unheated tanzanites

[Edward Bristol]

I hear of new small find of tanzanites that come in the best blue without heating. I am right on their heels. That would be a really exciting new perspective. I missed the first 15 carat piece by a day (and 10k). It went to Denmark but I hope to get the next smaller ones.

 

[Arkteia]

Good luck in your pursuit.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Very cool.

I actually own an unheated blue tanzanite, and I really love the color. Although as I understand it, unheated tanzanites don't have the same price mark up as say unheated sapphires vs heated sapphires.

 

[chrono]

I, too, read of this new mine, from a different forum. I guess there goes all the expectation that the tanzanite mines are going to dry up in the next few years. I have seen (in pictures only) the tanzanite and I must say that the violet/blue is gorgeous!

 

[LD]

Ed, forgive me but I'm wondering why the hype? Unheated Tanzanites of great colours/saturation have been around for years? I own a fair number and I don't actually "see" any difference between heated and unheated AND there doesn't appear to be any difference in price because heating is very much accepted with Tanzanites. Also as the price of Tanzy has nose-dived in recent years, I wouldn't be spending any money on it (apologies, and I don't mean to offend by saying that).

The only unheated Tanzy that I would be tempted to buy is orange, pink, yellow, green (not bi-colour) but the proper unheated different colours especially if over 1ct. Again, I have these and they really don't look like Tanzanite and are, to me, rarer and much more of a collector's stone than "normal" unheated Tanzanite.

 

[VapidLapid]

I was under the impression that the heating intensifies the blue but destroys or minimizes the trichroism. The stones I have seen with pronounced trichroism are magical and far more interesting than the admitedly velvety heated blues.

 

[LD]

Hi Vapid - my experience is that a good high quality Tanzanite will show exceptional trichroism without any trace of velvet - or perhaps I've just happened to buy stones that are not the norm! I honestly don't see any difference.