Stones from GemSelect?

[Upgradable]

Their website shows some beautiful stones at reasonable prices. I''ve tried searching but haven''t come up with any reviews.

Has anyone purchased from them? What have your experiences been?

 

[Mrs_Darcy]

Wow, I was just going to post a topic on this, Upgradeable! I just found this site yesterday, and am also amazed at how low some of the prices are. But, like you, I am having trouble finding reviews. I hope someone more experienced chimes in!

Anyone have any opinions on this amethyst asscher? http://www.gemselect.com/amethyst/amethyst-231059.php Thanks!

 

[packrat]

Before I finally found my spinel, I was keeping an eye on a few there. They also are on ebay, but I can''t remember what they go by..it''s not GemSelect is all I remember. I thought I''d read here that the colors weren''t always true, but I don''t recall exactly. Lotta help I am.

 

[Liane]

I posted my experience with them about a month ago in this thread:

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/gem-select.123112/

Short version is you get what you pay for, and at least with regard to my purchase, the picture was a lot nicer than the actual stones. Not bad enough that I felt like I needed to return anything, but I doubt I''d buy from them again.

 

[glitterata]

I have bought from them and returned. I also kept a few things. Nice prices, but the photos definitely make the best of what they have.

 

[movie zombie]

Date: 9/18/2009 11:01:19 AM
Author: summertime
Wow, I was just going to post a topic on this, Upgradeable! I just found this site yesterday, and am also amazed at how low some of the prices are. But, like you, I am having trouble finding reviews. I hope someone more experienced chimes in!

Anyone have any opinions on this amethyst asscher? http://www.gemselect.com/amethyst/amethyst-231059.php Thanks!

looks like its priced right.

a good amethyst will cost more.

mz

ps amethyst is an inexpensive stone and good ones can be had for $35/carat....look for some arizona 4 mines.........

 

[movie zombie]

Date: 9/18/2009 11:51:23 AM
Author: movie zombie

Date: 9/18/2009 11:01:19 AM
Author: summertime
Wow, I was just going to post a topic on this, Upgradeable! I just found this site yesterday, and am also amazed at how low some of the prices are. But, like you, I am having trouble finding reviews. I hope someone more experienced chimes in!

Anyone have any opinions on this amethyst asscher? http://www.gemselect.com/amethyst/amethyst-231059.php Thanks!

looks like its priced right.

a good amethyst will cost more.

mz

ps amethyst is an inexpensive stone and good ones can be had for $35/carat....look for some arizona 4 mines.........

opps, thats 4 peaks in arizona, NOT 4 mines.....

mz

 

[Upgradable]

thanks, liane!

 

[exturkconner]

I did well through them. To say there colors are off is very subjective. Is it there color or is it your monitor? It''s never easy to look at stone colors on a screen. But at any rate my spessarite was a lovely color,lovely clarity and the cut was right on. I thought the picture and the video representation was completely correct. You can look at my Ering thread to see what I got.

 

[LaurenThePartier]

Date: 9/18/2009 3:06:00 PM
Author: exturkconner
I did well through them. To say there colors are off is very subjective. Is it there color or is it your monitor? It''s never easy to look at stone colors on a screen. But at any rate my spessarite was a lovely color,lovely clarity and the cut was right on. I thought the picture and the video representation was completely correct. You can look at my Ering thread to see what I got.

Can you post the vendor picture and a clear picture of your ring?

Also, I think the cost of said stone actually matters. If we''re talking about a $14 garnet, it''s not that hard to click color-hue-saturation and bump it up to unreasonable levels, as well as increasing brightness and contrast. Takes about 5 seconds if you do it enough.

 

[chrono]

Link to the said spessartite:
http://www.gemselect.com/spessartite-garnet/spessartite-garnet-209943.php

 

[exturkconner]

Am working on a better picture of the ring. A friend has said I can use his dslr but as of yet I''ve not been able to lock him down to get it in my hands yet.

 

[sapphirehalo]

This is a 9x7 ametrine I bought from them for roughly $15 in 2006. I wanted to test it out to see if I would actually receive something in the mail. It came in exactly as pictured. I was satisfied with them.

 

[exturkconner]

They also do something nice as far as shipping goes. They have an "american" branch of thier company out of Texas. This allows them to ship to themselves without having to pay tarrif and then they forward onto you. This can be a pretty substantial savings.

 

[exturkconner]

Date: 9/18/2009 11:19:59 AM
Author: packrat
Before I finally found my spinel, I was keeping an eye on a few there. They also are on ebay, but I can''t remember what they go by..it''s not GemSelect is all I remember. I thought I''d read here that the colors weren''t always true, but I don''t recall exactly. Lotta help I am.

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Wellcome-to-FaceDGem__W0QQ_armrsZ1

That''s the ebay site they opperate under.

 

[morecarats]

Date: 9/26/2009 8:01:30 AM
Author: exturkconner

Date: 9/18/2009 11:19:59 AM
Author: packrat
Before I finally found my spinel, I was keeping an eye on a few there. They also are on ebay, but I can''t remember what they go by..it''s not GemSelect is all I remember. I thought I''d read here that the colors weren''t always true, but I don''t recall exactly. Lotta help I am.

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Wellcome-to-FaceDGem__W0QQ_armrsZ1

That''s the ebay site they opperate under.

FacedGem looks like a different seller. They have a website (www.facedgem.com). A nice selection of hydrothermal quartz sold as natural.

 

[arjunajane]

Hi Uppy,

here is my review of gemselect

Like you, I couldn''t find much info, so I thought I''d do a thread.
hth

 

[haagen_dazs]

Date: 9/18/2009 11:01:19 AM
Author: summertime
Wow, I was just going to post a topic on this, Upgradeable! I just found this site yesterday, and am also amazed at how low some of the prices are. But, like you, I am having trouble finding reviews. I hope someone more experienced chimes in!


Anyone have any opinions on this amethyst asscher? http://www.gemselect.com/amethyst/amethyst-231059.php Thanks!

i was just about to create the same thread about gemselect.
someone in one of my own threads pointed me to gemselect

i took the time to look through their whole website.

i noticed that their prices were really really "good" (or cheap since this is all relative)
take for example, their UNHEATED natural sapphires.
their prices blow alot of other companies out of the competition.

i wonder why they can price is so low?

i am not even talking about their properly disclosed BE heat treated stones or fracture filled stones.

 

[chrono]

Mark,
I took a quick look at their sapphires (page 1 only). There are reasons why they are priced low: many have colour zoning, some have huge windows, colour saturation isn’t good thus showing gray, etc.

 

[glitterata]

I've ordered from them in the past, mostly cheap stones for fun and curiosity. I was happy with some of them. Others were quite a bit darker than the pictures showed. I returned the ones I didn't like with no problem. I wish I had saved photos.

A couple of days ago I ordered a bunch of inexpensive ($12-$34) stones in the orange-yellow-green color range:

spessartite
hessonite
golden beryl
yellow chrysoberyl
greenish chrysoberyl
grossularite

I wanted to see the difference in how chrysoberyls, beryls, and different species of garnets handle the light, especially when the colors are similar--partly just from curiosity and partly to help me decide whether to buy better/more expensive versions of those stones. If any of these turn out pretty enough to set, that will be a big plus. If they're hideous, I'll return them. Otherwise I'll keep them to play with.

I've saved the vendor photos and will post IRL photos when they get here.

Edited to add: I hunted long and hard through their selection to pick the less windowed stones.

 

[haagen_dazs]

Date: 11/6/2009 12:52:56 PM
Author: Chrono
Mark,

I took a quick look at their sapphires (page 1 only). There are reasons why they are priced low: many have colour zoning, some have huge windows, colour saturation isn’t good thus showing gray, etc.

take for example this spinel
does it have extinction?
its only 95bucks for a 2ct red spinel
why is it priced that way?
http://www.gemselect.com/spinel/spinel-193712.php

 

[glitterata]

I''m sure there''s a reason. It might be really dark in person.

You could buy it and report back. If it''s ugly you can return it.

 

[chrono]

That spinel has a lot of extinction and the colour is quite brownish orange red.

 

[radiantquest]

I bought my tourmaline from gemselect. I was happy with my purchase, then again the stone I ordered was black. Black can''t come as any color other than black. It looked exactly the same as it did online.

 

[haagen_dazs]

Date: 11/7/2009 12:04:03 PM
Author: Chrono
That spinel has a lot of extinction and the colour is quite brownish orange red.

brownish orange red?
hmm i guess i cannot really tell the brownish part
is the brown like a secondary or modifying hue?

i thought this one was more saturated red...
argh
i need to be able to distinguish the colours better

 

[AustenNut]

Thanks for posting this thread, as there have been several very helpful links on here.

A bit off-topic, but ArjuanaJane, I saw the thread you linked to with your two cabs. In it you had a ring with flowers embossed on the band and a green stone bezeled on it. Who''s the vendor for it? I love it!

 

[chrono]

When the saturation level is low, a cool coloured stone shows gray and a warm coloured stone will show brown.

 

[glitterata]

Date: 11/6/2009 2:47:24 PM
Author: glitterata
I''ve ordered from them in the past, mostly cheap stones for fun and curiosity. I was happy with some of them. Others were quite a bit darker than the pictures showed. I returned the ones I didn''t like with no problem. I wish I had saved photos.


A couple of days ago I ordered a bunch of inexpensive ($12-$34) stones in the orange-yellow-green color range:


spessartite

hessonite

golden beryl

yellow chrysoberyl

greenish chrysoberyl

grossularite


I wanted to see the difference in how chrysoberyls, beryls, and different species of garnets handle the light, especially when the colors are similar--partly just from curiosity and partly to help me decide whether to buy better/more expensive versions of those stones. If any of these turn out pretty enough to set, that will be a big plus. If they''re hideous, I''ll return them. Otherwise I''ll keep them to play with.


I''ve saved the vendor photos and will post IRL photos when they get here.


Edited to add: I hunted long and hard through their selection to pick the less windowed stones.

Well, they arrived, quick and safe. And they''re all pretty enough to keep and play with.

However, they''re not nearly as bright in real life as in the photos. You can see the photos in the links above. Here''s what they look like in real life. They''re in the same order in my photo as in the list above.

My surprise favorite is the golden beryl. I love the rich, warm yellow. I thought I would prefer the more dispersive stones, but I don''t. Maybe it''s unfair--the beryl is way bigger.

The biggest disappointment is the spessartite. It''s way darker and redder than the photo, and the cut is not bright. Lots of extinction, if that''s what I''m seeing.

I''ll take more pictures tomorrow when the sun comes back out. These arrived just as the daylight was starting to fade.

Conclusion: I would love a spess, and getting one from a reputable cutter will be well worth the price difference. And I think I will look for a great golden beryl too. The chrysoberyls and the hessonite are not really doing it for me, but maybe better quality would.

 

[glitterata]

In this shot they''re in the following order: spess, yellow chrys, green chrys, beryl, hess, grossularite.

The hess has way more brown than their photo shows. The gross is bright, but its inclusions make it a little cloudy. The beryl actually looks better in real life than in my photos (or theirs).

 

[haagen_dazs]

glitterata
Thank you for sharing.
This is actually very very helpful to alot of people i am sure.

Looks like the take home message is that the photos online are brighter than in real life and that the products are a hit of miss (more miss than hit)

but then again, one cannot say its a total miss since the price is indeed cheap and perhaps reflective of the lower quality.

thanks again for sharing