Stones with fire?

[Asscherhalo_lover]

Hello CS folks!

I mostly focus on diamonds when it comes to jewelry. I really enjoy to multi-colored fire that diamonds give off as opposed to what I see with most gemstones with seems to be only the color of the gemstone itself. Can you guys give me list of what gemstones also display the diamond like characteristic of fire?

My favorite color range is in the blue-purple area so anything that comes in those shades would be lovely. I am not necessarily looking for a specific stone to buy so no need to worry about a price point, just information on what stones in the given color range might also display fire.

Thanks for any information you can provide me with!

 

[y2kitty]

I was just playing with my spinel in the sun and it gave off blue, red, orange. Very pretty. My spess garnet only gives off orange flashes.

 

[minousbijoux]

sphenes, demantoids and spinels. Spinels would be the only purple/blue based ones.

 

[VapidLapid]

Spinel sphene dementoidz color change garnets and probably not on most people's list for your criteria but I feel fully satisfies them is black opal

 

[iLander]

I wanna play!

Mali Garnet!

Or Grossular Andradite if we want to be fancy.

http://www.litnon.com/index.php?page=viewgem&id=8479

I just bought one from Michael at Gemline/Litnon and it's amazing. Red, blue, green all the multi-color flashes, like a diamond or a demantoid. Mine is very similar to the one I've linked to, but not quite as intense in color, but not as pale as this one;

http://www.litnon.com/index.php?page=viewgem&id=8648

VERY flashy stone, like a sphene, but I don't think it's as soft.

 

[MontageCreations]

you might want to look at blue Zircon's, as well as the others already mentioned

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

thanks everyone! I think I like the blue zircon option the best. Now I just need to find one that is cut as a square stone, either a square radiantish cut or an asscher type cut. If any of you have any leads let me know! I'll be looking in the 6 to 7.5mm range. Thanks!

 

[VapidLapid]

Bear in mind the blue of blue zircons is an aqua like blue not a deep sapphire like blue. YOu should look at Benitoite. THough not a high use everyday kind of hardness, with care and foreknowledge it might suit your wants the best

 

[Michael_E]

Can you guys give me list of what gemstones also display the diamond like characteristic of fire?

Here's a list from the Gemology Project at Gemology Online:http://www.gemologyproject.com/wiki/index.php?title=Dispersion
The higher the number the higher the dispersion and so the greater the potential fire. I say potential because colored stones have three factors happening which can increase or decrease the fire shown.

The first factor, and one which is unavoidable, is the color intensity of the gem. An intensely colored gem absorbs much of the light which enters it and so the light exiting the stone can not show flashes of many colors since the stone absorbs it. Because of this any stone that you want to show fire must be high in dispersion, rather low in color saturation and capable of transmitting the colors that you want to see.

The second factor is in the cutting of the stone. Stones which have greater exit angles will show more fire than those which do not. This means that you want to look for cuts which have higher crown angles and smaller tables to maximize the effect. You can actually get some fire from stones, like quartz, which have very low dispersion, by cutting the crown for the sole purpose of getting some fire from the stone.

The third factor is the light that you are viewing it in. To see fire you need to have as coherent a light source as possible. The sun is good, as are "icicle" lights at Christmas time. A bright cloudy day is not so good, but you can make it better by walking under leafless tree so that the light and dark contrasts of the limbs can show some diffractive effects and give a look somewhat like icicle lights.

 

[VapidLapid]

Coherent light is light that is in phase. As such it is also monochromatic. It cannot be broken into component colors by dispersion because it has only the one component color. Light from the sun, which is neither monochromatic nor a point source, whether direct or filtered through a canopy of leaves is incoherent. Diffraction effects might be caused by silk in a stone acting like a grating, but likely would not be noticeable because of the intensity of the main ambient light. In either case incoherent light is necessary for materials with dispersive properties to return fire.

 

[T L]

Bear in mind the blue of blue zircons is an aqua like blue not a deep sapphire like blue. YOu should look at Benitoite. THough not a high use everyday kind of hardness, with care and foreknowledge it might suit your wants the best

Benitoite to me is a dead ringer for fine violet blue spinel. If you can find a fine violet blue spinel with nice cutting, and a high crown, and not too dark a tone, it will give fire. Both my benitoite and my violet spinels shoot off what I call blue "laser beams" of color, and the spinels also flash some pink and red as well. Red spinels do not do this.

Unfortunately, for benitoites, they are less than half a carat in size 99% of the time, and to find them larger is very expensive. They're also soft stones, so I think you can do better with violet blue spinels in the durability department, although they are not easy to find. It is important that they are well cut.

Vancegems at Intergem carries benitoite if you're looking for that, but it's a collectors stone and very expensive. He had a very large one that really belonged in a museum, it was around 5 carats if I remember correctly, and he showed it off as I was wearing my 4 carat violet blue spinel. They were practically identical in color, and a non expert would not be able to tell them apart, but my spinel cost a few hundred dollars, and the benitoite was tens of thousands. It's nice to have for the rarity factor, but I honestly don't think it's that it's more attractive than fine violet blue spinel. I have a 75 point benitoite I bought 15 years ago, and here's a photo of it giving off some blue flashes (upper right). That isn't the body color of the stone, but actually dispersion. It's a dark toned violetish blue gem.

Unfortunately most violet blue spinel is so dark in tone, it really doesn't give off much dispersion.

 

[VapidLapid]

Here are some benitoite from around the web

 

[Pandora II]

Make sure you know what other qualities the stone has - especially if you want to wear it in a ring for more than just special occasions.

For example:

Demantoid garnet - very expensive in fine colour and large sizes. One of the more fragile of the garnets.

Mali garnet - fabulous stone with lots of dispersion. Treat like any other garnet. Downside is it tends to be a yellowish green to yellowish brown which isn't everyone's taste - personally I love them.

Sphene - amazing dispersion. Very soft and fragile (5 on the Mohs). I wouldn't set it as a ring stone myself.

Zircon - great dispersion. Fragile and inclined to chip and abrade. Set and wear with care.

Benitoite - nice dispersion, super rare and very, very expensive in larger sizes - if you can even find one. To my mind this is a collector's stone not a wearing stone.

Sphalerite - like Sphene in terms of dispersion but a 3 on the Mohs and not really wearable.

 

[kenny]

Hello CS folks!

I mostly focus on diamonds when it comes to jewelry. I really enjoy to multi-colored fire that diamonds give off as opposed to what I see with most gemstones with seems to be only the color of the gemstone itself. Can you guys give me list of what gemstones also display the diamond like characteristic of fire?

My favorite color range is in the blue-purple area so anything that comes in those shades would be lovely. I am not necessarily looking for a specific stone to buy so no need to worry about a price point, just information on what stones in the given color range might also display fire.

Thanks for any information you can provide me with!

Pardon me for stating the obvious but have you considered fancy colored diamonds?
They are expensive but you wrote, "no need to worry about a price point".
They come in blues, violets and purples and since they are diamonds they have fire and dispersion.

 

[T L]

Check out this thread. There is some dispersion in her photos.

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/purple-spinel-thank-you-mb.161343/

and this one as well

https://www.pricescope.com/communit...d-ring-with-a-visit-from-my-oec-e-ring.64728/

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

Hello CS folks!

I mostly focus on diamonds when it comes to jewelry. I really enjoy to multi-colored fire that diamonds give off as opposed to what I see with most gemstones with seems to be only the color of the gemstone itself. Can you guys give me list of what gemstones also display the diamond like characteristic of fire?

My favorite color range is in the blue-purple area so anything that comes in those shades would be lovely. I am not necessarily looking for a specific stone to buy so no need to worry about a price point, just information on what stones in the given color range might also display fire.

Thanks for any information you can provide me with!

Pardon me for stating the obvious but have you considered fancy colored diamonds?
They are expensive but you wrote, "no need to worry about a price point".
They come in blues, violets and purples and since they are diamonds they have fire and dispersion.

Thanks Kenny, I'm well aware of colored diamonds. I own some small pinks, brownish pinks, browns and a funky greenish grayish yellow (love that one, lol) but I posted here because I know there's no way I could afford a colored diamond in this size range. Sorry if I wasn't specific enough but I figured most gemstones in this size range aren't terribly expensive so I wasn't worried about posting a specific budget.

It would be pretty fantastic to own a 7mm purple diamond radiant though, wouldn't it?

I think I'm going to email a few vendors with the different stones you all have suggested and with what I'm looking for and see what they come up with. Thank you all again for your help. I'm planning on a pendant for this so I'm not overly worried about the hardness. Thanks again, I'll be sure to post pic when I find anything for your suggestions and opinions!

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Coherent light is light that is in phase. As such it is also monochromatic. It cannot be broken into component colors by dispersion because it has only the one component color. Light from the sun, which is neither monochromatic nor a point source, whether direct or filtered through a canopy of leaves is incoherent. Diffraction effects might be caused by silk in a stone acting like a grating, but likely would not be noticeable because of the intensity of the main ambient light. In either case incoherent light is necessary for materials with dispersive properties to return fire.

Vapid - why must coherent light be monochromatic? Colour is given by frequency, not phase (which is the angle at which the vibration occurs).