Uh-Oh what about these stones?

[hoofbeats95]

Just saw these three stones today and I like them. What do you all think. TL please chime in!

www.customgemstones.com/TOURMALINE/to1072.html

www.customgemstones.com/TOURMALINE/to1075.html

www.customgemstones.com/SPINEL/sp1081.html

I have no clue what I would set any of these in. The tourmalines aren''t the color I''m really after, but they do catch my eye and I don''t currently have a stone that color. My pink sapphire is created and not close to the color of that spinel. It''s such a light and pretty pink.

So what''s the analysis? TIA!

 

[Harriet]

If the colour isn''t exactly what you want, I''d say hold off. That spinel is a very pretty pink, though.

 

[T L]

The two tourmalines are too dark and too grey. I don''t know enough about pink spinels to comment on the latter.

 

[hoofbeats95]

Yeah I am really loving the pink spinel. Who is knowledgeable enough to comment on it?

The tourmalines. . . now that I think about they are kind of the green of a created emerald in the mall stores. i want a more unique green like BEG has!

 

[Harriet]

I love the colour of that spinel. From the picture, it doesn''t have any brown secondary.

 

[coatimundi_org]

Tourmalines will be dark--his photos show stones a bit lighter than actual.

Spinel? If you like the color--get it. Totally subjective.

 

[mercoledi]

Ditto Coati- I have a similar tourmaline, and despite being tagged as 'neon' it's quite dark, I would steer clear. The pink spinel looks nice, and is also probably a little darker in person, which in this case would be a good thing. Check out these photos from Gladys Kristen of her lavender/pink spinel.


ETA: If you want a green tourmaline, Gary has one he's calling kelly green in a princess cut for about the same price.

 

[hoofbeats95]

The spinel was sold last night. Great.

I''m always just a minute too late it seems. Do you know how often his site gets updated? That stone wasn''t on there earlier this week.

 

[hoofbeats95]

Date: 1/22/2009 2:23:14 PM
Author: Harriet
I love the colour of that spinel. From the picture, it doesn''t have any brown secondary.

Is this common in all spinels? Or just pink ones? What do I need to look out for?

 

[mercoledi]

I believe that brown and grey are common secondaries in spinel, the ones without that are more sought after. Learn more here

 

[T L]

Tourmaline crystals grow in an elongated formation. The long part, where the table is usually cut from in order to save weight, is called the c-axis. Since tourmalines are very dichroic stones, they tend to have a c-axis that is different color, or is darker than the opposing ends.

If it's lighter or the same brightness as the opposing ends of the crystal, than that is what is known as an "open c-axis." It's a good thing to have an open c-axis because a stone will probably not suffer as greatly from extinction.

Tourmalines are infamous for suffering from extinction. With a closed c-axis, it probably will suffer. I saw the rough of those stones before cutting, and they both looked to each have a closed c-axis. When I go about buying a tourmaline, I also ask the cutter about the c-axis of the original rough. It helps me make a more educated decision about the stone. I also appreciate that Dan shows the rough prior to cutting, which is also helpful.

ETA: The stones that are the most "neon" typically have an open c-axis, and are very bright with little grey or brown. I find that the term "neon" is used a bit too much to describe tourmalines, especially on ebay. Be leary of any tourmaline that looks murky, but is described as "neon."

 

[FrekeChild]

FYI all of Dan''s stones are darker in person than they appear on your computer screen. I have several examples of his stones (1 amethyst, 1 gray spinel, 1 pink spinel, 1 blue spinel) and they are all gorgeous, but do not always match the photos. I imagine that that spinel is a bit darker than the picture shows. He goes into more detail on his front page.

Dan will do an update about once a month or so, but he and his wife are cutting stones every day-so the instant you see something you might be interested in on the "currently cutting" part of his page, you HAVE TO EMAIL HIM. IMMEDIATELY. I have a tendency to refresh his page several times a day and have gotten a jump on many of his stones doing that. The first stone I bought from him (amethyst) was from his regular inventory. The gray spinel (aka the Darth Vader Spinel--its almost black) was cut custom for me, another oval spinel was cut custom for me, and then I exchanged it for the pink spinel that no one had claimed yet, although he had just cut it. The blue spinel wasn''t cut custom for me, I just happened to jump on it before anyone else did.

So, if you know you want something specific, you can ask him (or Gene or Barry or any other cutters) to cut it for you, and you get first claim on it, but if it''s something that isn''t ordinarily desired (Vader spinel) they will probably not be thrilled if you decide against buying it.

Like say, the stone that should be arriving in my mailbox on Saturday...

 

[mercoledi]

Date: 1/22/2009 4:50:53 PM
Author: FrekeChild
Like say, the stone that should be arriving in my mailbox on Saturday...

Oooh, is it the tourmaline of many colors? In my experience, Dan tends to update late Sunday nights (EST anyway, between 9 and 11:30) for both the "now cutting" and new drops. But it does vary, and they go fast.

ACS has two pink spinels in the new gems section, together they nicely illustrate the range in pink spinels. Linky. scroll down.

 

[hoofbeats95]

Date: 1/22/2009 5:02:55 PM
Author: mercoledi

ACS has two pink spinels in the new gems section, together they nicely illustrate the range in pink spinels. Linky. scroll down.

Thanks. I think I have ACS site memorized. I looked at that site quite a bit. Barry is going to get back to me after the next drop on a blue-green stone. I just adored the pink on dan''s site. The color was so sweet. I like that soft pink look.

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 1/22/2009 5:02:55 PM
Author: mercoledi

Date: 1/22/2009 4:50:53 PM
Author: FrekeChild
Like say, the stone that should be arriving in my mailbox on Saturday...

Oooh, is it the tourmaline of many colors? In my experience, Dan tends to update late Sunday nights (EST anyway, between 9 and 11:30) for both the ''now cutting'' and new drops. But it does vary, and they go fast.

Nope merco, mine is coming from Barry.

But ditto on the updates from Dan coming LATE on the weekend nights.

I think their (Dan and Cynthia''s) output of stones has gone up though because I think they have both been cutting like crazy. Seems like they''ve been putting out more stones lately.

 

[mercoledi]

Date: 1/22/2009 5:33:40 PM
Author: FrekeChild

Date: 1/22/2009 5:02:55 PM

Author: mercoledi

Date: 1/22/2009 4:50:53 PM

Author: FrekeChild

Like say, the stone that should be arriving in my mailbox on Saturday...

Oooh, is it the tourmaline of many colors? In my experience, Dan tends to update late Sunday nights (EST anyway, between 9 and 11:30) for both the ''now cutting'' and new drops. But it does vary, and they go fast.

Nope merco, mine is coming from Barry.

But ditto on the updates from Dan coming LATE on the weekend nights.


I think their (Dan and Cynthia''s) output of stones has gone up though because I think they have both been cutting like crazy. Seems like they''ve been putting out more stones lately.

I''ve noticed that too about the Stairs, I''ve missed the outcome of more than a few roughs.

You each get a new BB? I love the personality of his cuts, one of his stones is definitely on my list as soon as I get a new job... I assume freke''s is a little custom piece?


how about these pinks?

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 1/22/2009 5:45:32 PM
Author: mercoledi
You each get a new BB? I love the personality of his cuts, one of his stones is definitely on my list as soon as I get a new job... I assume freke''s is a little custom piece?

He cut it for me back in October/November. I''ve been broke. It''s been sitting around waiting for me to get more $$$ and its never hit the site. I''m keeping my fingers crossed for Saturday.

You have to get a Barry merco! I''m sitting here in class staring at mine (it''s done this purple/blue thing because I have natural and fluorescent lights and its switching and mixing between the two. It''s pretty fascinating. Also, I haven''t cleaned it in a week and it''s just sitting there sparkling at me.

 

[mercoledi]

Date: 1/22/2009 6:08:15 PM
Author: FrekeChild

Date: 1/22/2009 5:45:32 PM

Author: mercoledi

You each get a new BB? I love the personality of his cuts, one of his stones is definitely on my list as soon as I get a new job... I assume freke''s is a little custom piece?

You have to get a Barry merco! I''m sitting here in class staring at mine (it''s done this purple/blue thing because I have natural and fluorescent lights and its switching and mixing between the two. It''s pretty fascinating. Also, I haven''t cleaned it in a week and it''s just sitting there sparkling at me.

It''s on the list, right after getting my asscher set

. Did you ask for a color change spinel, or does yours just naturally shift? Sounds awesome! (now go home and clean that thing!!)

 

[cinnamon013]

What about this tourmaline in pink?

http://www.finewatergems.com/tourmaline.html first one

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 1/22/2009 6:18:42 PM
Author: mercoledi

Date: 1/22/2009 6:08:15 PM
Author: FrekeChild
You have to get a Barry merco! I''m sitting here in class staring at mine (it''s done this purple/blue thing because I have natural and fluorescent lights and its switching and mixing between the two. It''s pretty fascinating. Also, I haven''t cleaned it in a week and it''s just sitting there sparkling at me.

It''s on the list, right after getting my asscher set

. Did you ask for a color change spinel, or does yours just naturally shift? Sounds awesome! (now go home and clean that thing!!)

I didn''t ask for a color change spinel. I was going to get this bigger (7.5mm I think?) color shift but I told Barry it was for my ering and he decided it was too big and too dark. So then he ordered some new rough and picked what he liked the most, cut it and sent me pics. Then FI picked that one because "it has more stuff going on inside" than the Dan stone we also bought. Whatever that means. I need to carry the Dan stone around to see if it has a color shift too because they are just about identical in color.

So it''s got a mix of the natural light and the fluorescent light going on, and some facets are reflecting blue and some are reflecting purple. It''s so cool!

Hoofbeats, I think you should get a color shifting spinel. They are awesome!

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Date: 1/22/2009 4:50:53 PM
Author: FrekeChild
FYI all of Dan''s stones are darker in person than they appear on your computer screen. I have several examples of his stones (1 amethyst, 1 gray spinel, 1 pink spinel, 1 blue spinel) and they are all gorgeous, but do not always match the photos. I imagine that that spinel is a bit darker than the picture shows. He goes into more detail on his front page.


Dan will do an update about once a month or so, but he and his wife are cutting stones every day-so the instant you see something you might be interested in on the ''currently cutting'' part of his page, you HAVE TO EMAIL HIM. IMMEDIATELY. I have a tendency to refresh his page several times a day and have gotten a jump on many of his stones doing that. The first stone I bought from him (amethyst) was from his regular inventory. The gray spinel (aka the Darth Vader Spinel--its almost black) was cut custom for me, another oval spinel was cut custom for me, and then I exchanged it for the pink spinel that no one had claimed yet, although he had just cut it. The blue spinel wasn''t cut custom for me, I just happened to jump on it before anyone else did.


So, if you know you want something specific, you can ask him (or Gene or Barry or any other cutters) to cut it for you, and you get first claim on it, but if it''s something that isn''t ordinarily desired (Vader spinel) they will probably not be thrilled if you decide against buying it.


Like say, the stone that should be arriving in my mailbox on Saturday...

Woohoo! I can''t wait to see your pics of it - I love Barry''s cuts.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Date: 1/22/2009 6:26:05 PM
Author: FrekeChild

Date: 1/22/2009 6:18:42 PM

Author: mercoledi

Date: 1/22/2009 6:08:15 PM

Author: FrekeChild

You have to get a Barry merco! I''m sitting here in class staring at mine (it''s done this purple/blue thing because I have natural and fluorescent lights and its switching and mixing between the two. It''s pretty fascinating. Also, I haven''t cleaned it in a week and it''s just sitting there sparkling at me.

It''s on the list, right after getting my asscher set

. Did you ask for a color change spinel, or does yours just naturally shift? Sounds awesome! (now go home and clean that thing!!)

I didn''t ask for a color change spinel. I was going to get this bigger (7.5mm I think?) color shift but I told Barry it was for my ering and he decided it was too big and too dark. So then he ordered some new rough and picked what he liked the most, cut it and sent me pics. Then FI picked that one because ''it has more stuff going on inside'' than the Dan stone we also bought. Whatever that means. I need to carry the Dan stone around to see if it has a color shift too because they are just about identical in color.


So it''s got a mix of the natural light and the fluorescent light going on, and some facets are reflecting blue and some are reflecting purple. It''s so cool!


Hoofbeats, I think you should get a color shifting spinel. They are awesome!

Ditto!

I just got mine - wasn''t super-impressed at first (it was pretty dark looking indoors) but when I took it outside to play, it was amazing. AND later when it was under fluorescent lighting...

 

[hoofbeats95]

Date: 1/22/2009 6:19:40 PM
Author: cinnamon013
What about this tourmaline in pink?

http://www.finewatergems.com/tourmaline.html first one

Not bad, but I think I liked the cut of Dan's better. However. . . what about that green one on the very bottom. What do you all think of that? TL???

http://www.gemselect.com/spinel/spinel-207377.php is this a reputable site? They are pretty. . . but I really only need one. They are also kind of cheap in price. . . why?

A color change spinel? Well. . . the problem is that I tend to not like purple and it seems blue changes to purple and so does pink! The Gladys Kristen one that mercoledi linked to is gorgeous! Love the cut . . . love the square. . . not so sure about purple. I just never wear purple you know. I don't know. . . I'd have to think on that. I was concerned the initial pink one I posted about might change too. Not that it matters, but is that usually specified in the description?

 

[T L]

They are irradiating pink tourmaline that comes through Brazil or Thailand. I would not buy a faceted pink tourmaline unless I got it through a faceter who obtained the rough and faceted it himself. I was told by someone in the trade that the rough is not irradiated, but the faceted material is. I'm sorry, but I would not trust Gemselect for these stones because they obtain faceted material, and a lab cannot always tell if it's been irradiated. The tourmaline on finewatergems is pretty. It's not neon, but it's a pretty baby pink shade. I would ask Gary@finewater about extinction on the stone (which I doubt there is much of) and if it has a grey or brown modifier.

 

[hoofbeats95]

TL - i actually was asking about the green/blue princess on the bottom of that page. But you confused me . . . was the pink one that I initially asked about neon? I''m not sure I "get" neon.

 

[T L]

Date: 1/22/2009 9:11:17 PM
Author: hoofbeats95
TL - i actually was asking about the green/blue princess on the bottom of that page. But you confused me . . . was the pink one that I initially asked about neon? I'm not sure I 'get' neon.

Sorry, confused. Definition of "neon" in a stone. Well, I think one picture speaks a thousand words, but this is a tourmaline (not for sale though) that I consider highly "neon." Once you see a very highly neon stone in person, then all other stones look too grey, too brown, too olive, etc. . . Neon is really a terminology to mean that the stone is a very vivid pure hue of a color without the undesirable brown, grey, sometimes yellow, or murky hues that marr a stone's appearance. For example, some burma ruby or red spinel is "neon" if they are a very vivid red without any brown (brown tends to muddy red stones, and grey tends to muddy blue and green stones). Some people do like these secondary hues, but they often lower the value of a piece. Tell me if you can find any grey or brown in this stone?

 

[hoofbeats95]

TL - no I don''t see any grey or brown in that stone. It''s a very nice color, though I''d like to see it in person. Because in all honesty for some reason that stone doesn''t look as "clear" to me as it should be. It''s definitely not murky, but the only word I can think of is not clear. Does that make any sense? Overall the color is gorgeous though.

Now in my example - the tourmaline at the bottom of this page: http://www.finewatergems.com/tourmaline.html What''s wrong with it? I don''t see any grey. I don''t "think" I see any brown, but I haven''t seen any samples of brown and I have seen many comments about grey on this board. Can you analyze this one for me? Thanks a ton. I have learned a lot from you in the short time I''ve been on PS.

 

[T L]

Date: 1/22/2009 10:08:49 PM
Author: hoofbeats95
TL - no I don't see any grey or brown in that stone. It's a very nice color, though I'd like to see it in person. Because in all honesty for some reason that stone doesn't look as 'clear' to me as it should be. It's definitely not murky, but the only word I can think of is not clear. Does that make any sense? Overall the color is gorgeous though.

Now in my example - the tourmaline at the bottom of this page: http://www.finewatergems.com/tourmaline.html What's wrong with it? I don't see any grey. I don't 'think' I see any brown, but I haven't seen any samples of brown and I have seen many comments about grey on this board. Can you analyze this one for me? Thanks a ton. I have learned a lot from you in the short time I've been on PS.

The issue with that stone is that it's lightly saturated. Saturation, extinction, cut, as well as hues (primary and secondary) and their proportions, reflect the important variables when buying a stone. It's a very rare thing to get all of these variables lined up to perfection, and if you do, well . . .

. Therefore, it's best to look at those variables in a range that you can afford. The stone on finewatergems site is a bright stone, and pleasing to the eye in the photograph. At least there's no extinction, and my guess is it won't go murky in various light sources. If I were to get that stone, I would set it in a bezel or a heavy gallery to help give it a bit more color. It also has yellow as a secondary hue, and while some people might like that, some people prefer a seconary hue of blue in their mint green tourmalines (see the third stone down on that page). It's subjective.

The stone you're looking at in the above photo is clean, it's just well cut so all the light coming in is reflected back out in that amazing color. If you saw a big window in that stone, then it would probably look clean to you. It's really difficult to discern a nice stone in a two dimensional representation. The finest neon blue/green tourmalines in the world are reminsicent of the blue waters of the tropics like the Carribean. Compre the color of that stone to the water in the picture.

 

[T L]

 

[ma re]

May I just add that, of the two available stones from the original post, the smaller one is more of a pendant stone, due to a somewhat unusual shape with lot''s of tips and edges (not a good idea for a ring).