is this worth it?

[_Sarah_]

Ok I have fallen in love with the neon color of paraiba tourmalines but there is no way I can afford one any time soon

but I have come across apatites, I know they are soft stones. I have tried to look them up here at ps and didnt find a whole lot, but a few people mentioned that they may do ok in a pendent if treated gently. I have found this stone that I am seriously considering getting, but is it worth it? Its from gemselect.com (does anyone have expierence with them?) and they say that its unheated, this is one of the only two unheated apatites Ive found ( the other one is also on the same website) Is it possible for apatite this color to be natural? To get to the point is it worth it to buy this stone for collection at the least, or am I nuts? These are the only specs provided.

3.1 ct
9.7x7.93x5.68
VVS- VS
no treatment
for $250.55

 

[twodoor2]

From my experience, apatites do not have the brilliance or neon of a true neon paraiba. The refractive index is quite lower, and they have a more glassy appearance. That''s also quite a bit expensive for an apatite that size, you could find a lower grade paraiba for that price on ebay. I bought a very pretty paraiba for $350 that was 2.5 carats about four months ago. It had some inclusions, but it was a true copper bearing tourmaline with the pretty blue color.

I highly suggest you look on ebay for an apatite, that''s one of the few stones I would recommend looking on ebay for, and there''s actually some nice quality apatites there. I just purchased one recently myself. The nice caviat also is that you can pay $20 for a decent size stone, and if you''re not thrilled with it, you still didn''t invest a lot of $$, and you can judge what an apatite looks like in person. I recently purchased a really nice almost 2 carat apatite for $20 on ebay, with a nice blue neon color. However, it looks more like a blue zircon than something with a true glow effect. Only paraibas really "glow."

 

[_Sarah_]

twodoor I didnt realize you could get good looking paraiba tourmalines near that size for that price. Where do look for reasonable priced paraibas (reasonable being not over $400) that at least look good? Do you have a photo of your paraiba you mentioned? I like the color of the stone I posted above, or even a more blue color, but they dont nessecarily have to be the same neon as true paraibas. I guess I should just take a chance with something from ebay that isnt pricey to see what the stone really looks like.

 

[twodoor2]

Well, I think it wouldn't hurt to start out with something smaller, in the 1 to 2 carat range because they're much more affordable, and if you like it, you can buy a bigger one. The ones that are 3 carats and up are more expensive. Apatites are getting more expensive in larger sizes because they're considered paraiba look-alikes. Try to look on ebay for some dealers that have sold lots of apatites, check out their feedback (especially on apatites), and make sure they have an excellent rating with lots of sales. ajsgems.com sells apatite to, and some people on this forum like that vendor, although his pictures don't always look like the real thing when you get it, but there's no guarantee that the picture of the stone you want will look like the real thing either.

If you want to spend more money on a high quality apatite, paraibainternational is an ebay dealer that has lots of nice ones, and you can see a video of the stone itself on each listing they have. They are a super high priced though for all of their stones. Check out the $99,999 paraiba trillion they have to!! It's been listed forever!!!

For a decent paraiba, I always email my friend Suhail at gemsbeat.com. He has some good values, tell him that tudortwo sent you. Another forum mentioned good things about his store too, so that's reassuring. I've always been happy with his merchandise. He lists on ebay, but he doesn't have anything right now. I'll tell you right now that you're not going to get the top of the line paraiba for $400, but you can get something pretty, and maybe included, but not too bad.

 

[twodoor2]

Here's the thread with the paraibas I purchased. None of them were over $400 in price.

https://www.pricescope.com/forum/dumpster/which-tourmaline-should-i-set-t63100.html


I would be more careful about buying paraibas on ebay though. I trust my friend Suhail, and there's a couple of other stores, but lately the quality has not been that good on ebay. I'm glad I bought these when I did. I purchased two of these stones from him.

 

[_Sarah_]

Thanks twodoor, I think Im going to take your advice and get a cheaper apatite from ebay just to see what the stone really looks like. I am trying to start a gem stone collection but as of right now its deffinately going to be good *looking* stones rather than good or high quality stones, but some day...

. One thing I am concerned about is inclusion, some of the apatites Ive looked at looked like scratched glass, there anything I can do or look at to make sure I dont get something like that? I know the clarities of stones and such but as far as photos go are they trust worthy or not?

 

[twodoor2]

Sarah,
I purchased this 1.75 carat apatite from a dealer called nicegems1960. He has 100% positive feedback and ample sales. My apatite cost me $10, and it''s a very pretty color. It''s cut very nicely and there are some incusions, but it is eye-clean. For that price, I think I got a really good deal, and I think it''s not so much to invest on a stone to get a feel if you want to spend more on a higher quality apatite (like at paraibainternational). You may even be just happy with your smaller investment and not go hunting for a more expensive stone. He has some stones listed right now, and some are even clean and everything is well priced. He also packaged the item very well and I liked the fact that he answered my questions right away.

 

[twodoor2]

Now here is the picture as it was advertised in the listing, so you could compare the two.

 

[twodoor2]

Here's another picture of my stone with a brighter appearance. I think it doesn't look exactly like the picture on ebay, but I didn't pay so much that I'm too worried about it. I would hate to pay $250 for a stone and it looked absolutely nothing like the picture. My stone is a very pretty color (better than the pictures I took) and it sparkles, although it's not as brillant as a tourmaline would be due to the lower refractive index.

 

[twodoor2]

One more pic, this one is truest to the way it looks in person. Can you tell I love taking pictures of gemstones!!?

 

[_Sarah_]

Haha! Its ok! I love anything that sparkles and its a pretty stone, I am loving that color more and more! I am 100% positive I am going to get one or two... heh... I am looking at them on ebay right now and I have seen a few that I really like but I have decided to wait until my grandpa is able to help me with the first purchase, I am not familar with ebay at all and he buys bowling balls to collect like people hear collect stones! Different item but still... he knows what hes doing. I am excited though it will be my first purchase completely on my own, I had picked out and was getting ready to buy a sapphire a month and half ago, I told my boyfriend about it and he said he wanted to get it for our anniversary and he did. I have been adicted since, this is a stone I can buy and not feel bad about spending that much money on. I started feeling that itch to buy another stone ( well really I decided I want a gemstone collection and decided to get started) and I have decided on apatites as my next stone and hopefully someday within the next year a good looking paraiba... hopefully! I love your stones, Im glad someone has good expierences with stones like this. Thank you so much for your advice! And feel free to keep pics coming on your stones or any new ones you get, I love the slight differences in these stones!

 

[_Sarah_]

How do you search the dealers on ebay? I tried putting the name in the seach box but nothing came up...

 

[twodoor2]

You can do a search by sellers on ebay. Next to the main search button is some text called "Advanced Search". Click on the text, and it will bring you to a more advanced search engine, and to the left, you can click on "items by seller".

 

[_Sarah_]

Oh ok thanks!

 

[chrono]

Date: 7/24/2007 10:07:11 PM
Author: twodoor2
Now here is the picture as it was advertised in the listing, so you could compare the two.

2door,
When I saw this pic, I thought it was my tourmaline! The colour and shape is so close.

I have to agree that apatites and paraibas do look similiar, minus the glow.

 

[twodoor2]

Yes I saw the tourmaline you got when the vendor posted the picture (before and after oven shots). It is very beautiful. Too bad paraiba''s don''t have apatite pricetags though.

 

[chrono]

Date: 7/25/2007 9:25:06 AM
Author: twodoor2
Yes I saw the tourmaline you got when the vendor posted the picture (before and after oven shots). It is very beautiful. Too bad paraiba''s don''t have apatite pricetags though.

Yeah to that. But then again, apatite does not have that glow either. I guess those internal batteries are pretty expensive.

 

[twodoor2]

My gem dealer friend told me that some apatites look a lot like paraibas, and many unscrupulous dealers on ebay try to pass off apatites as paraibas. That's why it's always wise to purchase a paraiba on ebay that is certified. He also said that apatites are usually cut better than paraibas because they're softer and the cutters spend more time cutting them because of this. I do have to say that my apatite is cut very well for it's price point. Isn't that always the case though? They always cut the less expensive stones (citrines, amethyst, kunzites, etc. . . ) a million times better than the expensive and rare stones (sapphires, paraiba, rubies).