SS Red-Pink Spinels

[colormyworld]

It could just be the RUM.

 

[Harriet]

Er, you don''t drink.

 

[T L]

Date: 5/30/2009 12:04:23 AM
Author: Harriet

Date: 5/29/2009 11:59:35 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover
Oh no!! being teased by Harriet and CMW.

Well, I''ll let you both know if I have an epiphany when I get the two stones.

Next stop -- tsavorite!

I''m sorry Harriet, I just can''t get into tsavorites. The only green stone for me is emerald, but you do have some amazing tsavorites - if I COULD SEE A BIGGER PICTURE!!

 

[Harriet]

I GET THE HINT.

I''ll hazard my SLR tomorrow. But be prepared for some nasty pictures.

 

[T L]

Well, if you ever need help resizing, you know where to find me.

 

[sleepyspinel]

Hi Art Nouveau,

Thanks so much for the compliment, I spend hours with my little sparkly friends trying to capture what I see, and few people really understand how HARD it can be, so its really nice that gem lovers like yourself think that they look decent... I definitely think that my camera has alot to do with it since it is supposed to be good with low light photography and quite a few of these photos were taken with diffused (by my linen curtain) daylight.

I am enamoured with your watermelon coloured tanzanian spinel you posted some time ago, have you decided and/or already set it? I would love to see more photos of it. I have one burmese stone which might be from Namya but I am really not sure (wishful thinking perhaps), but its really an electric pink. I got that before spinels were so "cool".

I had seen that book advertised on Pala looks nice, I just might have to splurge a bit so I can enjoy those pics

Date: 5/29/2009 11:50:13 PM
Author: Art Nouveau
Hi Sleepyspinel,

Thanks for sharing the beautiful pictures of your spinel. You are a very good gem photographer. Your closeup photos look better than the vendor''s. I love how your spinel seems to glow and the way it changes from more pink to more red to more orange in different lighting. I like the ruby red spinels from Burma too, but those don''t have the glow. The price of these stones have gone up a lot and fine gemmy ones are getting hard to find.

For those of you interested, it is possible to order the handout from the recent John Sinkankas Spinel Symposium held recently at GIA, Carlsbad. I just received mine today. There are tons of beautiful pictures of spinels in all colors. I haven''t had time to read the text yet, but the pictures alone are worth it. If you wish to order this, the information is in Palagem''s home page.

AN

 

[Harriet]

Date: 5/30/2009 12:09:56 AM
Author: tourmaline_lover
Well, if you ever need help resizing, you know where to find me.

Thanks!

 

[Harriet]

SS, I'm sorry about the threadjacking. TL and CMW are bad influences.

P.S. Here's my spess: http://www.pricescope.com/forum/op-requested/mandarin-redux-t115890.html

 

[sleepyspinel]

And perhaps can you grace us with more pics of your sugarloaf with any other pretties you might want to share?

Date: 5/30/2009 12:11:52 AM
Author: Harriet

Date: 5/30/2009 12:09:56 AM
Author: tourmaline_lover
Well, if you ever need help resizing, you know where to find me.

Thanks!

 

[sleepyspinel]

Oh yes you and TL roused some serious spess envy which I had to squelch... sadly with 3 stones instead of the one I had intended (long story).

Its a beauty your spess what are the dimensions?

Date: 5/30/2009 12:14:21 AM
Author: Harriet
SS, I''m sorry about the threadjacking. TL and CMW are bad influences.

P.S. Have you seen my spess?

 

[Harriet]

With pleasure. Can someone help me find a lightbox first, please?

 

[Harriet]

Date: 5/30/2009 12:16:29 AM
Author: sleepyspinel
Oh yes you and TL roused some serious spess envy which I had to squelch... sadly with 3 stones instead of the one I had intended (long story).

Its a beauty your spess what are the dimensions?

Thank you. I''m not sure about its dimensions, especially now that it''s been set. It weighs 5.15 ct.

 

[T L]

Date: 5/30/2009 12:16:29 AM
Author: sleepyspinel
Oh yes you and TL roused some serious spess envy which I had to squelch... sadly with 3 stones instead of the one I had intended (long story).

Its a beauty your spess what are the dimensions?

One of the reasons I had to get a new digicam is because my old one kept killing the color on my stones, especially orange. Harriet has a beautiful spess, as well as Chrono's Jeff White cushion. I wish Chrono was logged on tonight, she would have had a lot of fun in this thread. Chrono and Harriet's are Loliondo's. I don't know the true origin of mine unfortunately. I was told Namibian, but who knows for sure. Where do yours hail from?

 

[sleepyspinel]

Oh yes I remember the very beginning of the story when JW snagged the rough at Tuscon and the rest is history. That is truly and exceptional stone in size, color and cut.

In case anyone was getting bored with the pinks from africa, here is my Burmese spinel (my first and only), not my favorite shape but it was so vivid and nicely cut with firesale pricing I could not resist and I definitely have no regrets!

here is the vendor shot...

 

[sleepyspinel]

and mine with sunlight for light source

 

[T L]

Wow, another gem that looks great in sunlight. I don''t know if you''ve been following the other thread, but some gem cutters mentioned that gems don''t typically look good in direct sunlight.

How do you think the purplish pink Burmese spinels compare to the Mahenge?

BTW, how could we be bored at looking at spinels from Africa???

 

[sleepyspinel]

Direct sunlight is pretty harsh on gems. Since one would have one''s back facing the sun, it would accentuate the head obscuration effect, in addition to having pupil constriction which lets less light of the off line-of-site light return hit the retina thereby making the stone look dark.

Comparing the african to the asian spinels is really difficult simply because it is like comparing a crystalline ceylon to a kashmiri sapphire.

The burmese spinel has the following color grade:
GIA Code: stpR 4/4
Hue: strongly purplish red
Tone: Medium light
Saturation: moderately strong

Which is exactly the same as the first stone I posted! Yet they are worlds apart because the silk and the resultant "Tyndall effect" which diffuses and spreads the light more evenly throughout the stone. I think that the silky stones look more pleasant over a wider range of light environments (something I KNOW you are fan of

) But they lose some of the dispersive, flash, and brilliance one associates with singly refractive stones like diamonds, garnets, and spinels (all favorites of mine).

Date: 5/30/2009 12:35:59 AM
Author: tourmaline_lover
Wow, another gem that looks great in sunlight. I don''t know if you''ve been following the other thread, but some gem cutters mentioned that gems don''t typically look good in direct sunlight.

How do you think the purplish pink Burmese spinels compare to the Mahenge?

BTW, how could we be bored at looking at spinels from Africa???

 

[Harriet]

JW rocks. He has a talent for finding the rare.

This has been the most fun I''ve had on CS for a while. Thanks and g''night all.

PS. Mention the word "pineapple" to Chrono.

 

[T L]

SS,
I have some gems that look fantastic when the sun hits them directly, including that spessie. I don''t know, but I go for long walks with my gems and while they look great in diffused light, or on an overcast day, when the sun hits them directly - WOW!! As I was telling Cellentani, I must have weird gems.

Thank you so much for your discussion of color tonight in regards to your beautiful collections of spinels and mint garnets. As much as I love precision cut gems, I feel that color sometimes gets forgotten about, and color is what I live for with colored gems. Give me those windows, hey if the color is vivid, I don''t care!!

 

[sleepyspinel]

I am only to happy to be sharing and learning from you all Your copper bearing stones are so very eye catching, I am a neon fan.

While the bulk of my stones are not precision cut perse, I am still a big proponent of light return... I dont mind a minimal window esp on the heavy belly stones since they seem to perform REALLY well as far as minimizing the appearance of tilt window. Perfect facet meets and symmetry are nice but there is also something to be said about a seemingly random glittery sparkle, as long as its BRIGHT, with a pretty base color I am happy! I have a great example of that glittery effect... a med-light slightly violetish blue sapphire with a med-strong saturation. Yet another thread I am sure

Date: 5/30/2009 12:55:49 AM
Author: tourmaline_lover
SS,
I have some gems that look fantastic when the sun hits them directly, including that spessie. I don''t know, but I go for long walks with my gems and while they look great in diffused light, or on an overcast day, when the sun hits them directly - WOW!! As I was telling Cellentani, I must have weird gems.

Thank you so much for your discussion of color tonight in regards to your beautiful collections of spinels and mint garnets. As much as I love precision cut gems, I feel that color sometimes gets forgotten about, and color is what I live for with colored gems. Give me those windows, hey if the color is vivid, I don''t care!!

 

[T L]

Date: 5/30/2009 1:03:36 AM
Author: sleepyspinel
I am only to happy to be sharing and learning from you all Your copper bearing stones are so very eye catching, I am a neon fan.

While the bulk of my stones are not precision cut perse, I am still a big proponent of light return... I dont mind a minimal window esp on the heavy belly stones since they seem to perform REALLY well as far as minimizing the appearance of tilt window. Perfect facet meets and symmetry are nice but there is also something to be said about a seemingly random glittery sparkle, as long as its BRIGHT, with a pretty base color I am happy! I have a great example of that glittery effect... a med-light slightly violetish blue sapphire with a med-strong saturation. Yet another thread I am sure

You''re killing me!! Color is really important to me. I rather have a badly cut stone with great color, then a stone with poor color but a great cut. Some native cuts are very lovely as well.


BTW, I hope Art Nouveau posts her gem collection in a thread one of these days. OMG!! Some of those pieces belong in a museum. Did you see her padparadscha!!?? Well, I''m off to bed. Nice chatting with you and everyone else. This has been fun, and I hope that alien visitor leaves CMW''s body long enough for him to enjoy his rum. LOL!!

 

[Art Nouveau]

SS: Thanks for your kind words about my spinel. The color is close to yours, but less ''sleepy''. I have not set the ring yet, but will do it soon. I will post pictures when it''s done. I have the pair of pears set in dangling earrings, and I have posted pics in ''Color Stones'' few months ago.

TL: Congratulations on your first spinel purchase! I am glad SS was able to convince you to change your mind about spinels with her beautiful pictures. Mahenge spinels are not like typical spinels. Once you see a nice one, you will be ''hooked''.

Regarding the handout from the spinel symposium, I just want to clarify that it is a soft cover program booklet, like what you get when you attend a big conference. But it''s not a hard cover gem book. It does have a lot of color photos of spinels.

AN

 

[Adah]

Absolutely stunning! I especially love the sunlight shots

 

[T L]

SS,
Here''s the other spinel I just purchased from MC.com. This one is not sleepy though, since it''s slightly included. Honest opinion?

2.08 carats
slpR 4/4
Tone: Medium light
Saturation: moderately strong

The only one more vivid on their website right now in this color family is a round Burma spinel, but it''s smaller and more pricey. I was considering that one, but David told me that the stones are really identical in color, the other is a 4/5 and this is a 4/4, but he can''t see much of a difference. I asked him why he priced the Burma one higher, even though it''s a half carat smaller than this, and he said because 1) it''s eye clean and his customers are fickle about that, and 2) it''s a round.

 

[T L]

Here are both I purchased for comparison sake. They''re both a tad bit over 2 carats. I should probably post this in a new thread, sorry. I cannot tell you how long I had these in my shopping cart, but I couldn''t pull the trigger.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

I like the second stone best.

Now, excuse me while I go oggle the sleepers at MC

 

[T L]

LadyD,
He has the top one priced for around $200 more than the one you like, and I was wondering why the bottom one was priced so low, so I had to get both to see them in person to be able to make that judgement call, but thanks for your honest opinion. Typically, when the price is low on a nice color like that, I'm super suspect, but SS said it was on his website for a few years, so maybe it's older pricing. He said the top one looks like the same color as the one that Yingh bought from Gene, which I loved. Of course, the cutting on it can't compare to Yingh's, but for a two carat stone, I thought the size was a good one. Above two carats, the price takes another big jump in these stones. I should really start a new thread on this.

 

[sleepyspinel]

Hi TL,

Well, all my stones were graded as slightly included in order to account for the sleepy quality, I think that perhaps the more vivid one you got might be a bit sleepier.

Both of these stones look to be right about the same shape/cut are the dimensions comparable? From what I can see from their photos, which I believe they use fluorescent sources, the second stone (the one you are now showing me), is a hint lighter... a bit hard to say if its tone or saturation, are you looking for these as earrings?

I will say that of the 4 stones I have they are all def in the right ballpark colorwise and would make a great set, though if set directly next to eachother, then the slight tonal/saturation variances might be perceived.

As for that round burmese, its quite beautiful and compared to other vendors the price isnt crazy... except compared to what I paid for mine 4-5 yrs ago

I would say that the silk really makes a big difference in how the color looks... while both my burmese and tanzanian stones have that pink to slightly orangeypink shift depending on light, I think the crystalline burmese shows the colors more starkley... for better or worse. Round well cut burmese stones are quite the rarity and that is likely reflected in the price. One thing I have encountered with Spinel regardless of origin is that super high clarity comes with a hefty premium and at the moment the silk is considered an "inclusion"... all the better for us

I just wish there were some of the nicer vietnamese stones that caught my fancy so I could expand my horizons heheh

Date: 5/30/2009 9:42:31 AM
Author: tourmaline_lover
SS,
Here''s the other spinel I just purchased from MC.com. This one is not sleepy though, since it''s slightly included. Honest opinion?

2.08 carats
slpR 4/4
Tone: Medium light
Saturation: moderately strong

The only one more vivid on their website right now in this color family is a round Burma spinel, but it''s smaller and more pricey. I was considering that one, but David told me that the stones are really identical in color, the other is a 4/5 and this is a 4/4, but he can''t see much of a difference. I asked him why he priced the Burma one higher, even though it''s a half carat smaller than this, and he said because 1) it''s eye clean and his customers are fickle about that, and 2) it''s a round.

 

[D&T]

holy moly- look at that rich color gem especially in the sunlight. its a gorgeous stone

 

[icekid]

Loving this thread...

sleepy- your spinels are incredible. I can only imagine how they must glow in person.