Help Me Find A Red Stone: A Red Spinel or A Ruby!

[AGBF]

how is this one for color?

http://www.starruby.in/store/spinel/5-54-carat-extraordinary-deep-pigeon-blood-red-burmese-spinel

I loved the side view of it, davi. The view from the side showed a great red color! But I had the same reaction Harriet did to

the price. It scared me. I wondered how reputable the vendor was! Thank you so much for looking for me, though.


Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[marymm]

OP - don't know if you're still on the hunt for a red spinel, and this one is a pear shape but it looks to be a true red and the description says "Show-stopper red spinel, the best red we have right now. The stone has veil and few inclusions at the pavilion area, actually contributing to the light show. One in five years piece!"



http://gemcal.com/singles/spinel/red-pink-spinel/show-stopper-red-spinel.html

The carat weight has to be confirmed w/ Gemcal though - the listing says 2.68ct but the small-print description box says 3.66... Anyway just came across this while perusing the Gemcal site and remembered your quest.

 

[Arcadian]

how is this one for color?

http://www.starruby.in/store/spinel/5-54-carat-extraordinary-deep-pigeon-blood-red-burmese-spinel

I loved the side view of it, davi. The view from the side showed a great red color! But I had the same reaction Harriet did to

the price. It scared me. I wondered how reputable the vendor was! Thank you so much for looking for me, though.


Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

Deb, I can only say that I've purchased from this vendor once which was a 2ct rubellite tourmaline. The tourmaline is gorgeous and very vibrant, I personally have to say its one of my favorite hot pink stones in my collection. I paid 100/ct for it. Cutting is not the best in the world but its not the worst either. The color is TDF though.

The stone came with a certificate from a respected lab and also checked out from in my itty bitty home lab. Granted I'm no scientist or gemologist, but I got a few things at my disposal to check stones. The seller is very nice, but I would say do ask questions! I've seen that stone myself but I have to admit I think that the reason its priced so cheap is because of the amount of inclusions it has. I also don't think its got a what I would think of as a decent cut on it which may inhibit how it can perform. Seller is willing to send stones to any lab you choose, so I think you'd be safe there. plus they have a 30 day return.

They also have a website not on ebay. Seller struck me as someone who is very customer conscious as well as knowlegable so even to ask questions...it can't hurt. Just keep in mind that they're in India so returns may be a hassle. I got my gem in a week from them so no long wait times to get it.

Also check gemcal. they have 2 there that you may like as far as color. One is a roval and the color they're terming as lifesaver red. It looks pretty darn red to me and its under 1K. But again, would be worth it to ask about it, they said something about a garden under the table which could mean anything (picture on the site is not very clean though) Their stones can be sent to a lab as well. When I asked them about it last in 2009 it was a charge of 100 to send to a lab.

Any avenue is worth checking sometimes as long as you do it with caution.

-A

 

[AGBF]

Thank you, marymm and Arcadian. I absolutely love the color of the pear shaped stone from Gemcal (on my monitor). Great color always catches my eye. There is a trillion (I don't recall if it's a red spinel or a ruby) on one website with a huge price tag-way out of my league and not a shape I could use-that I keep going back to look at again and again! I really want an oval, but this stone is scrumptious!

Thanks again!

Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[AGBF]

Great color always catches my eye. There is a trillion (I don't recall if it's a red spinel or a ruby) on one website with a huge price tag-way out of my league and not a shape I could use-that I keep going back to look at again and again!

I wanted to post the trillion that compelled me to revisit it so many times! It turned out to be a ruby and, like all my favorite red stones, from Burma! You don't even want to know the price! But isn't it lovely?

Deb/AGBF


Rubies Are A Girl's Best Friend
Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[Arcadian]

I can see why you keep going back! Thats

REALLY RED


-A

 

[movie zombie]

really red and certainly not a budget stone!

MoZo

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Oh, I just can't believe the color of that RUBY !!!!
The reddest red Ever!!!!!
I can imagine the price though...... Ooooooooooo

 

[AGBF]

really red and certainly not a budget stone!

I'm afraid not...and remember that the price is in Euros!

http://www.eurogemstones.eu/ruby/burma-ruby/review-burma-ruby-3.02.html

Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[VapidLapid]

Have you looked at this spinel? http://www.lisaelser.com/catalog/item/7541618/7979674.htm

I know it's from tanzania, but the cut is fantastic, the clarity too and the color not stop light red but certainly warning flare red.

 

[movie zombie]

too dark, i think but then i'm not the one shopping.

MoZo

 

[AGBF]

too dark, i think but then i'm not the one shopping.

That's all right. You can shop for me, MZ. You seem to know what I want! Thank you for looking, VapidLapid, but that actually resembles a garnet on my monitor. I like stones that may be less purple even than "pigeon's blood"!

The other day I scoured Dick Hughes' website looking for a passage he had written on color, but couldn't find it. In the passage I was looking for, he had said that color was relative, that we couldn't remember it well, that we remembered it best when we had other colors with which to compare it. I was looking for that passage because every time I come to this page of this thread I see the red pear spinel at the top of the page and it looks really red to me. But then I look down and see the ruby trillion and the pear spinel at the top of the page looks orange-brown in comparison!

Then I think about what Richard Hughes wrote.

Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[movie zombie]

deb, see ed's offerings:

http://wildfishgems.com/

i was incorrect. no new ruby listings....or spinel. i didn't get much sleep last night....please excuse the error. i was confusing it with his ongoing inventory.

sorry for the false alert!

MoZo

 

[VapidLapid]

really red and certainly not a budget stone!

I'm afraid not...and remember that the price is in Euros!

http://www.eurogemstones.eu/ruby/burma-ruby/review-burma-ruby-3.02.html

Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

Here then is the same stone in dollars from eurogemstones' parent site

http://www.ajsgem.com/ruby/burma-ruby/burma-ruby-3.02-carats.html

 

[AGBF]

really red and certainly not a budget stone!

I'm afraid not...and remember that the price is in Euros!

http://www.eurogemstones.eu/ruby/burma-ruby/review-burma-ruby-3.02.html

Here then is the same stone in dollars from eurogemstones' parent site

http://www.ajsgem.com/ruby/burma-ruby/burma-ruby-3.02-carats.html

Was the price in dollars supposed to make me feel better? Somehow it didn't!

Deb


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[movie zombie]

red:

http://www.starruby.in/store/spinel/5-54-carat-extraordinary-deep-pigeon-blood-red-burmese-spinel

if its this good in real life, its a bargain.

MoZo

eta: which i'm sure its not: see bottom left picture in hand. however, i'd live with the 1/2 and 1/2 display for that price and color. worrisome though is the picture in which the stone appears circled in black.......

 

[Arcadian]

red:

http://www.starruby.in/store/spinel/5-54-carat-extraordinary-deep-pigeon-blood-red-burmese-spinel

if its this good in real life, its a bargain.

MoZo

eta: which i'm sure its not: see bottom left picture in hand. however, i'd live with the 1/2 and 1/2 display for that price and color. worrisome though is the picture in which the stone appears circled in black.......

The seller does 30 days back. One stone from him, and was pretty representative of the picture. So just FYI. However, he's good with questions and stuff so its good to ask what its like.

-A

 

[Arcadian]

The listing says pinkish.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-86ct-Hi-End-Round-Portuguese-Vivid-Pinkish-Red-Spinel-/330411605710?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cee10fece


the measurements look to be off and there also looks to be a window.( which is sad because its a lovely color). not the super red of that ruby you like so much but quite nice and its clean. Would not hurt to ask about it if you're interested.

-A

 

[AGBF]

The listing says pinkish.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-86ct-Hi-End-Round-Portuguese-Vivid-Pinkish-Red-Spinel-/330411605710?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cee10fece


the measurements look to be off and there also looks to be a window.( which is sad because its a lovely color). not the super red of that ruby you like so much but quite nice and its clean. Would not hurt to ask about it if you're interested.

-A

All the discussion about color leads us away from what I originally posted about. I am looking for a specific stone because I want one bigger than one I used to make a ring in the past. The stone you found is round, pinkish, and smaller than the one I want. I am looking for an oval that is true red and larger than 7 x 9 mm in size, more like 8 x 10mm. But I thank you for continuing to look!!!

Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[Arcadian]

gottcha I've seen a few 9x7's but unfortunately not in the color you're looking for (they were definitely very pink)

I'll stay on the lookout

-A

 

[movie zombie]

and the one i posted is too big....plus with concerns.

sort of like goldilocks and the 3 bears......

MoZo

 

[Arcadian]

Well, has this one been posted?


Its too big though
http://cgi.ebay.com/4-0Ct-Vietnam-Natural-Unheated-Ruby-Red-Spinel_W0QQitemZ300459228624QQcategoryZ110873QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp5197.m7QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D4%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D7042934099169567283


8.9mm x 10.5mm x 6.0mm

My single purchase from them checked out as being a spinel and photo was representative of what I received, but it wasn't very expensive either.

Sadly though they have had some issues in the past.


Which points me back to gemcal since they have red spinel but might also have some unlisted ones. I thought they had two locationsI could be totally wrong about that.


There's also africagems too as the do have some oval rubies.

-A

 

[AGBF]

Well, has this one been posted?

Here is a picture of it. It is not what I was looking for at all, but I actually love it! If I were collecting spinels, I would buy it! It just appeals to me for some reason. I must be getting quirky about red spinels!

Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[Arcadian]

I think its really lovely. I've had it on my watch list like forever...lol

BTW, I did run some ruby searches though, but nothing thats fitting your criteria. Definitely nothing thats matching that big honker of a ruby you liked so much! I saw one spinel at pala that had great color but terrible cutting Maybe people haven't put up their newer stuff from Tuscon.

And whatever happened with Cherrypicked.com?

Anyway, I found like 2 that are even close at the top of this page

http://www.awesomegems.com/ruby-2+.html#top And they're pretty pricey.

-A

 

[m76steve]

Is there such a thing as a vivid red spinel? I don't think any gem gets quite as vivid red as a fine Burmese ruby, and a one carat Burmese ruby that is heated, would be around $10K, and probably $15 to $20K for an unheated one. Red is the most expensive color in the gem world, so you might have to give and take and get something with less than vivid red saturation, or a pinkish red stone.

Yes, there is such a thing as a vivid red spinel. I will not argue about whether it is as vivid a red as a fine Burmese ruby! Somewhere in the archives is a discussion by some experts (I sat on the sidelines) that took place about the light and reflection and refraction in rubies versus spinels when I was buying my first red spinel! I forget what was said since I really didn't understand it, but I may be able to find the discussion. It is possible that you took part in it!

Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

there is good red spinel on the webs-iv seen much of it-its not expensive-just b careful & ask questions when looking-here is a good example of red spinel, iv posted before but good is good-steve...

 

[AGBF]

Thanks for your help, Arcadian and Steve! The problem I have with your rubies is size and shape, Arcadian. The top one is too small; the bottom one is a funny shape. The problem I have with your spinel, Steve, is that it looks like a garnet to me!

The good news (from my point of view) is that I may have found a stone! I don't want to say more before I actually see it, however!

Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[davi_el_mejor]

Thanks for your help, Arcadian and Steve! The problem I have with your rubies is size and shape, Arcadian. The top one is too small; the bottom one is a funny shape. The problem I have with your spinel, Steve, is that it looks like a garnet to me!

The good news (from my point of view) is that I may have found a stone! I don't want to say more before I actually see it, however!

Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

OOOOOOH welll I'm for one keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Arcadian]

Kewl Deb! I can't wait to see what it looks like!!

-A

 

[babydoll_mini]

Oooo Chrono, I love that second cushion! I don't even want to know how much it costs, lol

Oooooo, Chrono and MTG, I love love the second cushion!!
How much does it cost?

 

[chrono]

Unfortunately, that spinel was sold a while back when pricing was not too scary. I believe it was somewhere around $2K to $3K per carat.