I have never been much into aquas...

[Arkteia]

For three reasons: my aqual ring was too washed out, the best aquas which I ever saw could have been irradiated and the only set I thought I had turned out to be fake. So I am not yet buying them but are prices for them growing as rapidly as for garnets? Or can I hold off for a while?

 

[DistinctionJewelry]

I'm not seeing too much of an increase in prices right now personally for "average" aquas. Quality seems to be declining a bit though. This is based only on my limited buying experiences though, someone else in the trade who deals with more volume might well have a different answer that I'd defer to.

Rhodolite garnet is sure jumping in price!

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

My understanding of aquas is that Americans prefer blue aquas. In order to get the bluer tone, they are heat treated which eliminates the green tone. The European market prefers the greener tone and values aqua more than people in the U>S> I have an unheated 7,5 ct medium light in a cushion cut. I have not noticed an increase in price except for Santa Maria aquas which are much darker(medium tone( than you see in the general market. I bought this early in my gemstone hobby, so while I still like it, I would have gone darker if I bought it in the present.

I like aqua because it is so clear. I have not heard of Aqua being irradiated.

Thanks,
Annette

 

[LD]

Date: 2/11/2010 12:31:09 PM
Author: smitcompton
Hi,

My understanding of aquas is that Americans prefer blue aquas. In order to get the bluer tone, they are heat treated which eliminates the green tone. The European market prefers the greener tone and values aqua more than people in the U>S> I have an unheated 7,5 ct medium light in a cushion cut. I have not noticed an increase in price except for Santa Maria aquas which are much darker(medium tone( than you see in the general market. I bought this early in my gemstone hobby, so while I still like it, I would have gone darker if I bought it in the present.

I like aqua because it is so clear. I have not heard of Aqua being irradiated.

Thanks,
Annette

Interesting but are you sure? I''m in Europe and Aqua is "generally" considered to be a cheap stone - certainly not a collector''s stone. I''m not sure that I''ve ever seen anybody talk about a greener aqua and I''m surrounded by European gemstone junkies on a daily basis!!!

 

[jewelz617]

You should be safe holding off for awhile, but it''s getting hard to find the really good quality aquas. So if you find one that really appeals to you in color and cut, snag it because you might not find another one like it with all the fakies and treated stones floating around.

 

[Pandora II]

Hmmm, also in the UK and with a different take.

I''ve definitely noticed a preference for the greenish aquas - I admit that I like them better too.

They''re one of the non-Big Four stones that I am most asked about for e-rings. I would consider that aquamarine is perceived as being ''more precious'' than garnet, tourmaline, spinel etc amongst people who know little more than what is pretty in a jeweller''s window (and who think all garnets are reddish brown!).

Personally I would like a nice one for my collection.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I heard or read, probably read, that the Europeans consider Aquamarine to be catagorized as a Precious gemstones along with diamond, ruby, sapp & emerald. I think Matlain says that in her book. Just as I have read and been told Europeans are not into diamonds as much as Americans.

The Aquas are not green but have a tinge of green. My aqua is blue with a hint of green. If this is not true, I stand corrected, but I''ve heard it so often I''ll check a book I have to verify. If I find it Ill let you know.

Thanks,

Annette

 

[Arkteia]

Date: 2/11/2010 1:05:47 PM
Author: LovingDiamonds

Date: 2/11/2010 12:31:09 PM

Author: smitcompton

Hi,


My understanding of aquas is that Americans prefer blue aquas. In order to get the bluer tone, they are heat treated which eliminates the green tone. The European market prefers the greener tone and values aqua more than people in the U>S> I have an unheated 7,5 ct medium light in a cushion cut. I have not noticed an increase in price except for Santa Maria aquas which are much darker(medium tone( than you see in the general market. I bought this early in my gemstone hobby, so while I still like it, I would have gone darker if I bought it in the present.


I like aqua because it is so clear. I have not heard of Aqua being irradiated.


Thanks,

Annette

Interesting but are you sure? I''m in Europe and Aqua is ''generally'' considered to be a cheap stone - certainly not a collector''s stone. I''m not sure that I''ve ever seen anybody talk about a greener aqua and I''m surrounded by European gemstone junkies on a daily basis!!!

European...gemstone jukies...what an interesting life!

 

[Stone Hunter]

Oh no! Another stone to "hurry up and buy" before prices go up or treatments become so advanced we can''t tell what they''ve done to the stone.

Most Aquas I''ve seen are a tad too light for me. But maybe instead of looking for a green stone I should check out Aquas...

And where does on meet up with European Gem Junkies??

 

[jstarfireb]

I''ve also never been into aqua. I don''t really see the point of buying now if you don''t really like them, especially because gemstones really aren''t good investments under any circumstance.

 

[Arkteia]

Date: 2/12/2010 8:12:51 AM
Author: Stone Hunter
Oh no! Another stone to 'hurry up and buy' before prices go up or treatments become so advanced we can't tell what they've done to the stone.

Most Aquas I've seen are a tad too light for me. But maybe instead of looking for a green stone I should check out Aquas...

And where does on meet up with European Gem Junkies??

Their hangout must be Buckingham Palace. There is a museum there, with wonderful collection of Faberge jewelry.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I just wanted to let you all know, I couldn''t find the info in Antoinette Matlain''s book or Schmanns book. Schmann does say that aqua''s can be irradiated, but they don''t keep their color. I put on my thinking cap and tried to remember where I got that info from on those Europeans(kidding). I read Pandora thinks the same. But, if you all don''t laugh too much, I think i may have gotten it from JTV.

At any rate Aquas (another I heard) were bought by the rich in America in another age. Maybe the colors were deeper then.
I am not saying anymore. The English on this thread can tell us better what the English prefer. Let them fight it out.

Crasru. your last post was very funny.

Thanks,

Annette

 

[Kim Bruun]

Date: 2/12/2010 1:00:45 AM
Author: crasru

European...gemstone jukies...what an interesting life!

It''s not that great... I shoot ground up benitoite on a daily basis, and all that does is get me to normal.

Just kidding... Back on topic: When I started taking an interest in gems, aquamarine and morganite were both on my wishlist. I was expecting Mediterranean ocean blue and rose petal pink. But in person, I have only seen the unappealing, near colourless material - except for a couple of old rings of my moms, which are at least light blue rather than pale blue.

 

[Pandora II]

I went for a bit of a bling-fest today and spent the morning playing with loose rocks in Hatton Garden and the afternoon looking at bling in N.ew Bond Street and I put the aqua question to a few people.

Results:

The sea-foam colour is the most sought after shade in loose stones - the dealers are mainly selling to jewellers and not to the end customher. This shade is definitely on the greener end of aqua colours.

Popped into Asprey''s to have a look at their Daisy pendant (to die for: white gold pave daisies with pink sapphire centres and carved moonstone leaves) and took the opportunity to oggle their incredible emerald parure - the pendant was over £1 million GBP on it''s own.

The SA admired my e-ring and asked where I''d bought my ''emerald''. I told her it was a tsavorite garnet and she said that they didn''t really use garnets except as melee as they weren''t really precious stones - I pointed out that they had rather a lot of rubellite and aquamarine pieces and that tourmaline and aqua weren''t generally regarded as precious either. Her response was that aquamarine in particular was becoming very acceptable to their customers and they saw it as a "precious semi-precious".

(Just to say that personally I don''t think that there is such a thing as precious and semi-precious, but I recognise that many others still think that way).

ETA: Saw some very nice stones as well:

A 1.65ct cc garnet with a great green - raspberry shift (almost alex-like)
A fabulous 9ct green bodied sphene
A 0.65ct Russian demantoid - I''m very tempted here but I''ve bought rather a lot of pet-rocks recently and this one didn''t say ''grab me now''.

While I was there, one of the guy''s dealers came in and the owner called me over to see what had arrived: an 8.42ct star sapphire with an amazing blue body colour (with the teeniest bit of colour zoning in one area but nothing to really complain about) and very clean and translucent. The 6 rayed star was also perfect. It was probably the finest I have ever seen IRL - I looked at several hundred in Sri Lanka and they didn''t begin to compare - so I feel very privileged to have seen it.

 

[blithesome71]

Date: 2/12/2010 3:17:57 PM
Author: smitcompton
Hi,

I just wanted to let you all know, I couldn''t find the info in Antoinette Matlain''s book or Schmanns book. Schmann does say that aqua''s can be irradiated, but they don''t keep their color. I put on my thinking cap and tried to remember where I got that info from on those Europeans(kidding). I read Pandora thinks the same. But, if you all don''t laugh too much, I think i may have gotten it from JTV.

At any rate Aquas (another I heard) were bought by the rich in America in another age. Maybe the colors were deeper then.
I am not saying anymore. The English on this thread can tell us better what the English prefer. Let them fight it out.

Crasru. your last post was very funny.

Thanks,

Annette

I think you''re referring to the "maxixe beryl". It''s similar to aquamarine. They''re blue but they''re usually irradiated & some natural blue maxixe beryl looses its color when exposed to light for a long period... You can just try googling it for more info & maxixe beryl photos (some of ''em have nice blue color)

But anyway, I personally like untreated greenish blue aquas than pure blue ones

 

[StonieGrl]

I never liked aquamarines---too washed out for my tastes---until I saw the top of the line on display at the Tucson show and then at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in their display of gemstones.

Same difference, in a way though, because I''ll never be able to afford one that I would like...

Hey crasu, love your ever-changing avatars, way cool. Keeping it fresh!

 

[T L]

I never liked aqua, but I have several since it''s my birthstone.

They all tend to be judged on tonality rather than saturation of color, and many are expensive, even with a significant grey mask.

The RI is low and I don''t care for the lack of brilliance.

I think they''ve actually lost value in recent times. They cannot hold a candle to a fine blue cuprian tourmaline as far as color is concerned IMO.

 

[chrono]

I''m not crazy about aquamarine either. The affordable ones are either too washed out or too gray. The nice deep blue Santa Maria''s are too expensive for what they are. Not to mention the low RI which means low dispersion and also an easily seen tilt window.

 

[T L]

Date: 2/14/2010 9:06:32 AM
Author: Chrono
I''m not crazy about aquamarine either. The affordable ones are either too washed out or too gray. The nice deep blue Santa Maria''s are too expensive for what they are. Not to mention the low RI which means low dispersion and also an easily seen tilt window.

I don''t even care for the darker ones, still too grey, and if I''m going for a stone with a grey mask, I want it to sparkle and have fire and brilliance. I rather have a greyish blue spinel or a greyish diamond (a greyish blue diamond would be too expensive). I''ve seen zillions of aquas in my life, and some that deep dark Santa Maria color, and some so dark, they were almost sapphire dark, and they all make me go "meh." For a dark blue stone, I would rather go with a sapphire for the price since some of those Santa Maria''s can be very expensive. They all look like grey blue topaz to me.

However, I''m probably the biggest aqua hater on this board.

I have a deep colored 8 carat Nigerian aqua that I never ever wear. I know it''s probably a valuable stone, but it just cannot compete with my cuprians for a bright blue stone. Feel free to throw stones at me since I know many people love aquas.

I do have a minty green beryl I love though, for some reason, the greenish blue beryls are not as tepid to me.

 

[kayla.tastikk]

I personally love aqua, but I''m thinking it''s because:

a) it''s my, my mom''s and my grandmother''s birthstone
b) my mom has this fabulous aqua cocktail ring that I''ve always been infatuated with
c) it looks REALLY good on my skin tone... as long as there''s no window