Garnets Anyone?

[Addlepated]

The colors are quite hard to catch with a camera - you can see more views here: http://gallery.addlepated.net/Garnet

 

[MINE!!]

I LOVE THE concave cut!! *snicker*

 

[Gemklctr]

Date: 8/25/2005 12:00:31 PM
Author: Buena Girl
Valeria, THANK YOU for posting the link to that fabulous garnet!!!!!!! I feel the ''I want it, I need it, I can''t live without it'' urges

How hard are these stones to come by? I literally feel weak thinking about a color change garnet with those colors. If I was looking to buy one maybe in 2006, do you think some nice ones might be available, or should I pounce on this one? Moneywise, I would prefer to wait.

GK- If you examine your magic blue garnets in different lighting this weekend, could you let us know what you think about it? Vibrance? Difference in color? Anything like that? THANKS!!!

Here''s a pic in case anyone would like to see it without having to click the link:

BG,
Here is a photo of my magic blues by flashlight - medium purple with red flashes. In the next post, they are blue-green in sunlight. These representations of the colors are reasonably accurate, although they are brighter in person. Still, not in the class of the concave and Multicolour stones.

 

[Gemklctr]

Sunlight.

 

[Buena Girl]

Whoa!!!

Thanks for the fantastic pictures!!!!!!!

Something interesting I saw last night-> Victoria Wieck, one of the jewelry designers that sells their stuff on HSN, presented a ring last night that had color change garnets. Unfortunately, it sold out too fast and they did not show the ring in different lighting to demonstrate the color change. Her garnets are tiny, so I don''t really know how great of a change you would see in person anyway.

 

[Gemklctr]

Date: 8/29/2005 10:51:14 PM
Author: Buena Girl

Whoa!!!

Thanks for the fantastic pictures!!!!!!!

Something interesting I saw last night-> Victoria Wieck, one of the jewelry designers that sells their stuff on HSN, presented a ring last night that had color change garnets. Unfortunately, it sold out too fast and they did not show the ring in different lighting to demonstrate the color change. Her garnets are tiny, so I don''t really know how great of a change you would see in person anyway.

You''re welcome. Love the new avatar. That''s interesting about HSN. Gem Shopping Channel had one of 2+ cts. in a ring over the weekend, but also didn''t show the color change. I couldn''t tell from the TV whether it was even a magic blue, and they didn''t use that term. There are color change garnets that are not magic blues. I think Multicolour has some, and the bottom left garnet in my display is one. They are not as attractive. Mine changes from a brownish orange to a brownish yellow green if I recall correctly.

 

[Buena Girl]

thanks GK! No magic blue garnet for me yet, but I''ll definitely plan to keep my eyes open for one sometime next year. If I am lucky, the multicolour.com one might still be available.

I seriously doubt the HSN rings have magic blue garnets. They kept describing them as greenish, but it''s really tough to tell when looking at something on t.v. The rings had an Alexandrite as the center stone , with tiny (2mm?) color change garnets. They described the garnets as looking the same as the alexandrite.

 

[Richard M.]

Date: 8/30/2005 9:06:58 AM
Author: GemKlctr
I couldn''t tell from the TV whether it was even a magic blue, and they didn''t use that term. There are color change garnets that are not magic blues.

I''m wondering where you came up with the name "Magic Blue." It''s obviously a tradename coined by a seller like HSN.

There are several different kinds of CC garnets with a number of different color changes. The most prized, apart from the blues, are the alexandrite-like colors, red to blue or some semblence thereof. Most are pyrope-spessartites but other garnet species occasionally exhibit the property known as photochroism. Garnets with blue change came from Bekily, Madagascar but last I heard were very scarce if not mined out. Of course I''ve heard that many times before about gems that later appeared on the market again from a "new discovery." Time will tell.

Major sources of CC garnets are Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Tanzania, Kenya and Madagascar. They''ve even been reported from the huge garnet deposits in Idaho, U.S.A., also the source of the world''s finest star garnets.

Richard M.

 

[Gemklctr]

Date: 8/30/2005 3:29:45 PM
Author: Richard M.

Date: 8/30/2005 9:06:58 AM
Author: GemKlctr
I couldn''t tell from the TV whether it was even a magic blue, and they didn''t use that term. There are color change garnets that are not magic blues.

I''m wondering where you came up with the name ''Magic Blue.'' It''s obviously a tradename coined by a seller like HSN.

There are several different kinds of CC garnets with a number of different color changes. The most prized, apart from the blues, are the alexandrite-like colors, red to blue or some semblence thereof. Most are pyrope-spessartites but other garnet species occasionally exhibit the property known as photochroism. Garnets with blue change came from Bekily, Madagascar but last I heard were very scarce if not mined out. Of course I''ve heard that many times before about gems that later appeared on the market again from a ''new discovery.'' Time will tell.

Major sources of CC garnets are Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Tanzania, Kenya and Madagascar. They''ve even been reported from the huge garnet deposits in Idaho, U.S.A., also the source of the world''s finest star garnets.

Richard M.

Richard,
Thanks for the additional info. The name "magic blue" was used by the gem dealers from which I bought the 2 stones pictured above. At least one of them came from the Multicolour site linked by Ana. I was given to understand that they are from the Madagascar site, as I noted earlier in this thread, and that they received the name because it was the first discovery of a garnet with a blue hue [?] as well as because of the color change property. I believe you are correct that the mine was reportedly depleted some time ago. I haven''t seen an alexandrite-like garnet apart from the blues (the purple in mine is not as reddish as an alexandrite, but the blue/green is similar to some alex''s I have examined). I also hadn''t seen a star garnet until belle posted the one above.

The availability of, and willingness to share, this type of expertise is what attracted me to PS.

Thanks again.

 

[Richard M.]

Date: 8/30/2005 4:41:30 PM
Author: GemKlctr
they received the name because it was the first discovery of a garnet with a blue hue [?] as well as because of the color change property. I believe you are correct that the mine was reportedly depleted some time ago. I haven''t seen an alexandrite-like garnet apart from the blues (the purple in mine is not as reddish as an alexandrite, but the blue/green is similar to some alex''s I have examined).

All the "blue" garnets from Bekily I''ve seen have the green color component you mention. That''s led some people to challenge whether they''re truly blue. A previously unknown blue-green garnet species (knorringite) was found in 1968 in a kimberlite pipe in Kao, Lesotho, so maybe it should get the credit as the first "blue" garnet? There was never enough found for commercial use however, but some may be waiting to be discovered.

As for gem names, coming up with new ones seems to be a game anyone can play these days. Find a pretty rock? Give it a name you like. If you decide to sell it you can register an exclusive trademark name for it so no one else can advertise with that particular name even though the type/color have been around for generations. "Seafoam tourmaline" is now a registered trademark, for instance. So was "Champagne diamond" last time I checked. Of course to keep a trademark exclusive you need to take legal action against anyone who uses it to advertise and that Herculean task may doom some of the gem "branding" efforts now in progress.

Traditionally, gem/mineral names like knorringite have been conferred through a bureaucratic process by the mineral people. Lately it''s given us such winners as "pezzottaite," honoring the discoverer of the new cesium-rich reddish beryl from Madagascar. It''s a nice thing to do but the name doesn''t exactly roll off the tongue in a jewelry display room although I suppose it could add an Italian flair to "romancing the stone."

There are many other gem/mineral names that make merchandisers a little crazy, like most of the mineralogical names for the garnet group: almandine, pyrope, spessartite...spessartite? Hey, there''s one that seems to have caught on a bit but it''s much better-known as Mandarin garnet, Hollandine garnet, Fanta garnet, etc. They''re all names for essentially the same thing. No wonder consumers are confused!

Tiffany & Co. got into the act long ago when it decided to name the pink/peach variety of beryl "Morganite" to honor (some cynics might say "soften-up") big-spending tycoon J. Pierpont Morgan. Then came "Kunzite" for the pink/purple variety of spodumene to memorialize the company''s famed gem expert George Frederick Kunz. None of the mineral people complained so the company went on to christen "Tsavorite" garnet (already named green grossular) and "Tanzanite" (an unique brownish type of zoisite that heat-treats to blue/purple).

So now the rule on gem names is...there are no rules. Anyone can play. And that''s way I called for some sort of standardization of gem names and colors on the thread about creating a grading system for colored stones. Before we can even think about a grading system we have to all use the same names for things. When does a tsavorite become a merelani mint or mint garnet? When does pink sapphire become ruby, green beryl emerald, etc., etc. And just how does one communicate precise color information from continent to continent or city to city? These are not simple tasks, as three successive GIA color systems in the past 25 years have shown, not to mention competing systems.

Sorry to be on the soapbox for so long but this rant has been building up. I''ll step off now and get back to sorting color-change garnets.

Richard M.

 

[Gemklctr]

Richard,
Please don''t apologise. Not only was your "soap box" interesting and informative, I agree completely. The naming/renaming game for gems has gotten far out of hand, especially on sites such as the home shopping channels to the detriment of consumers. (e.g., "pink amethyst" and "pink aquamarine"

) Everone would benefit from the type of standardization discussed in the other thread you reference as well as resolution of the related issues raised in the "pigeon blood red" thread, both of which I have followed with great interest.