Looking for a purple-blue 7mm round spinel

[lele88]

Hello all! Lele here, I have lurking in he shadows and decided to come into the light.

I am trying to find a round cut purple-bluish Spinel for my e-ring. I was seriously looking at a shiny colorless stone that is unmentionable here, but there is something a little more special about natural colored stones. ( I personally am not a fan of the colorless stones as a center stone e-ring look. Nothing against diamonds and the like)

My fave color is purple (all shades) but for my ring I really want that steely Lavendery-purply-blue color. So here I am looking for trustworthy sources for a stone. I don really know much about how the cuts should look other than what I have read here on Pricescope. Any help would be appreciated. Also right now my budget is a flexible 600 more or less, not really knowing what that will do for the size I am looking for 7-8mm.

Thanks, Lele

 

[lovedogs]

Welcome, Lele!

I have been drooling over this stone lately, but my poor wallet can't afford it right now haha. I think it has that blue/grey/steel color you might want. Or maybe it isn't quite purple enough? Either way I think it's worth a look. Cut by a well-known factor (Peter Toracca), so the cut will be amazing, which is likely why it's pricer than some other spinel stones. To me it seems worth the price, but I am certainly less of an expert than most here. I also particularly like how the tone changes in direct vs. indirect sunlight (see comparison pic).


EDITED: sorry, I just re-read and saw your budget. Sorry for posting one almost double that !!!! I'll look for more price-friendly choices, but still maybe worth you seeing this one.

Good luck and let us know what you find!

 

[urseberry]

From Jeff Davies. 1.36ct CC Sapphire - Madagascar 6.68 x 4.15 mm, $425.

Smaller than you want and a sapphire instead of a spinel, but nicely cut and a pretty color.

 

[lele88]

Thank you for the input Lovedogs, That is a beautiful stone just not what I am after. I have a photo of more of the color I am I just figured out how to post it.

 

[lele88]

I have had my eye out for sapphires too, it seems like the ones I came across were so much more expensive.

 

[urseberry]

Dimensions - 8.70 mm x 7.00 mm x 5.20 mm
Weight - 2.49 cts
Price - $400

From Jim McCormick's Facebook page. Not round, but large, the right color, and in your budget.

 

[lele88]

Wow Wow Wow! I just came from Jeff Davies site the cuts are beautiful. Those purple-blue colorchange colors are what I am after in my round cut. So beautiful, thank you Berry.

 

[lovedogs]

Have you looked at Gemcal? I found a few that might be closer to the color you want, although they aren't round unfortunately.

EDIT: somehow the images from Gemcal are mini when I submit them, so maybe just go to the website and look at some of the spinels, they have some nice lavender/silvery ones.

 

[picante27]

I think this is the same one urseberry posted, took a screen shot of it for you

 

[GliderPoss]

This one is a little lighter but very beautiful, it's 7mm and meets your budget:

http://loupetroop.com/listings/loose-stones-colored-gemstone/precision-cut-color-change-spinel

 

[lele88]

Thank you all for the pretty stones, I have showed them to the BF and gave him directions to this thread since this will help him determine a center stone for my e-ring. I really had my heart set on a round stone to fit the settings I previously picked out, but it seems like most of the stones I come across are oval shaped. Is there a reason or this or is it preference.

HotPozzum I will have to ask that vendor for better photos it could be a winner but without being able to return it if I dont love the color I'd need to be sure.

picante27 Does this seller have a store? I like the color, I would like to see more stones.

lovedogs I have visited Gemcal it seems like all the colors I found appealing were not a cut for the setting.

Please if you com across more stones send them my way. Can any of you tell me, is there a list around here of the gemstone sellers PS users frequently buy from? Doing searches on the web has not brought me nearly as nice pieces as I have seen in this thread. Thank you all for all of your help.

Also, spoke with the BF bigger than 7mm is ok

 

[urseberry]

Yes, there's a sticky thread at the top of this subforum. It's called something like List of Vendors for Reference.

 

[arabella]

Lele, what do you think of this one? It's 6.5, so smaller than you want, but the price is great (about $280). Is it too purple or dark? It's a spinel

 

[picante27]

Hi lele, Jim McCormick can be reached at [email protected]
I have purchased from him through the Facebook group fine faceted gems & cabs market as well. Good luck with your search!

 

[chrono]

Ovals make the most of the natural rough shape, hence you will find more ovals than any other shapes in coloured stones. I think cushions are the next most common shape.

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/list-of-vendors-for-reference.208782/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/list-of-vendors-for-reference.208782/[/URL]

 

[Niel]

This is 8.15 and a bit under 600

Does this strike your fancy?

 

[lele88]

Neil, the cut on that stone looks great. Is it a color change, or just the nature of the stone with the brown background.

 

[lele88]

After doing a bit more research , I have found the color I am looking for is more violet rather than purple. If this helps any.

 

[Niel]

Neil, the cut on that stone looks great. Is it a color change, or just the nature of the stone with the brown background.

He didn't mention it to be color chance, but that is the nature of all gemstones, to shift a bit.


Here are some vids

Set to 720p. resolution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWvyUys_9V0
Ultra-close-up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VogYaBemJw

 

[Niel]

Is 600 for the whole ring?

 

[T L]

After doing a bit more research , I have found the color I am looking for is more violet rather than purple. If this helps any.

Do you have an example picture of a gem that you really like in color?

Some purple spinels look like tanzanite, which is a much rarer and difficult to find color.

 

[Sungura]

I think Vietnamese spinels might have the color you are looking for. But I have never seen a round one. And they are quite pricey. Here is an example of one from the gem trader

 

[lele88]

Neil, 600 for the stone, but I did speak with the bf to confirm 800 is the max budget for the stone.

We have found a few settings most are in the 800-1000 range.The goal is to keep the ring under 2000.

TL, I posted a trillion cut gem early on in the thread that is the color I am after. It seems Sungura has found the color I am looking for, just like me to choose something a little more rare and $$

 

[Niel]

Neil, 600 for the stone, but I did speak with the bf to confirm 800 is the max budget for the stone.

We have found a few settings most are in the 800-1000 range.The goal is to keep the ring under 2000.

TL, I posted a trillion cut gem early on in the thread that is the color I am after. It seems Sungura has found the color I am looking for, just like me to choose something a little more rare and $$

What kind of setting are you after?

 

[lele88]

]

Neil, 600 for the stone, but I did speak with the bf to confirm 800 is the max budget for the stone.

We have found a few settings most are in the 800-1000 range.The goal is to keep the ring under 2000.

TL, I posted a trillion cut gem early on in the thread that is the color I am after. It seems Sungura has found the color I am looking for, just like me to choose something a little more rare and $$

What kind of setting are you after?

This is one of the settings we like.
[attachment=0]ja.png

 

[lele88]

This is the look I am going for, I do not yet know how to link a topic. This one is posted by FrekeChild.

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/forum/files/dan3.jpg']https://www.pricescope.com/forum/files/dan3.jpg[/URL]

 

[katharath]

Sungura, I was going to post the same thing - sounds like the OP wants a Vietnamese spinel, not the more typical Tanzanian spinels.

Lele, I can tell you from experience that this can be a difficult search, and that pricing on these types of spinels are generally going to be far higher than their Tanzanian cousins. Rounds are extremely rare. This is because these spinels have far less gray in them. Spinels are often very shifty stones, and the purple/lavender/violet stones from Tanzania almost always have a lot of gray in them, which you'll see as they shift. A good Vietnamese spinel will have a delicate beautiful color that lacks the gray and doesn't shift to even grayer. I actually love both types of spinels and have owned many of the Tanzanian (at least a dozen+), but only two of the Vietnamese.

I looked for a 7-8 mm round Vietnamese violet spinel for about two years before I "settled" for a 6 mm round, because I simply never found one that was in the cut, color, size, and price range I was looking for. I finally got my round at a large trade gem show this last summer. I'll include some pics and you can see if that's what you're looking for. If so, you may need to reconsider your budget. Mine was 6 mm and I was able to get it for trade pricing, not retail, but it was still $800 per carat. It was the only larger round that the vendor had, too. Usually pricing on these seems to hover around $1k per carat from the very reputable dealers that we recommend. (This is just current retail pricing from recommended PS vendors, not necessarily what you will see everywhere). But the bad news is that I've never seen a round Vietnamese 7-8 mm spinel for sale. I'm not saying they don't exist, I'm just saying they're hard to find and pricy. Usually you see pears and trillion cuts on these.

You might be able to find a Tanzanian spinel that doesn't show a lot of gray, it is possible.

Here are pics of mine. If it IS what you're looking for, it will most likely be a more intensive and more expensive search. I included the third pic to show how it shifts to slightly more lavender look, that was taken on a very gray overcast day while the first two are in diffused sunlight.

Let us know what you think bc if this is the type of gem you want, it will give us a better idea. Also you may want to really consider going with a sapphire. It won't be easy to find in the size/cut/color either, but it might be a good option. You can also find tanzanite in this color. It's just difficult bc going into the 7-8 mm range is going to exponentially increase your cost. The 6 mm range is one carat size, but with the 7-8 mm range you're moving into the 2-3 ct range, which involves a big price jump for any of those stones.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

Dana has a 7.1 round Montana color shift sapphire from blue to lavender that might work.


https://www.mastercutgems.com/Products-251-Ruby_and_Sapphire/8586-Montana_Unheated_Natural_Sapphire_1_98_carat-Gem.php?FromPage=1

 

[katharath]

Jeff Davies has several pretty round sapphires and tanzanites that might work too, I will try to find them and post pics, but was hoping to hear back from the OP first just to clarify some preferences.

Also - I have a couple of pics from my current collection for lele, just to illustrate the difference in typical tanzanian material vs Vietnamese. The other thing you'll notice is that the Tanzanian spinels are all precision cut, it's so much easier to find that - I can't recall seeing a precision cut Vietnamese spinel

I'm sure you can tell which is the Vietnamese, even though the pics aren't great (sorry about that, it's just what I have on hand). But yeah, it's the pear

 

[Niel]

Maybe? Maybe too purple?