InToTheMystic
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2013
- Messages
- 146
What do you do when you don't really like warm colours, rounds, or Portuguese cuts?
Well apparently you go out to the shops and come home with a round Portuguese cut spessartite garnet, and a heliodor! Huh... I guess all those lovely recent spess threads have been having a subliminal impact on me!
I popped out today to get a haircut, and before heading in I did my normal detour past my local gemshop (it's in the same shopping centre), where I spotted a spess in the window. Not normally being a fan of orange I kept walking and headed in to my appointment, but kept thinking about the little sunshiney darling the whole time. And when I got out, I found myself back with my nose pressed against the glass again. I don't know if its an Australian scarcity thing, but I've never actually seen a decent spess in person. They're really quite fascinating!
I spoke to the vendors for a bit and learned that their resident cutter has been doing some lovely precision faceting work lately, so they thought they'd show them off in the front window for a bit. Brilliant tactic, I say. I couldn't leave the spess behind knowing that I'd kick myself for ages if I came back and it was gone. I also fell in love with the cutting on a sweet little golden beryl/heliodor, so that came home with me as well (it was pretty cheap, and I have a plan to pair it with my zircon on my pendant project)
So, some stats:
Spessartite Garnet
Nigeria
2.4ct / 7.7mm
It has some whispy little inclusions, but you have to squint and angle it juuuust right in order to see them. I suspect the busy cut helps detract from them somewhat. It is a rich orange, tending towards yellow rather than red, but has no brown in at all. It was labelled as 'Fanta garnet', but I don't know about that. I think it is a bit pale for that sort of title.
Golden Beryl/Heliodor
Brazil
1.9ct / 9x7mm
Eye clean, and couldn't spot anything when we louped it at the bench. It is a lovely warm soft gold, with no grey or brown. The step cut is quite stunning as well. Neither stone is treated in any way.
And pics! They're taken with a camera phone so the quality isn't fab, but the colour of the stones is reasonably accurate. It looks like there is brown in them though, which you can't see in real life. My skin looks kind of weirdly blue, but it's a cold day here. Who knows.
...and some solo pics to come...
Well apparently you go out to the shops and come home with a round Portuguese cut spessartite garnet, and a heliodor! Huh... I guess all those lovely recent spess threads have been having a subliminal impact on me!
I popped out today to get a haircut, and before heading in I did my normal detour past my local gemshop (it's in the same shopping centre), where I spotted a spess in the window. Not normally being a fan of orange I kept walking and headed in to my appointment, but kept thinking about the little sunshiney darling the whole time. And when I got out, I found myself back with my nose pressed against the glass again. I don't know if its an Australian scarcity thing, but I've never actually seen a decent spess in person. They're really quite fascinating!
I spoke to the vendors for a bit and learned that their resident cutter has been doing some lovely precision faceting work lately, so they thought they'd show them off in the front window for a bit. Brilliant tactic, I say. I couldn't leave the spess behind knowing that I'd kick myself for ages if I came back and it was gone. I also fell in love with the cutting on a sweet little golden beryl/heliodor, so that came home with me as well (it was pretty cheap, and I have a plan to pair it with my zircon on my pendant project)
So, some stats:
Spessartite Garnet
Nigeria
2.4ct / 7.7mm
It has some whispy little inclusions, but you have to squint and angle it juuuust right in order to see them. I suspect the busy cut helps detract from them somewhat. It is a rich orange, tending towards yellow rather than red, but has no brown in at all. It was labelled as 'Fanta garnet', but I don't know about that. I think it is a bit pale for that sort of title.
Golden Beryl/Heliodor
Brazil
1.9ct / 9x7mm
Eye clean, and couldn't spot anything when we louped it at the bench. It is a lovely warm soft gold, with no grey or brown. The step cut is quite stunning as well. Neither stone is treated in any way.
And pics! They're taken with a camera phone so the quality isn't fab, but the colour of the stones is reasonably accurate. It looks like there is brown in them though, which you can't see in real life. My skin looks kind of weirdly blue, but it's a cold day here. Who knows.
...and some solo pics to come...
I'm not an orange fan myself but you are right - it's a little blaze of sunshine. 
The Heliodor is lovely too. Do you mind if i ask the name & location of the gem shop? I never seem to find decent gems in mall retail stores...
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