But many stones have great recuts & cuts, not all stones (spinels) have the color, clarity & quality of yours. In other words, the material is most important and rare. Otherwise, have a Rose de' France cut nice, but it would never have the optical properties of your Spinel, let alone the value and rarity. Give some credit to the material, because without that, you have nothing.
Wow! What a transformation from the original. It went from "meh" to "WHOA"... and the setting?? Gorgeous! Glad this turned into such a beautiful adornment for you to admire.
I had Dan re-cut three spinels recently for me and he is a magician!