Vanadium Chrysoberyl

[Euphony]

I have been on the hunt for something interesting for my own engagement ring, and I picked up this lovely little vanadium chrysoberyl. I am a big fan of the colour green and have run through bi-coloured green sapphires (kept for my collection but rejected for this ring because they sadly look grey in low light), and alexandrite (most fascinating gem I have ever seen, and wish I could have afforded to keep it for my collection, but rejected for this because I spend too much of my life in lighting that did it no justice).

I was sadly unaware that you could get such a refreshing mint colour in a stone with any degree of durability, but I guess these are a bit hard to come by. Given that all I want is to have an engagement ring that will look different from all the rings I help make for other people, I feel pretty good about it. Apart from the fact that it is a little small on my giant man hands, I really adore it. I hope it is ok for me to post this, as it is for personal use only.



ETA: I am sorry for how my fingernails look. It is just polishing compound stain, not abysmal hygiene.

 

[chrono]

Very bright and minty fresh. I would love close up macro pictures and basic stats, if you don't mind sharing. Congrats on a beautiful e-ring stone.

 

[VapidLapid]

Gorgeous, but we need more pictures! Great color on your stone; was the pic taken in sunlight? I have one that goes a little pale indoors, but just pops in sunlight. Very odd coincidence, just yesterday I was working setting it into a ring. I botched it (again) so today will melt a little blob back into the ring and try again to carve the setting. If you dont mind me asking where did you get yours? They are quite scarce.

 

[minousbijoux]

Really nice stone. Please post more pics and info on the stone. Also, if you don't mind sharing us the lighting conditions of any photos you share. How does the stone perform in various lighting? You may have just convinced me of yet another stone I "need" to have as I love the color. Good job finding that stone! Will you add a little bling to the ring when you make it for her?

 

[Euphony]

Hee! Forgive me... when I say I have man-hands I just mean they look like a man's hands (clearly I am correct!) I am actually a woman with long fingers and who is forced to keep my fingernails short and unpainted because of my work.

It is a bit on the small side at 1.26cts. But the spread is actually very decent at 7.4 x 5.5mm. That makes it a little prone to tilt windows, but I can live with that. The picture is taken indoors, but with natural ambient light only. It is very lustrous, so doesn't need much. It doesn't shift at all, really. That is actually what I like about it. It is always just a happy little minty green stone. Cheerful, not too flashy, but something unusual.

I would have loved larger, and was looking at pretty large (3-4ct) unheated fancy colored sapphires at the time... but the green really speaks to me. Can't help what you like. The dealer said he didn't come across vanadium ones much (only every few years), so I figured it wasn't worth holding out for a bigger specimen with the same colour and sparkle. I am thinking a halo would be nice. I am actually a pretty simple sort, so I will probably be more comfortable with a smaller stone. I actually though the sapphires looked a bit too much for my personality, and that my family would tease me. My mother once referred to a 1ct diamond as a "doorknob", so I can only imaging what she would have said...

I don't actually own a camera, so it is a phone picture. I will see about getting a macro picture. The dealer is an industry-only guy, and I am going to keep mum on pricing other than to say my boyfriend was befuddled by the sudden drop in price range from stones I was considering. I say more money for the honeymoon.

It seems that there isn't much selection of them online. I went searching just in case I could score something bigger, but alas... nothing that was quite as minty.

ETA: It looks a touch deeper green in person. The colour is quite accurate, but a bit less pastel in tone.

 

[corundum_conundrum]

Gorgeous! What an appropriate day to post your mint julip.

It looks very delicate and feminine, and refreshing--a nice compliment to your cute hands!

I don't anything about vanadium chryso...does the presence of vanadium mean that it shifts appreciably as it would in, say, corundum?

 

[minousbijoux]

Sorry for the confusion...kinda cool that you will make your own ER. I'm happy to hear that it was just ambient lighting and not taken with a flash which would've distorted the color. You've found a very pretty stone.

 

[LD]

Vanadium chrysoberyl that has a lovely mint colour is actually quite difficult to find - even more so when you're looking for larger stones! The one you've got is gorgeous and the colour really suits your skin tone.

Just out of a matter of interest, does it change colour at all? Some do and then it's actually an Alex but with vanadium! I have one and couldn't work out what on earth it was. David from Multicolour told me that it's an Alex (because of the colour change)!

Nobody will be looking at your man-hands (your words!!!) when you've got that beauty on. They'll be focusing on the minty goodness!

 

[Euphony]

There is no shift in this one, but I am happy that it does not. I had a perfectly lovely alex in my possession recently, and it shifted all over the place. It was mesmerizing, but not all the colours were as attractive as others, particularly the fluorescent lighting I spent a lot of time under. (Nothing against alexs, LD, as I know you are quite the collector. I actually would have gladly kept it if I could afford to because it was amazing to see it change.) I just realized that for this ring in particular, I just wanted the colour to stay put. And I am a strawberry blond, so minty green is a colour I enjoy wearing. I am not actually as self-conscious about my hands as my joking implies. I am a craftsperson, and have a certain pride in working with my hands and the resulting "character" it gives them.

No flash used for the picture. I think it is pretty accurate to what I see. I would love to see anyone else's v-chrysoberyls, especially if set. As for building it myself, I have a lot of married female goldsmith friends and about 50% build their own and 50% let their fiances do the picking, and every one of them has been asked at some point if they made their own ring. When they do, it is always such a perfect reflection of their style, I felt pretty strongly about it. I told my bf that when the time came that he wanted to move forward, it would mean more to me to be able to say that I made our whole set.

 

[JewelFreak]

Gosh, what an enchanting color! Can't take my eyes off it & its chryso glow. That will make a marvelous ring & that you will make it yourself is even more special. I can't wait to see what you come up with -- please let us in on the process; I have a feeling it will be more unique than a garden-variety halo. Can't think of any color more perfect for a strawberry blonde.

--- Laurie

 

[chrono]

Phone pictures are actually quite good once you get the hang of it. All mine are using my iPhone. No loupe or macro, only enlarging or zooming the screen to take close ups. I think the larger notepads are more challenging due to their size and shadow obstruction. It would be awesome to get a bigger stone but as it is, v. chrysoberyl are uncommon and if too large, get in the way of working hands.

 

[katharath]

This is such a beautiful gem, I really love it. Congrats, I think you've made a fabulous choice. I love mint colored gems so much, yours is amazing!

 

[VapidLapid]

Multicolour has some v-chrysos but they are not searchable as such; you just have to look through all their chrysoberyls. This one that I was working on yesterday is from them, and is 1.55 carat. I have a smaller one from AJS.
These are also iphone pics, one is over exposed and the other a little blurry, but shows the color.

 

[Kismet]

Your stone is beautiful! I love that minty green color.

Here's mine. It's a bit over 1 carat. I bought from AJS ages ago and it's set in rose gold.

 

[Euphony]

See... I didn't even know phone cameras had settings. Learn something new every day. I tried to take a closer shot. It is a little blurry, but perhaps gives you an idea. I am going to go with a fairly closed back to help minimize any mild windowing issues. If you get it dead straight on it is perfect, though. I just am not great at capturing that.

I went straight to multicolour.com to check it out (curious!), but I feel pretty confident in the stone I have. I have had the luxury/torment of looking at dozens and dozens of potential stones along the way, so that is saying something. Even if I would have loved it a touch bigger, this is the colour that speaks to me and makes me feel contented to gaze upon. Bigger ones I see all look too grey for me.

It is great to see your stones, Kismet and VapidLapid. They are to die for! So beautiful and with a lovely blue tone to them. It is great to see what it looks like against rose and white golds, and also in delicate vs rustic shanks. It really looks great in either. I have had yellow gold in my head mainly because of your icon, katharath. You have a gorgeous ring.

Thank you all for the kind words about the stone. I love it, but sometimes you just need someone else to see what you see.

 

[NKOTB]

Like Minou, I am now thinking there might be another stone added to my "to get" list! I think it is a very pretty stone, and a nice size for your lovely long "fingers with character". I'm a sucker for mint stones, but so far only have garnets and tourmalines (and a couple of grayish minty sapphires). I hope you'll be able to share the final set - both e-ring and wedding ring! (and if not in this section, perhaps you could give us a heads up, if you post in SMTB, for those of us who rarely venture out of CS. )

 

[jstarfireb]

Pretty! I really want one eventually because I love greens and pastels, but they're super-expensive. I failed to pull the trigger earlier on one I liked that was reasonably priced at AJS, and someone else bought it (it may have been LD's one that turned out to be an alexandrite because of the color change). I've been checking Multicolour and AJS, but the ones that aren't windowed or yellowish are too rich for my blood. I guess I just have to be patient.

 

[JewelFreak]

I sure understand your feeling about the color -- it's simply yummmmmy. It will be a thrill to see it on your hand every day! People are going to ask you about it constantly (and their eyes glaze when you explain what it is, that they never heard of). It'll make a stunning ring. YG would look super.

--- Laurie

 

[minousbijoux]

...and rose gold would look super too! Particularly high karat rose gold.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

Absolutely beautiful chrysoberyl!!!!! This is the ONLY stone that I need to complete my collection. I just love the minty blue of these stones, but they are so hard to find when looking for one that is well cut, and not too small. Congrats on your gem!

 

[Sakag]

Wow, what a color! Love the way it pops, it's so refreshing and lively. It's going to be a very eyecatching ring, I can't wait to see photos of it finished! Congratulations on finding such a great stone, and on your engagement!

 

[minousbijoux]

Absolutely beautiful chrysoberyl!!!!! This is the ONLY stone that I need to complete my collection. I just love the minty blue of these stones, but they are so hard to find when looking for one that is well cut, and not too small. Congrats on your gem!

Wow, how cool! Just one question: really, only one??!!

 

[Euphony]

Regarding rose gold, I was considering high karat portugese gold. It is a touch warmer (redder) than 18k yellow while still reading like yellow. I am a bit of a yellow gold enthusiast, but if people want to post images of mint stones in rose gold to try and change my mind, I'd be up for it.

Regarding them being expensive, I actually just think it depends what you are using for your comparison. It sure is expensive compared to a regular chrysoberyl, but if compare it to nicely coloured spinel and sapphire, I think it seems pretty reasonable. You are getting a durable ring gemstone with no treatment and a beautiful and rare colour, afterall. I actually think regular chrysoberyl is way underpriced just because its name has no cache with the public. There are non-vanadium ones with just a gorgeously lively green that I can't believe never found a market for themselves.

I will tell you that my gem dealer told me (when he thought I was buying it for resale) that I could pretty much charge whatever I wanted for it because it is so uncommon there is no standard price and no appraiser would/could argue it. I actually showed it to my appraiser (not for his opinion, I was just showing it to everyone I saw that day ) and he immediately went to look it up is his reference manual to assess what I paid for it...it's not there. Yellowish green chrysoberyl and alexandrite are the only varieties of the stone listed.

 

[katharath]

See... I didn't even know phone cameras had settings. Learn something new every day. I tried to take a closer shot. It is a little blurry, but perhaps gives you an idea. I am going to go with a fairly closed back to help minimize any mild windowing issues. If you get it dead straight on it is perfect, though. I just am not great at capturing that.

I went straight to multicolour.com to check it out (curious!), but I feel pretty confident in the stone I have. I have had the luxury/torment of looking at dozens and dozens of potential stones along the way, so that is saying something. Even if I would have loved it a touch bigger, this is the colour that speaks to me and makes me feel contented to gaze upon. Bigger ones I see all look too grey for me.

It is great to see your stones, Kismet and VapidLapid. They are to die for! So beautiful and with a lovely blue tone to them. It is great to see what it looks like against rose and white golds, and also in delicate vs rustic shanks. It really looks great in either. I have had yellow gold in my head mainly because of your icon, katharath. You have a gorgeous ring.

Thank you all for the kind words about the stone. I love it, but sometimes you just need someone else to see what you see.

Wow, thank you!! That is my favorite ring of any I've ever owned (it's a merelani mint), and while I absolutely love mint gems in rose gold, I think that many look amazing in yellow gold as well. I can't wait to see yours set, I have no doubt it will be beautiful. Yours is such a unique gem, so collectible AND gorgeous. I may need to start looking for one for myself

 

[minousbijoux]

Regarding rose gold, I was considering high karat portugese gold. It is a touch warmer (redder) than 18k yellow while still reading like yellow. I am a bit of a yellow gold enthusiast, but if people want to post images of mint stones in rose gold to try and change my mind, I'd be up for it.

Regarding them being expensive, I actually just think it depends what you are using for your comparison. It sure is expensive compared to a regular chrysoberyl, but if compare it to nicely coloured spinel and sapphire, I think it seems pretty reasonable. You are getting a durable ring gemstone with no treatment and a beautiful and rare colour, afterall. I actually think regular chrysoberyl is way underpriced just because its name has no cache with the public. There are non-vanadium ones with just a gorgeously lively green that I can't believe never found a market for themselves.

I will tell you that my gem dealer told me (when he thought I was buying it for resale) that I could pretty much charge whatever I wanted for it because it is so uncommon there is no standard price and no appraiser would/could argue it. I actually showed it to my appraiser (not for his opinion, I was just showing it to everyone I saw that day ) and he immediately went to look it up is his reference manual to assess what I paid for it...it's not there. Yellowish green chrysoberyl and alexandrite are the only varieties of the stone listed.

Your gold choice sounds perfect. Until you mentioned it, I had never heard of high karat portuguese gold, but it sounds beautiful.

I love the fact that chrysoberyl flies under the radar. As you point out, it is durable, beautiful and definitely affordable. But unfortunately, it seems to be escalating in price. Not sure if that means its being discovered, or its just a case of general inflation in gemstone rough.

Finally, its probably The Guide that your appraiser looked it up in, and although it does a good job in its attempt to cover colored gemstones, I agree that there are definitely limitations...in this case, due the comparative rarity of the stone type. Even if it had been listed though, sometimes I wonder if there really is a big enough sample to be statistically relevant...it is one reason, for sure, that they don't have more listed.

 

[chrono]

Shhhh......let's not spread the word about chrysoberyls quite yet until more PSers are able to get them at the current reasonable pricing. I agree that they are under-rated stones. Such amazing lustre, sparkle and colouration at inexpensive pricing, not to mention rarely treated. Vanadium chrysoberyls are more expensive than the regular ones but still affordable, if a bit more of a challenge to find. I think TL has set many minty green stones in rose gold and they brought out the blue modifier which I love. Distracts also set hers recently in rose gold to great effect.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/mint-garnet-ring-in-rose-gold.184854/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/mint-garnet-ring-in-rose-gold.184854/[/URL]

 

[minousbijoux]

Shhhh......let's not spread the word about chrysoberyls quite yet until more PSers are able to get them at the current reasonable pricing. I agree that they are under-rated stones. Such amazing lustre, sparkle and colouration at inexpensive pricing, not to mention rarely treated. Vanadium chrysoberyls are more expensive than the regular ones but still affordable, if a bit more of a challenge to find. I think TL has set many minty green stones in rose gold and they brought out the blue modifier which I love. Distracts also set hers recently in rose gold to great effect.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/mint-garnet-ring-in-rose-gold.184854/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/mint-garnet-ring-in-rose-gold.184854/[/URL]

The one thing I have to say against chrysoberyls (vanadium excluded) is that one has to like neon marker yellow/chartreuse!

Well, I suppose one could get a light yellow, undersaturated one...

 

[minousbijoux]

One more thing! I don't know if this helps, but this is a Cuprian I fell in love with a while back. In real life, it is a bright, greenish blue. Although its not the "ideal" color, I have always liked them when there is a greenish modifier to the blue. So this one is set in 18k rose gold and it really brings out the blue in the stone.

I know its a completely different stone type, but for what its worth, I thought it would help emphasize the effects of rose gold on a greenish blue stone...

 

[Euphony]

I've seen some chrysoberyls that are a lovely "new bud in spring" green, and I find quite charming. But yes... variety is not their strong suit.

The cuprian is soooooo beautiful (want!!), and the 18 rose is a lot lower a contrast of a red, so a bit more my personal taste. Interestingly (to me, at least), that it is probably the most difficult alloy of gold to work with. Very hard and very brittle.