What am I seeing in these gems?

[Odyssey44]

Sorry I wasn't clear, I didn't mean to judge if the depth was a ratio of the width, but to look at the stone face up. Is there a window? Does it display good brilliance? Does it have nice brightness? Is it appealing? Not to try to find a mathematical solution to if it's pretty or not.

Oh, I can do that!

 

[Odyssey44]

Pink zircon, in my experience, will always have some brown. That's the nature of it... sort of like an earthy rose tone. One of my favorite lip liners is "Spice" from MAC. It is described as "pink cinnamon stick." That's exactly how I think of pink zircon. lol I personally like it, but it just may not be what you're after, love.

I am sure that looks lovely, especially with your coloring. For jewelery, I'd rather not. I thought tourmaline in pink could be tough but I do see now Zircon seems even worse.

 

[Odyssey44]

Here are the outdoor pictures. How foolish I have been posting picture by picture to Imgur! I can upload many photos all as one post.
Here are video and some pictures, some shade, some sun.

https://imgur.com/a/eNV5Ebr

These are probably the best pictures. I had to stand in direct sunlight and put my head directly in front of the stone.

https://imgur.com/a/BBxyacg

And it kind of "mauved out" like this in sun and shade. All in all, I would say in virtually every condition, I did not like it. Not exactly the glitter bomb I was expecting.

https://imgur.com/a/Ygefor5

 

[Avondale]

Yeah... that one's not it.

I was hoping for a significant improvement in daylight but it just didn't happen. This is nowhere even close to the pink you want.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

@Odyssey44 what kind of pink are you looking for? If you post samples perhaps we can help! Whatever it is, I think it ain’t “pink” zircon!

It’s a billion times worse than pink tourmaline in terms of brown!

 

[Odyssey44]

@Odyssey44 what kind of pink are you looking for? If you post samples perhaps we can help! Whatever it is, I think it ain’t “pink” zircon!

It’s a billion times worse than pink tourmaline in terms of brown!

I like medium pinks best--a true medium pink tourmaline is the dream if I can find one that does not brown out indoors. I have some coming to check. Mostly I thought it would be neat to collect different pink gems, because I love pink so much. So i was trying to get a nice pink zircon. But you are so right, this is a disservice to pink to call it pink zircon!!

 

[Autumn in New England]

I am sure that looks lovely, especially with your coloring. For jewelery, I'd rather not. I thought tourmaline in pink could be tough but I do see now Zircon seems even worse.

You make a solid point! Maybe return this guy and give rubellite, pink sapphire, or spinel a try? A nice Mahenge may just do the trick.

 

[Odyssey44]

Sadly, this stone was a commission! So let me show you what I think would have been a lovely pink zircon--
the lapidary showed me this, saying my rough was from same deposit, but would be "a bit more saturated and probably have a bit less orange". I don't see it--I see a totally different color. A mauvy brown is how I would describe mine. Let me please ask you all for opinions, would you tell the lapidary you do not like the stone you received or would you just chalk it up to bad luck and say nothing? I know this is going to have to be my stone, but I am wondering if a recut would at least help with the shadowing? Maybe not. I don't know what else would be possible to improve the appearance and I don't know the etiquette. I actually told them to pick whatever shape they thought would give me maximum sparkle. I am pretty sure I will avoid ovals in the future.

https://imgur.com/KDZLPGM

 

[Autumn in New England]

With the first outdoor video, I was like "promising!" But then it sort of went downhill from there. Honestly, this is a nice zircon. But it is a beautiful shade of pink in general? No. Keep hunting!

 

[Odyssey44]

With the first outdoor video, I was like "promising!" But then it sort of went downhill from there. Honestly, this is a nice zircon. But it is a beautiful shade of pink in general? No. Keep hunting!

You really think it is a nice zircon? The shadowing issue would not bother you? I was expecting a lot more sparkle, given the double refraction I hear about, but I have never seen one in person before.

 

[Autumn in New England]

Sadly, this stone was a commission! So let me show you what I think would have been a lovely pink zircon--
the lapidary showed me this, saying my rough was from same deposit, but would be "a bit more saturated and probably have a bit less orange". I don't see it--I see a totally different color. A mauvy brown is how I would describe mine. Let me please ask you all for opinions, would you tell the lapidary you do not like the stone you received or would you just chalk it up to bad luck and say nothing? I know this is going to have to be my stone, but I am wondering if a recut would at least help with the shadowing? Maybe not. I don't know what else would be possible to improve the appearance and I don't know the etiquette. I actually told them to pick whatever shape they thought would give me maximum sparkle. I am pretty sure I will avoid ovals in the future.

https://imgur.com/KDZLPGM

I wish I had known you were commissioning a zircon, because we would've advised that there'd be way more brown than any tourmaline.

If you're really unhappy, I might ask if you could exchange the stone for something else. Or perhaps he'd accept a return minus any deposit or restocking fee? But I doubt he'll offer a full refund on a commission, as you said. The color of the round he showed, IMO, would be closer to @mellowyellowgirl's stone.

Don't despair... these missteps are all part of the gem collecting journey!

 

[Autumn in New England]

You really think it is a nice zircon? The shadowing issue would not bother you? I was expecting a lot more sparkle, given the double refraction I hear about, but I have never seen one in person before.

Most pink zircons have hardly any pink, so yes, I do think the color is quite nice - for a zircon. But she is rather "closed," I agree.

 

[Autumn in New England]

How deep is the stone, OP?

 

[Odyssey44]

I wish I had known you were commissioning a zircon, because we would've advised that there'd be way more brown than any tourmaline.

If you're really unhappy, I might ask if you could exchange the stone for something else. Or perhaps he'd accept a return minus any deposit or restocking fee? But I doubt he'll offer a full refund on a commission, as you said. The color of the round he showed, IMO, would be closer to @mellowyellowgirl's stone.

Don't despair... these missteps are all part of the gem collecting journey!

You are always so encouraging!!!! Honestly you have a way of getting in my mind and knowing when I am feeling deflated with my gem journey!

 

[Odyssey44]

How deep is the stone, OP?

Oh, I forgot to get you the measurements you asked for yesterday! It is 13.58 x 10.27 and 8 mm deep.

 

[Autumn in New England]

You are always so encouraging!!!! Honestly you have a way of getting in my mind and knowing when I am feeling deflated with my gem journey!

Do I need to remind everyone that I once bought RAINBOW CALSILICA!

 

[Autumn in New England]

Oh, I forgot to get you the measurements you asked for yesterday! It is 13.58 x 10.27 and 8 mm deep.

Ok, so not overly deep, but it may be contributing to the extinction. There's probably enough wiggle room for a pavilion recut. The question is - would it be worth it? If he's willing to do it for free to appease you, maybe. But then you lose the weight and we're still not sure of the result (plus, you still dislike the color). I might see if he has something else you like for an exchange. I'm not sure if he'd be willing, but you never know. If he's not, then maybe you can explore a recut. If he's not interested in that either, you sell her and move on to greener pastures.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

If you didn’t spend too much on it I would just call it a day. Seems like a lot of effort to tinker with zircon.

I vote sapphire or spinel for a true pink!!! I think spinel tends to shift a bit more and can lean ever so slightly brown depending on what shade you pick but nothing like “pink” zircon.

 

[Odyssey44]

Ok, so not overly deep, but it may be contributing to the extinction. There's probably enough wiggle room for a pavilion recut. The question is - would it be worth it? If he's willing to do it for free to appease you, maybe. But then you lose the weight and we're still not sure of the result (plus, you still dislike the color). I might see if he has something else you like for an exchange. I'm not sure if he'd be willing, but you never know. If he's not, then maybe you can explore a recut. If he's not interested in that either, you sell her and move on to greener pastures.

Good points. Maybe I will ask first about an exchange and then maybe a recut. I think I could be happier with the color if the sparkles obscured it.
I am sure I overpaid for this. Maybe not so badly actually because it is over 9 cts. Does not look giant on my finger does it? It's a talent I have, making large gems appear half their size.
I don't even know the going rate for zircon.

If you didn’t spend too much on it I would just call it a day. Seems like a lot of effort to tinker with zircon.

I vote sapphire or spinel for a true pink!!! I think spinel tends to shift a bit more and can lean ever so slightly brown depending on what shade you pick but nothing like “pink” zircon.

I probably did spend too much on it. But how much is too much? I was offered peachy pink garnet rough at the time too and was indecisive. We discussed it and he said the zircon was harder to come by so I chose that. Kicking myself in a big way.

Sapphire. It is time. And I want a larger sapphire that will not mean a remortgage. I actually want 3 --a light pink one, a medium pink one, and a hot pink one like Chancey. (Not all at once! ) I am tripling my chances of finding something I like, but nothing so far. I know you are the right person to enlist for help in this search.