Tell me how to buy a red garnet or rubellite

[q8peridot]

So I'm looking for a red gemstone and have narrowed it down to either a red garnet or rubellite. The issue as I stated before that I dont have the option of sending it back even if there is a good return policy , so I need to be sure that this is what I'm looking for.

Bespoke Gems - Garnet

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I would say that this is the color I would want to have, I really like this purplish red. I wanted to know your thoughts on :

-Is this stone too dark?
-Is this a "good" garnet? in terms of darkness and color, is it to dark?
-How much would you be willing to pay for a stone like this?
Do you think the pics accurately depict the color?

I already sent a request asking for an indoor and outdoor vids of the gem.

Also I would like to point out that I have no experience with garnets, so I would love to here your opinion on how you approach buying one, what do you look for. Also the rubellite is another option that I still did not search a lot into.

 

[Adam95]

The visible inclusions are a bit of a bother. The cutting is nice but it looks dark around the edges and a bit pale in the middle. Garnet looks awesome when its not to dark

But if you love that color, I'm sure you can make something great with it

 

[Polyhex]

This is a lovely gem in an outstanding cut (supernoval is my favorite oval) but from the photos I worry it may be dark indoors. Maybe ask them to show you a photo in bright incandescent and fluorescent lighting, these photos may have been taken in dim lighting. I personally don't mind inclusions as long as they are the same color as the stone, with garnets sometimes inclusions are actually an asset as they make the stone more likely to "glow" in indoor lighting as oppose to "close up." I just had to send back the most gorgeous pair of pyropes because they went totally dead under incandescent lighting, it was amazing how dead they went.

So if you can't return the gem no matter what, you might consider close-to-source vendors in Asia in addition to the higher end western vendor you are considering here. I have purchased similar rhodolite in a bit smaller sizes (9mm+) for $65/ct from Pakistan. These were from stylogems on instagram, and they hold most of their color indoors. The step cut emeralds hold the color even better than the cushions.




Here are some other vendors who have rhodolites sometimes you might consider:

Asian:

https://www.instagram.com/stylogems_lapidary/

https://www.instagram.com/finestonespk/

Western, direct from the cutter:

https://www.instagram.com/excessdesign/

Western gem dealer:

https://www.instagram.com/riouxrocks/

Western cutter + gem dealer:

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[Mrs_Strizzle]

@Polyhex I love those emeralds!

 

[Polyhex]

Just saw this in a vendor's stories...

@Polyhex I love those emeralds!

Thank you!!

 

[voce]

Take a look at the top left stone, which is a garnet. Before it was set, it looked very much like the bottom stones in @Polyhex's post in terms of color. Setting it will fallen the stone from what you see in loose stones shots. So yes, my personal opinion is that rhodolite garnet will be too dark for me, however fantastic the cut may be.

I would ask how often you would be wearing/looking at the stone in strong sunlight. Red garnet and tourmaline look great indoors, but the stronger the sunlight, the more extinction there will be in the garnet, and tourmaline will sometimes get a great mask under sunlight.

Because I'm in a sunny part of California, I always prefer my other red gems to my garnet because of the extinction, and because the fluorescence of rubies and the good red spinels make them look even better in the sunlight, not lesser.

 

[chrono]

I love the cut but worry how dark it’ll be in your environment. It’s not easy to find a bright rubellite. I also noticed most rubellite will shift under indoor lighting and “die”. Depends on price and how picky you are.

 

[Polyhex]

Take a look at the top left stone, which is a garnet. Before it was set, it looked very much like the bottom stones in @Polyhex's post in terms of color.

Oh boy, that worries me, as I don't have any set rhodolite garnet and these guys are currently with one of my jewelry manufacturers being set with the lagoon green tourmaline. How much do you like the "set" look with your rhodolite, is it that you're happy with it but prefer the other red stones, or you wound up disappointed with the performance?

 

[voce]

Oh boy, that worries me, as I don't have any set rhodolite garnet and these guys are currently with one of my jewelry manufacturers being set with the lagoon green tourmaline. How much do you like the "set" look with your rhodolite, is it that you're happy with it but prefer the other red stones, or you wound up disappointed with the performance?

Polyhex, like I said, it really depends on the lighting environment. Because I really notice/view my rings in natural sunlight most of the year, the red garnet is not the best performer. It's cut super well and I can appreciate it at night (artificial light), but there's not a single moment during the day or makes me go like with my ruby or red spinels. Then again, I know (and I think you should know) that I am quite spoiled for red gems because I own some that are awesome for color, and it's just that even the best garnet I was able to find couldn't compare to my other nice red gems.

 

[Polyhex]

Polyhex, like I said, it really depends on the lighting environment. Because I really notice/view my rings in natural sunlight most of the year, the red garnet is not the best performer. It's cut super well and I can appreciate it at night (artificial light), but there's not a single moment during the day or makes me go like with my ruby or red spinels. Then again, I know (and I think you should know) that I am quite spoiled for red gems because I own some that are awesome for color, and it's just that even the best garnet I was able to find couldn't compare to my other nice red gems.

Got it, thank you! In my location unfortunately we have the opposite problem, it's super dark for at least half the year. Thank you for the detailed explanation of the performance characteristics you see. I'll have to go back through my summer photos and see if I took any pictures of them in the sunlight.

 

[q8peridot]

This is a lovely gem in an outstanding cut (supernoval is my favorite oval) but from the photos I worry it may be dark indoors. Maybe ask them to show you a photo in bright incandescent and fluorescent lighting, these photos may have been taken in dim lighting. I personally don't mind inclusions as long as they are the same color as the stone, with garnets sometimes inclusions are actually an asset as they make the stone more likely to "glow" in indoor lighting as oppose to "close up." I just had to send back the most gorgeous pair of pyropes because they went totally dead under incandescent lighting, it was amazing how dead they went.

So if you can't return the gem no matter what, you might consider close-to-source vendors in Asia in addition to the higher end western vendor you are considering here. I have purchased similar rhodolite in a bit smaller sizes (9mm+) for $65/ct from Pakistan. These were from stylogems on instagram, and they hold most of their color indoors. The step cut emeralds hold the color even better than the cushions.




Here are some other vendors who have rhodolites sometimes you might consider:

Asian:

https://www.instagram.com/stylogems_lapidary/

https://www.instagram.com/finestonespk/

Western, direct from the cutter:

https://www.instagram.com/excessdesign/

Western gem dealer:

https://www.instagram.com/riouxrocks/

Western cutter + gem dealer:

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I love the first two stones the color is very nice. I'm already looking at a few instagram sellers right no, maybe I'll find the color I'm looking for.

 

[q8peridot]

Take a look at the top left stone, which is a garnet. Before it was set, it looked very much like the bottom stones in @Polyhex's post in terms of color. Setting it will fallen the stone from what you see in loose stones shots. So yes, my personal opinion is that rhodolite garnet will be too dark for me, however fantastic the cut may be.

I would ask how often you would be wearing/looking at the stone in strong sunlight. Red garnet and tourmaline look great indoors, but the stronger the sunlight, the more extinction there will be in the garnet, and tourmaline will sometimes get a great mask under sunlight.

Because I'm in a sunny part of California, I always prefer my other red gems to my garnet because of the extinction, and because the fluorescence of rubies and the good red spinels make them look even better in the sunlight, not lesser.

That's actually good to know, as most of the time I'll be wearing my ring indoors. But still I guess as others have pointed out that I ought to looking for something lighter.

You got a nice collection right there.

 

[bright&shiny]

Take a look at the top left stone, which is a garnet. Before it was set, it looked very much like the bottom stones in @Polyhex's post in terms of color. Setting it will fallen the stone from what you see in loose stones shots. So yes, my personal opinion is that rhodolite garnet will be too dark for me, however fantastic the cut may be.

I would ask how often you would be wearing/looking at the stone in strong sunlight. Red garnet and tourmaline look great indoors, but the stronger the sunlight, the more extinction there will be in the garnet, and tourmaline will sometimes get a great mask under sunlight.

Because I'm in a sunny part of California, I always prefer my other red gems to my garnet because of the extinction, and because the fluorescence of rubies and the good red spinels make them look even better in the sunlight, not lesser.

Voce - your collection!!!!!

 

[bright&shiny]

Someone had a beautiful rhodolite set recently - does anyone remember the thread? I couldn't find it. It won't solve the daylight extinction problem, but I wonder how that one is performing compared to others?

 

[strawrose]

Yes, I think it’ll get even darker while set. I’ve seen some gorgeous set garnets and rubellites, but they’re hard to find.

 

[Rad_Fan]

Someone had a beautiful rhodolite set recently - does anyone remember the thread? I couldn't find it. It won't solve the daylight extinction problem, but I wonder how that one is performing compared to others?

Maybe this one?

Setting for garnet!

Hi friends! I just got this beautiful garnet from Finewater Gems! It is 7.5 mm round rubelite garnet, hearts and arrows cut. It sparkles beautifully in the sun! It's a little dark in the shade. My husband said it looks like Dorothy's slippers the first time he saw the garnet! So do you think...

www.pricescope.com

 

[voce]

For educational purposes. Indoor, LED light.

 

[bright&shiny]

Maybe this one?

Setting for garnet!

Hi friends! I just got this beautiful garnet from Finewater Gems! It is 7.5 mm round rubelite garnet, hearts and arrows cut. It sparkles beautifully in the sun! It's a little dark in the shade. My husband said it looks like Dorothy's slippers the first time he saw the garnet! So do you think...

www.pricescope.com

@

Maybe this one?

Setting for garnet!

Hi friends! I just got this beautiful garnet from Finewater Gems! It is 7.5 mm round rubelite garnet, hearts and arrows cut. It sparkles beautifully in the sun! It's a little dark in the shade. My husband said it looks like Dorothy's slippers the first time he saw the garnet! So do you think...

www.pricescope.com

@Rad_Fan, that’s a beautiful ring, but not the one I was thinking of. I’ll see if I can find it.

 

[Polyhex]

FYI, this particular seller is often able to cut more of his sold stones for you. He might be able to show you what the color will look like first because he is often recutting poorly cut stones to precision cut standards.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

For educational purposes. Indoor, LED light.

That's a very nice example of the red not despairing into darkness

 

[stefanijean]

Hey there, I noticed nobody has brought up the specifics of color so I wanted to point out that your best determination of color is by the specific variety of garnet and the actual location where it was mined. For example, rhodolite garnet will be red with a purple/magenta hue, as you can see in the photos above. Pyrope garnet is red but can still have an occasional pinkish undertone. If you know the locality of the stone you're buying then you can figure out (generally speaking) if it will be more red or more pink, along with the typical saturation of garnets coming from that particular location. Almandine garnet has a rich deep red color, the color most people think of when thinking of the word garnet, however, if you want to avoid a dark stone, then avoid buying almandine online because many times it ends up being insanely darker then what you see in photos. I think you might want to go with pyrope garnet if you want a solid red color that will not be too dark. If you like the raspberry/magenta tone, then definitely go for the rhodolite but be careful to choose a much lighter stone as it will likely be darker then you anticipate. Always choose a stone that appears 3-5 shades lighter then your finished design if you are using a closed setting. For wire, open back, channel, bezel settings, etc; choose a stone that appears 2-3 shades lighter.

 

[PinkAndBlueBling]

I have a rhodolite from Tanzania (which means nothing to me ) that was the yummiest red in the vendor's photo. Knowing his photo was a bit too good, I still bought it because I love the vendor and he's never let me down. This is outside today, and it does look better than I captured, but I absolutely cannot replicate his colors. Shocking, I know.

 

[bright&shiny]

Maybe this one?

Setting for garnet!

Hi friends! I just got this beautiful garnet from Finewater Gems! It is 7.5 mm round rubelite garnet, hearts and arrows cut. It sparkles beautifully in the sun! It's a little dark in the shade. My husband said it looks like Dorothy's slippers the first time he saw the garnet! So do you think...

www.pricescope.com

I found it. It’s @wubu stone and setting. So beautiful!

 

[Mrs_Strizzle]

I haven't read every post, so forgive me if it's redundant. But another option is malaia garnet. I have one that does not go dark like other garnets do. Mine is a touch silky, which I love about her. But certainly not all are. Here's a vendor shot. I don't have one on the hand or outside on my phone. It is 8x8mm and 3 something carats.

 

[Rfisher]

I haven't read every post, so forgive me if it's redundant. But another option is malaia garnet. I have one that does not go dark like other garnets do. Mine is a touch silky, which I love about her. But certainly not all are. Here's a vendor shot. I don't have one on the hand or outside on my phone. It is 8x8mm and 3 something carats.

When you get around to it - I’d really love to see more pics of this

 

[Mrs_Strizzle]

@Rfisher here are 2 pics, one in the sunlight through the bathroom window and one on the hand.

 

[whitewave]

Jim McCormick has a nice once on his FB page recently.its very glowy. I would have bought it, but I have had a buying problem lately and am tapped out.

(It has taken me a LOT to get through this knee surgery recovery lol)

 

[Rfisher]

@Rfisher here are 2 pics, one in the sunlight through the bathroom window and one on the hand.

It’s lovely!!!!