Searching for *the* stone...

[RoyalWe]

Depending what you find or don't find, I have an option that I'm sure others will suggest you stay away from; however, I think it's at least worth mentioning. Plus, I love the idea of having something custom cut for such a ring.

Hilmar (http://africangemstones.us/beryl/) has a few pieces of nice morganite rough, providing you're still into that. #1 catches my eye for your purposes, but you'd want to contact Logan and get the dimensions (including depth) and what he sees inside clarity-wise. What about pairing with someone like Jerry (http://gemartservices.com/newstuff.htm) or Ryan (https://www.instagram.com/quantzstudios/) to select a piece and have them cut it for you. The price would be well within your budget too. Just throwing that idea out there!

I'll still keep an eye out though...

That sounds so amazing! And, a bit out of my league... Lol... Boy, would that make a special piece, having it cut and everything, I just never thought of that as a viable possibility. Definitely something to think about.

 

[RoyalWe]

Not an oval, but about the dimensions you were looking for:

http://www.earthstreasury.com/product/2-81-carat-nigerian-morganite/

That is quite lovely. It is definitely on the cooler side, but I like it! I do think it would look lovely set in white gold, what do you think? Have you purchased from this vendor in the past? I just wanted to know how much I could trust the note that states the feather isn't visible "in hand"?

I have not purchased there but from what I understand he's pretty well recommended, especially for lovely cutting. As for how much to trust the info on the inclusion, I think that's the kind of thing where you need to get it in hand and see. I believe he has a very good return policy as well.

Also seconding everyone who said to contact juliaB, she seems to have lots of stuff in the range you're looking for. And since you've already mentioned you wouldn't wear the ring all the time, there may be some garnets out there that would work too (and they're so, so sparkly!)

That's great. Thank you so much! And yes, I reached out to juliaB... Funny you should mention garnets as well, I just saw those mahenge garnets posted by chroman... wow! I'm off to do a bit of garnet research!

 

[chroman]

deskjockey alluded to one thing about garnets - they're fairly soft. So if it was a ring that wold be worn frequently, like a 24/7 engagement ring, it might not be the best material because of the risk of damage.

That said, there are owners of lovely garnet RHRs here, so hopefully others will chime in.

 

[SparkliesLuver]

That sounds so amazing! And, a bit out of my league... Lol... Boy, would that make a special piece, having it cut and everything, I just never thought of that as a viable possibility. Definitely something to think about.

haha I can understand your comment but that's why you'd partner with an experienced cutter. Absolutely no pressure - just throwing another suggestion out there!

 

[qubitasaurus]

Are you open to loosening some of those criterion? There are some peachy spinels/sapphires here which are really lovely

http://www.precisiongem.com/rapidcartproPG/index.php?catalog/all/-/date/1

Otherwise you can probably get pretty close to the size and shape you want with something like this

http://www.pearlmansjewelers.com/gemstones/?sku=6134

However it seems to be a long way off the color you want. I am also worried that the type of stone you are looking at might shift color under different lighting.

I'm definitely open color-wise, to a point...but doubt that I will stray to far from the general size/shape I'm looking for... Could you expand on your thoughts with color shift? Would that just be something I would find out when I saw it in person?

There are a lot of threads on this forum where people talk about pink/peach/mauve colored spinels shifting color under different light sources - for instance 2nd and 3rd photos in this thread

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/spinels.185721/

It is not necessarily a bad thing. I just don't want it to catch you by surprise.

As far as identifying what may shift color and what wont. Sometimes it is listed in the description of the stone (like the precision gems pad sapphire in the above link). But in general you wont know until you either ask the vendor, or see it in hand.

 

[chrono]

Guess what I found? It is peachy, it is a sapphire, it is precision cut, it is unheated, and it costs less than $900. The only requirement it doesn't meet is the shape.
http://www.precisiongem.com/gemstackpage/gems.php?product/page/399/Gem+1760+-+Sapphire+Padparadscha

 

[E B]

Maybe?

https://www.etsy.com/listing/250266..._query=loose peach sapphire&ref=sr_gallery_29

 

[blushpeony]

Guess what I found? It is peachy, it is a sapphire, it is precision cut, it is unheated, and it costs less than $900. The only requirement it doesn't meet is the shape.
http://www.precisiongem.com/gemstackpage/gems.php?product/page/399/Gem+1760+-+Sapphire+Padparadscha

Hi Chrono, I actually bought that stone and unfortunately had to return it. It was beautifully cut but quite brown looking in real life, which wasn't the look I was going for. Perhaps another buyer will find that the stone is a good fit for them, but I just wanted to give them a heads up about the color looking quite different from the vendor pics. The color shift was pretty neat though.

 

[lovedogs]

Guess what I found? It is peachy, it is a sapphire, it is precision cut, it is unheated, and it costs less than $900. The only requirement it doesn't meet is the shape.
http://www.precisiongem.com/gemstackpage/gems.php?product/page/399/Gem+1760+-+Sapphire+Padparadscha

Hi Chrono, I actually bought that stone and unfortunately had to return it. It was beautifully cut but quite brown looking in real life, which wasn't the look I was going for. Perhaps another buyer will find that the stone is a good fit for them, but I just wanted to give them a heads up about the color looking quite different from the vendor pics. The color shift was pretty neat though.

Wow, I'm really surprised by how different that looks IRL versus the photos! Thanks for posting that, Blushpeony! I do think the second picture is really pretty, but definitely not as much of a *pop* as I would have expected.

 

[chrono]

I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. Peachy is generally orange + pink and when pale, tends to have a good dose of brown because of the low level of saturation.

 

[RoyalWe]

Wow, what a small world! Thank you SO much Chrono for searching and finding that, and a big thank you as well to blushpeony for giving me a "real life" view of it! That is what has been hard for me in this process. You can make an educated guess, something will meet your subjective criteria, but you just can't know for sure until you're staring at it in your hand. That being said, I held my breath and took a little leap of faith on something a bit outside the box (or should I say cushion, lol) today!! I was so taken by those Mahenge Garnets at Gemfix, that I knew I had to get one in hand. I was debating between the cushion and oval, and boy was it a hard decision. I reached out to them and they are so nice and friendly. So, taking a leap of faith, I went ahead and purchased the oval! Ultimately I decided that, since I was going to put it in a halo setting anyway, why not get the best of both worlds and put the oval in a cushion halo?! I may or may not go that route anyway because I do think ovals have a bit of an air of sophistication (for lack of a better term), and so we shall see. First thing's first, before I worry about a setting, I look forward to seeing how it is in person! Any thoughts?

 

[chrono]

Good luck with the stone. It's hard to tell because most of these peachy CS will become brown under indoor lighting.

 

[chroman]

Exciting! I hope you love the stone in person when it arrives!

 

[PieAreSquared]

Guess what I found? It is peachy, it is a sapphire, it is precision cut, it is unheated, and it costs less than $900. The only requirement it doesn't meet is the shape.
http://www.precisiongem.com/gemstackpage/gems.php?product/page/399/Gem+1760+-+Sapphire+Padparadscha

Hi Chrono, I actually bought that stone and unfortunately had to return it. It was beautifully cut but quite brown looking in real life, which wasn't the look I was going for. Perhaps another buyer will find that the stone is a good fit for them, but I just wanted to give them a heads up about the color looking quite different from the vendor pics. The color shift was pretty neat though.

Wow, I'm really surprised by how different that looks IRL versus the photos! Thanks for posting that, Blushpeony! I do think the second picture is really pretty, but definitely not as much of a *pop* as I would have expected.

Are both of those pictures yours Blushpeony?
Even though the bottom one is blurry, the color looks to me exactly like the color in the vendor's photo.

 

[deskjockey]

Guess what I found? It is peachy, it is a sapphire, it is precision cut, it is unheated, and it costs less than $900. The only requirement it doesn't meet is the shape.
http://www.precisiongem.com/gemstackpage/gems.php?product/page/399/Gem+1760+-+Sapphire+Padparadscha

Hi Chrono, I actually bought that stone and unfortunately had to return it. It was beautifully cut but quite brown looking in real life, which wasn't the look I was going for. Perhaps another buyer will find that the stone is a good fit for them, but I just wanted to give them a heads up about the color looking quite different from the vendor pics. The color shift was pretty neat though.

So amazing how much taste can vary, that would be right up my alley! Neat stone, even if it wasn't what you were expecting.

 

[PrecisionGem]

One of the more talked about issues in the trade is light bulbs. With CFL pretty much taking over, the true color of gemstones is really crippled. I have talked with Jewelers and colored stone dealers who have stocked up on years worth of supply of tradional light bulbs. Most stones look pretty bad with CFL bulbs, with the exception of some the green stones such as peridot which I think looks more saturated with CFL and Chrysoberl. Two years ago in Tucson, had a rough dealer come to my hotel room at night, and I purchased some peridot and chrysoberyl, the only bulbs in the room were CFL and the stones looked great. Not so great the next day in normal daylight.

I shoot all my pictures with SOLUX bulbs, which are color temperature matched to daylight, and have very full spectrum. These are the bulbs many museums use to illuminate paintings, as they give a true color. A CFL bulb could never be used for this, as the colors in the painting would be greatly distorted.

Here's a picture of the spectrum of various types of light. You can see that CFL bulbs have very little in the red area's and this is why red stones or stones with pink in them go muddy in CFL light.

If you are looking to save energy, the LED bulbs for you home are a much better option, and are much better for the environment. CFL bulbs contain some nasty materials is broken.

 

[RoyalWe]

Ok, so last night I was thinking about it, and decided to get the cushion as well to compare. It's got more of a pink hue, and I feel like I won't have to wonder if I would have liked the other more... And if neither work out, I'll (hopefully) will have a better idea of how the lighting conditions in my home and locale affect things. This is my very first time buying a CS, and it's for something very dear to me, so I want to get things right.

 

[deskjockey]

One of the more talked about issues in the trade is light bulbs. With CFL pretty much taking over, the true color of gemstones is really crippled. I have talked with Jewelers and colored stone dealers who have stocked up on years worth of supply of tradional light bulbs. Most stones look pretty bad with CFL bulbs, with the exception of some the green stones such as peridot which I think looks more saturated with CFL and Chrysoberl. Two years ago in Tucson, had a rough dealer come to my hotel room at night, and I purchased some peridot and chrysoberyl, the only bulbs in the room were CFL and the stones looked great. Not so great the next day in normal daylight.

I shoot all my pictures with SOLUX bulbs, which are color temperature matched to daylight, and have very full spectrum. These are the bulbs many museums use to illuminate paintings, as they give a true color. A CFL bulb could never be used for this, as the colors in the painting would be greatly distorted.

Here's a picture of the spectrum of various types of light. You can see that CFL bulbs have very little in the red area's and this is why red stones or stones with pink in them go muddy in CFL light.

If you are looking to save energy, the LED bulbs for you home are a much better option, and are much better for the environment. CFL bulbs contain some nasty materials is broken.

I'll say the stones I do have look really good under LEDs as well. Brings out the green in my sapphire, at least.

 

[blushpeony]

Are both of those pictures yours Blushpeony?
Even though the bottom one is blurry, the color looks to me exactly like the color in the vendor's photo.

Hi, PieAreSquared. Yes, those are both photos I took of the same stone.

So amazing how much taste can vary, that would be right up my alley! Neat stone, even if it wasn't what you were expecting.

Still a beautiful stone, and it looks like it's still available for purchase if you are interested, deskjockey.
Thank you very much for sharing your expertise on lighting, PrecisionGem!

Sorry everyone, perhaps I should have talked about the lighting for those two photos, to make things more clear.
The first photo was actually taken against my partly open front door, which let in indirect sunlight on a pretty overcast day.

Here is a similar picture, except taken outside on my patio in similar weather conditions:


The second photo I posted (with the stone looking more red) was taken right under my lampshade, and the lamp has a 72w incandescent light bulb. Hope that helps!

Sorry to derail, your thread OP!

 

[PieAreSquared]

Ok, so last night I was thinking about it, and decided to get the cushion as well to compare. It's got more of a pink hue, and I feel like I won't have to wonder if I would have liked the other more... And if neither work out, I'll (hopefully) will have a better idea of how the lighting conditions in my home and locale affect things. This is my very first time buying a CS, and it's for something very dear to me, so I want to get things right.

RoyalWe: Very good idea to compare. And you're right, this way you won't wonder "what if"...


Gene- the best thing I ever did a few years ago was to replace all the incandescent and fluorescent lights in my home with 'daylight' bulbs and LED's. The difference it made in the general appearance and "mood" of each room was amazing. My bath went from a depressing yellow-lit closet to a bright, sunlight-infused retreat. Bulbs are really not that expensive, and even if you rent, you can take them with you!

 

[PrecisionGem]

Ok, so last night I was thinking about it, and decided to get the cushion as well to compare. It's got more of a pink hue, and I feel like I won't have to wonder if I would have liked the other more... And if neither work out, I'll (hopefully) will have a better idea of how the lighting conditions in my home and locale affect things. This is my very first time buying a CS, and it's for something very dear to me, so I want to get things right.

RoyalWe: Very good idea to compare. And you're right, this way you won't wonder "what if"...


Gene- the best thing I ever did a few years ago was to replace all the incandescent and fluorescent lights in my home with 'daylight' bulbs and LED's. The difference it made in the general appearance and "mood" of each room was amazing. My bath went from a depressing yellow-lit closet to a bright, sunlight-infused retreat. Bulbs are really not that expensive, and even if you rent, you can take them with you!

That's so true. The builder on our house had installed CFL bulbs in every light. At night the wall colored looked like puke! I have since replaced every bulb, mostly with LED now.

 

[chroman]

RoyalWe - watch out, you might end up with the hard choice of falling in love with both stones Can't wait to see photos!

Sounds like we might need a lightbulb thread soon

 

[deskjockey]

Still a beautiful stone, and it looks like it's still available for purchase if you are interested, deskjockey.

Unfortunately.... bad timing/budget

 

[RoyalWe]

Ok, so they both arrived late last night, but I just *finally* got both kids down for a nap (VERY rare!!) and I don't expect it to last long. I tried to take some pictures, but they are just awful... I am posting one I took with both on my hand. I will attempt to take some more when my husband gets home and I can sneak away and play with them outside, with other light sources, etc. I still haven't seen them outside in the true daylight.

Here's the referenced pic. I would really appreciate your opinions on all aspects both positive and negative. I know from my lurking and reading similar posts on this forum, that my question is likely going to be answered with a question... Namely, how do YOU like it? I will chime in on this later with my thoughts but would greatly greatly appreciate some unbiased opinions first. Thanks!

 

[lovedogs]

Ok, so they both arrived late last night, but I just *finally* got both kids down for a nap (VERY rare!!) and I don't expect it to last long. I tried to take some pictures, but they are just awful... I am posting one I took with both on my hand. I will attempt to take some more when my husband gets home and I can sneak away and play with them outside, with other light sources, etc. I still haven't seen them outside in the true daylight.

Here's the referenced pic. I would really appreciate your opinions on all aspects both positive and negative. I know from my lurking and reading similar posts on this forum, that my question is likely going to be answered with a question... Namely, how do YOU like it? I will chime in on this later with my thoughts but would greatly greatly appreciate some unbiased opinions first. Thanks!

Ohh, they are very pretty! IMHO I really like the oval on top--it kind of jumps out at me because of the peach color. I don't think there's a window (from the vendor pic), but it almost looks like one in the pic--I think it's just the angle of the photo.

The tricky part is that on your skin I almost like the bottom one better. Don't know how to explain it, but I feel like my eye is more drawn to the top stone initially, but then after looking for a while I think the bottom stone might pop more on you. But I keep waffling on which one I prefer, so I'm no help

 

[chroman]

The same thing happened to me! The oval jumped out first ("Oh look that peach"), but then saw the cushion and couldnt decide which I liked better. So no help here either

I was surprised that they have a bit more saturation in yours than I would have guessed from the vendor pic. But thats not a bad thing, just a surprise

 

[chrono]

For this particular picture, the oval catches my eye. Let's wait to see it under different light conditions. I think the skin tone issue can be solved with having the stone "separated" from the finger by a border of contrasting colour, be it a metal or diamonds, or some other.

 

[junebug17]

Oh my, tough choice, they're both so lovely! Disclaimer, I'm not an expert, just a lover of pretty colored stones I do love the peach color of the oval, but it looks a bit dark in the center? Could just be the lighting or the angle, so hard to tell from one still picture. Would love to see more pics. I just re-read your initial post and the oval is probably more in line with your personal preference of peachy pink.

 

[deskjockey]

I think I prefer the oval, but would like to see some more photos I do think both are better color than I was expecting from the vendor pictures

 

[theredspinel]

I prefer the cushion due to seeing more pink in it.