Hessonite vs Spessartine Garnet

[psproot12]

So, I've been looking for an orange gem for a while. I'm getting it for my gf and her name day is in January so It makes her birthstone garnet, right? Orangish brown is her favorite color and I've been searching for the right stone. Any help, guidance, advice about treatments, and information about the difference between hessonite and spessartine garnets would be appreciated. thanks!

Also, my budget is 2k, I hope that's enough, looking for an oval stone 2-3 cts.

 

[chrono]

It depends on how brown she likes the garnet to be.

Hessonite belongs to the grossularite species of garnet and is coloured by iron, which has a tendency to be brownish, thus they are often described as cinnamon coloured.

Spessartite is its own species of garnet and is coloured by manganese and iron, which tends to to be a brighter and less brown orange.

 

[Kelli]

http://www.gemfix.com/garnet_spessartite.html

I really like some of these. Especially the "pumpkin" colored one on the bottom if she likes brownish tones.

 

[minousbijoux]

My vote is spessartite. Hessonite is redder and browner (nicknamed "cinnamon stone"). If that suits you, then Hessonite is a good choice, but my vote would be for a spessartite that has some brown to it - which are naturally the lower priced spessartites.

 

[psproot12]

Thanks for your input guys, she wanted a fairly brown stone to go with her eyes. I ended up working with a local jeweler and just about an hour ago finalized an order. It's a 2.5 ct oval cut brownish-orange hessonite garnet. No heat/treatment, and at $120/ct ((started at $140, worked her down to $300 total), I think it's a good price. For a collectors stone my next piece will definitely be one of those beautiful spessartite Mandarin Garnets!

 

[minousbijoux]

Thanks for your input guys, she wanted a fairly brown stone to go with her eyes. I ended up working with a local jeweler and just about an hour ago finalized an order. It's a 2.5 ct oval cut brownish-orange hessonite garnet. No heat/treatment, and at $120/ct ((started at $140, worked her down to $300 total), I think it's a good price. For a collectors stone my next piece will definitely be one of those beautiful spessartite Mandarin Garnets!

Good luck finding one.

 

[chrono]

Even if you have $$$$$, finding a top orange spessartite garnet is an extreme challenge these days.

 

[minousbijoux]

Even if you have $$$$$, finding a top orange spessartite garnet is an extreme challenge these days.

Yup. I'm starting to think I'll be on my Holy Grail quest well into my old age!

 

[psproot12]

You guys are totally right. I started searching for some spessartine and all I can see is heated junk and even that is 1k+/ct, the untreated stuff is 4-5k/ct and even that is dirty and small. At this rate it'll be easier to find a 50 ct pigeon blood red, flawless Burmese ruby My budget isn't exactly sotheby's yet so I'm just going to look at yellow/orange sapphire, preferably no treat but heat only would be fine.

 

[psproot12]

I saw an item on ebay and my jaw dropped, 49.99 no bids, perfect, clean, 4 ct trillion cut. I looked a little bit more carefully and it said "Spessartine colored topaz" The real stuff is out of budget, even if I saved it's hard to find any

 

[minousbijoux]

Just an fyi - heating should have no effect on the color/value of spessartite, as it is unaffected by heat.

 

[psproot12]

Yeah, I realized that. The heated stones I was talking about weren't garnets at all. Looking more carefully at the items I realized they were heated but they were just "spessartine" colored sapphires or in some cases topaz. Actual spessartine is way too hard/expensive to get right now

 

[Lee Little]

Spessartite is certainly in lower supply than it was several years ago, however, it is still available in Chanthaburi but at higher prices, naturally.

 

[cm366]

You guys are totally right. I started searching for some spessartine and all I can see is heated junk and even that is 1k+/ct, the untreated stuff is 4-5k/ct and even that is dirty and small. At this rate it'll be easier to find a 50 ct pigeon blood red, flawless Burmese ruby My budget isn't exactly sotheby's yet so I'm just going to look at yellow/orange sapphire, preferably no treat but heat only would be fine.

Where are you looking?! $1k/ct would get you a Very, Very fine spess with a precision cut unless you want a monster rock, and even then $5k/ct would be an almost unbelievably high price. Natural and untreated orange sapphire will definitely be more expensive for the same quality.

 

[endless_summer]

I can't wait to see the stone that you picked out! A mandarin spess will be a beautiful stone to look forward to!

 

[psproot12]

http://www.ajsgem.com/spessartite-garnet-gemstone-garnet-2046340406.html

Everything seems to be 10k+, I guess I should have searched a few more vendors. I just bought my mom a bracelet for mother's day so the spess will have to wait. But if what you and a few other posters is saying is accurate, then I can get a decent spess for 2k! It'll probably be a few months until I drop that kind of money again because I'm still paying off student loans.

 

[psproot12]

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/some-of-my-moms-indian-pakistani-jewelery.202056/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/some-of-my-moms-indian-pakistani-jewelery.202056/[/URL]

 

[smitcompton]

Hey,

Psproot,

Are you bsing here again. 4-5 k for an unheated spess, and a heated one is 1k. What a crock you are.

Sorry people. I can't take this guy.


Annette

 

[chrono]

Annette,
Perhaps I am naive but I am giving PSProot the benefit of the doubt based on his numerous posts thus far. I think he is just young and not very knowledgeable about gemstones and treatments.

 

[psproot12]

Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, I spent the money I was hoping to spend on the Spess on a bracelet for mothers day. I have student loans to pay off, so it takes me a while to save up any money, and I definitely do not want charity from my parents.

 

[psproot12]

Hey,

Psproot,

Are you bsing here again. 4-5 k for an unheated spess, and a heated one is 1k. What a crock you are.

Sorry people. I can't take this guy.


Annette

Relax, I was just confused. I had only looked at one website and got scared. Most of the stones are 10k+. I've been into gems for a year, and I just turned 21 in April. I've looked at some other websites and seen that

1. Heating doesn't affect spess, I was looking at orange sapphires and topaz that were "Spessertite color".
2. Prices aren't that high overall, I just looked at AJS, and got confused.

I'm not trying to BS, anyone.

http://www.ajsgem.com/spessartite-garnet-gemstone-garnet-2046340406.html

 

[T L]

If you want a decent price on a spess, I would look at included stones.

If you like brownish orange, then hessonite is a good choice and it is also a lower priced gem.

Good luck on the ring.

 

[cm366]

If you keep looking at AJS, you'll see they've got more than 10 pages of spess under $1k, and if you're in the 1-2k range and tolerant of pears you can get some very nice stones. Unless you're deliberately looking for a price shock, don't search price descending and stop at the first page - you're only ever going to see the worst case scenario. Nobody minds young (you're not the only one!) but people will jump on you if you post weird stuff because you haven't read the page you're looking at.

http://www.ajsgem.com/garnet/spessartite-garnet/mandarin-garnet-spessartite-3.38-carats.html

http://www.ajsgem.com/garnet/spessartite-garnet/mandarin-garnet-spessartite-2.58-carats.html-0

http://www.ajsgem.com/garnet/spessartite-garnet/mandarin-garnet-spessartite-2.51-carats.html

http://www.ajsgem.com/garnet/spessartite-garnet/mandarin-garnet-spessartite-4.12-carats.html

http://www.ajsgem.com/garnet/spessartite-garnet/mandarin-garnet-spessartite-3.02-carats.html

All of these seem a little expensive to me, but they're decent looking stones and a lot cheaper than what you were looking at before. Are you looking for a reddish orange, yellowish orange, or the pure uncut orange that makes CS mavens sit up and take notice? Like TL said, your budget will be saved by accepting a little brown or some sugary inclusions....

 

[cm366]

This round on LT is gorgeous, beautifully cut, and very clean for a Loliondo stone....

http://loupetroop.com/listings/loose-stones-colored-gemstone/precision-cut-loliondo-spess

 

[psproot12]

Thanks, but as I mentioned in earlier posts I'm not in the market for a spess anymore. In my defense the reason I only looked at the AJS page was because two posts above talked about how spess was near impossible to find and was very costly. That coupled with the immediate shock from the AJS website made me immediately think there was nothing under 2k. I hope I explained myself.

 

[cm366]

Makes perfect sense, thanks for the heads up! You'll find that pretty much all gems are bemoaned here as being very expensive compared to the good old days - even newbies like me fall into the habit, let alone the long time members who got their giant top colour Paraibas, spessartites and Mahenges for pennies on the dollar. Don't let that deter you, though - you'll be around and in the know when the next great find of mindblowing ruby or exotic garnet comes to light!