Second Chance Gems

[geoffreysnow]

I was a lurker on here for a while before I made my first gem purchase. When I came across Ryon's aqua cushion post I said that's the kind of stone that I want to get. and posted to let everyone know that there was an amazing aqua available from finewater. So I emailed Gary and purchased the chunky cushion aquamarine.

I love this stone and it reflects so much light it's surprising. It's 7x7 mm and if I remember correctly ~1.5ct. It has a small table and 8 very evenly distributed main pavilions. It's very hard to capture in a picture but here's my best attempts

 

[geoffreysnow]

this pic really shows how bright it is - it''s an absolute fireball but hard to capture in a picture

 

[geoffreysnow]

.

 

[geoffreysnow]

here''s the best pic to show the faceting. Gary''s work is outstanding and I''d highly recommend him

 

[geoffreysnow]

last pic of the aquamarine

 

[geoffreysnow]

The other gemstones to get a second chance are from Barry at ACS. Usually first thing around 6pm I go to his website and refresh his new gemstone page hoping for something pretty to drop. One day a little while back I saw an amethyst pair and I thought oh I had to have those... but alas they were sold by the time I saw them. A couple days later Cellentani posted with pics of her beautiful supernova oval and these amethysts - lucky! Fortunately for me these weren't what she was looking for so I emailed Barry and just received them yesterday.

I love the shade of purple and although I do suppose they do have some gray undertones I am very very happy with them. Barry's stones are very vintage with high crowns, larger facets, and thick girdles - all attributes that I adore.

Here are the pics I took this morning. The first pic shows that they do reflect a lot of light, although not as much as the aqua or pink tourmaline oval, but they're fine amethysts!

 

[geoffreysnow]

Another in lighting

 

[geoffreysnow]

Picture in shade capturing the color. They're not a rich dark purple but they're exactly the shade I was looking for

 

[geoffreysnow]

.

 

[geoffreysnow]

and last one

 

[D&T]

Those are two awesome stones, Congrats on getting the second chance purchase! I also loved them, but couldn''t get them either when they went back. So glad you got them, they are very beautiful, I love both Gary and Barry''s Cutting style. love them!

 

[geoffreysnow]

D&T - thank you for the compliments

I forgot to mention that hopefully for the amethysts they will be set in studs. I was a little concerned they''re be too large for studs and Barry recommended dangles but after seeing them in person I think these would be perfect in Sally from Heart of Water Lotus Settings Simlar to these OECs. . Do you think they''d look better in white gold or rose gold?

 

[D&T]

you know the color metal choice is interesting for purple stones. The Amethyst i have looks phenomal in yellow gold, then I have a two purple spinel (one color change to blue) and I put the color change spinel in white gold and it looks phenomenal, but when I put it next to a yellow gold mounting it didn't look that great -kinda weird. I think yellow gold or even rose gold will keep it very warm looking just my humble opinion though

ETA: even though my spinel may look great in white gold, I'm still a yellow gold person, so I'll probably end up in yellow anyways, since I wear more yellow gold.

 

[T L]

For a minute, I thought "Second Chance Gems" was a new vendor name. LOL!!

I like amethyst in rose gold. As for aqua, I prefer them in halos with white gold.

Enjoy your new stones!!

 

[chrono]

Date: 7/19/2009 2:11:31 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
For a minute, I thought ''Second Chance Gems'' was a new vendor name. LOL!!

I like amethyst in rose gold. As for aqua, I prefer them in halos with white gold.

Enjoy your new stones!!

Ditto that except the halo part.

D&T,
Metal choices for purple and blue spinels should be on a case by case basis due to any undertones they have. Amethysts are almost always a pure purple so yellow gold works 100% of the time.

 

[cellentani]

giraffecushion, I''m so glad you were able to get these stones, especially the amethysts - I was hoping you''d see that I''d returned them! It''s great you''ll be able to give them a good home (and I know I sound like I''m talking about puppies instead of gems)!!

You are definitely on a roll - these, the aqua, and that gorgeous tourmaline!!

 

[Stone Hunter]

Congrats! Lovely lovely stones. I think if you know what you''re looking for you can find it with a little help from PS.

I''m all for setting Amyth. in YG or Rose. Even though I once bought a pair in white. I just think purple needs the stronger colored gold.

D&T-- Interesting note about purple/blue spinel being better in WG. I''m thinking that it''s the blue in it that does that.

And so for the Aqua I''d say blue.