distributed. In your picture, the white is patchy / uneven which makes me doubt that it fluorescences.
 

JewelryLover

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Chrono|1350963166|3290597 said:
I'm unsure of what I'm seeing and wondering if perhaps it's your technique as well. When a stone reacts to UV, the entire stone show the same colour evenly distributed. In your picture, the white is patchy / uneven which makes me doubt that it fluorescences.

No, the stone is all only one color - it's just hard to catch with the camera beacue it's cold european cut, nothing else. You can see where it "flashes" white, that's the color the whole gemstone turn into under UV.
 

chrono

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I guess the best thing to do is have a gemmologist test the RI and SG.
 

JewelryLover

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Chrono|1350963625|3290610 said:
I guess the best thing to do is have a gemmologist test the RI and SG.

Okay, then I will just send it to AGL because that's easier and they know what they are talking about as well.
 

chrono

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Are there no gemmologists where you are? I cannot imagine shipping it all the way to the US is any less of a hassle than getting someone local to run two very simple test that can be done in minutes.
 

JewelryLover

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Chrono|1350963854|3290616 said:
Are there no gemmologists where you are? I cannot imagine shipping it all the way to the US is any less of a hassle than getting someone local to run two very simple test that can be done in minutes.

The nearest one that can test it is a jewelry store.
But I will have to send another gemstone to AGL anyways, so I think it's easier just to ship them together :)
 

JewelryLover

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Chrono|1350963854|3290616 said:
Are there no gemmologists where you are? I cannot imagine shipping it all the way to the US is any less of a hassle than getting someone local to run two very simple test that can be done in minutes.

BTW! Incandescent light make it turn slightly greenish-blue in color, or more like mint-green. But as fast as removing it from the light it turns right back to bright blue again.

incandescent (top picture), fluorescent (bottom)

20121022_035141.jpg

20121021_1.jpg
 

LD

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I'm almost positive that what you are seeing isn't fluoresence. With fluor you see the whole gem change a different colour OR absolutely glows - yours still looks blue with, I'm pretty sure, just reflections of white from the background. This phenomenon captures well on camera so if there was fluor I'm pretty sure you'd be able to photograph it easily. Look at the examples of my stones below. You'll see different examples of gems with fluor.

fluorescent_montage.jpg
 

JewelryLover

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LD|1351015204|3290854 said:
I'm almost positive that what you are seeing isn't fluoresence. With fluor you see the whole gem change a different colour OR absolutely glows - yours still looks blue with, I'm pretty sure, just reflections of white from the background. This phenomenon captures well on camera so if there was fluor I'm pretty sure you'd be able to photograph it easily. Look at the examples of my stones below. You'll see different examples of gems with fluor.

Yes, I know, and yes, the whole gemstone change color. It do look like your picture number 4 to the left (upper piece your your stone). It's clearly white, no yellowish to it. The light I use is very strong, and the camera are just not able to catch it. I will try to take another picture of it :)
 

LD

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The picture you're referring to is yellow fluor - not white. That's why I asked if you were sure about the colour. White fluor is not usual.
 

JewelryLover

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LD|1351018596|3290881 said:
The picture you're referring to is yellow fluor - not white. That's why I asked if you were sure about the colour. White fluor is not usual.

No, half of your diamond (upper part) picture number 4 (to the left) do look white to me, it's that color I'm refering to. Not the yellow (lower part). :) I'm 110% sure that my gemstone is all white. As I said, I will try to capture a better picture of it with another camera.
 

LD

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JL - you can argue if you want but the GIA have graded this diamond as having yellow fluor and that's what I see. It may be paler in some places but it's still yellow.
 
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