opinions on these stones please??? :)

[waiting_impatiently_2008]

Well, I have narrowed it down to about 7 or so- (I can only get 5 of them to load correctly or get the actual weblink on here) can anyone give me opinions on these? Even just a color preference?
again- this is for the LOGR legacy style ring

As you can see- I am leaning towards the darker purple- but I am afraid that in the setting it might look much darker and since I am completely new to this I was hoping that the more experienced in these projects could give me some pointers.

Here they are:


red orange spinel from mastercutgems.com- http://mastercutgems.com/index.php?page=viewgem&id=5922

or

blue topaz from clear cut gems- http://www.clearcutgems.com/Page9topa.html

or

 

[chrono]

Red spinels are notorious for having a lot of extinction, so those showing very little dark areas are highly prized. You might want to ask Dana how much extinction the red orange spinel shows and if it shifts to a brownish colour indoors. Blue topazes are almost always irradiated so the colour is quite “standard”. People who are particular about their stones being treated will shy away from these but they are good stones for those who want size within a certain budget. I’d like to caution your setting a tanzanite into a ring due to its durability issues, however, if it is an occasional wear ring that is worn with a lot of care, it might be fine. The blue purple spinel looks quite dark with a lot of extinction showing so it’s not a stone I’d recommend. The purplish spinel could show some promise but it’s difficult to tell with that single dark picture.