Help finding a pale silvery gray spinel?

[katharath]

jeff cuts some of his stones. i walked in on him and he was at the polishing wheel covered in polishing grit with a big magnifying lens mask head thing, faceting a stone. the other three girls were there polishing away too. so maybe he doesn't do all of them, but he does some of them. will put up the pictures of the stuff i bought in the next couple of days. pick up at the jewelry store tomorrow, catch a 20 hour plus ride to the states and then will photograph what i got from him.

Yes, my understanding is that Jeff does cut gems, although I thought he also had additional staff as well.

Re: my earlier post about it - the only reason I brought it up was to mention that JuliaB's gems won't all have a uniformly signature style bc she sources them from various places, and doesn't cut them herself. With Jeff's gems, I have noticed quite a bit more of a uniform style, just as Minous suggested. If he's not cutting them all himself, it seems that he requests that they be done in a specific way.

Anyway - I'm not trying to be nit picky about the subject, I apologize for even bringing it up, it probably wasn't necessary and I hope it hasn't taken away from the thread's intent too much! Again, my apologies.

(And keemoog - can't wait to see what you got!!!)

 

[minousbijoux]

I have a few grey spinels including one from Jeff Davies. I was all set to sell it, as I've never done anything with it and have no plans for it, but when I started really looking and photographing it with various lighting situations and backgrounds, it was stunning! There is something about the way he cuts them that takes advantage of their color shifts and its dispersion. As a result, Jeff would absolutely be my first choice. In fact, if I were you, I would order 2 or 3 of slightly differing tones so that you can compare.

I would compare JuliaB's beautiful cutting style to more like that of the old fashioned diamond cuts - chunkier facets with broader flashes of sparkle, vs Jeff's more modern cutting style with constant, glitterier scintillation (if that makes sense) more consistent with a brilliant cut diamond.

Minous - I totally agree with you on Jeff's cutting style (I've owned several spinels and garnets from Jeff). And you are also correct (IMO) about the style of many of the gems Julia offers. But I don't believe that Julia actually cuts gems, rather I think she sources them from various places - so you may see a mix of cutting styles. She told me that she has many - I think she actually said "hundreds" of gems, if I remember right - that aren't listed and that she's working on getting them up.

(The spinel I just got is Portuguese cut, which has always been a favorite of mine).

That is correct about Julia. Jeff does in fact cut some of his stones but he employs cutters for the majority. When I commented about their cutting style I was using it colloquially and was not in fact implying that they had created the designs for their stones or cut them themselves (I know Jeff does from time to time), but rather had more of a general approach which informed the cutting style they choose for the majority of their stones.

 

[chrono]

I know it is smaller than what you are looking for and not the correct shape either but thought it deserves a consideration.
http://www.ajsgem.com/gemstones/spinel/spinel-1.16-carats.html-3

 

[chrono]

Again, not the right shape but I think it will be grayer/silvery in person. You can ask David to tweak the spinel to close the window.
http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?1847333599

 

[chrono]

Even less expensive than the above. I think this one will also be more silvery. A bit of tweaking will be required if you are fussy about the cut.
http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?1284411856

 

[minousbijoux]

I would love to see a video of those two stones, because its hard to tell if it really has that lavender color or if its just a fleeting look of the stones...

 

[LoversKites]

I would love to see a video of those two stones, because its hard to tell if it really has that lavender color or if its just a fleeting look of the stones...

Same. I'd guess since they're described as very light bluish/violet they do have those undertones.

 

[chrono]

bV2/3 = bluish violet, very light tone, very slightly gray
MC's stones are less saturated in person, so the combination of that together with the very light tone will probably make it look pale silvery/grayish with a bluish violet base.

bP2/2 = bluish purple, very light, slightly gray
I think this one will be even grayer than the one above.

 

[FightGravity]

Thanks chrono! These look like good potential options.