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What kind of stone can I get for $3500?

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Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Jun 5, 2010
Messages
706
I posted a few days ago (this thread), asking your opinions about a few tourmalines I found online. Although I could afford the pastel pink tourmaline from CustomGemstones, I have second thoughts on using it in an everyday (bezel) ring. I think a spinel or a sapphrie will be more wearable. However, I have a tight budget ($3500 for the stone), and I really want a large stone (11mm-12mm round is my sweet spot).

What kind of stone do you think I can get for $3500, and what kind of quality shall I expect? I prefer a purple/violet/lavender stone in round shape. I also like round-ish cushion (almost round but not exactly round). I don't mind cabochon, but I don't know much about it -- does it have the same extinction and windowing issues as faceted gem? Can you easily see through a cabochon?
 
You should be able to get a lavender/violet/purple spinel of fine colour around 3 carats to 4 carats within your budget. However, you'll probably find more ovals and rectangular cushions than rounds.

A cabochon will be translucent if of fine quality or opaque if poor. With cabochons, it's all about colour while with a faceted stone, there will be brilliance, sparkle and scintillation. A cabochon is typically less expensive because it is usually too included to be faceted. Due to the smooth domed surface, I don't think you'll get the same cutting issues as a faceted stone.
 
You should get a lot of stone with your budget.
Here is a large spinel that I think you might like. It's from Roger Derry and he doesn't retail but your jeweler to get it for you

Lg-SpinelPurpleOval5_05ct.jpg
 
Thank you for the picture VapidLapid. It looks really nice! I will ask my jeweler for pricing info.

Something I just noticed -- the spinel looks like an unhappy face to me... I can see two sad eyes, a nose, a mouth, and a frowned/wrinkled forehead... Do I really have a wild imagination? :confused:
 
Cookie said:
Thank you for the picture VapidLapid. It looks really nice! I will ask my jeweler for pricing info.

Something I just noticed -- the spinel looks like an unhappy face to me... I can see two sad eyes, a nose, a mouth, and a frowned/wrinkled forehead... Do I really have a wild imagination? :confused:
Click to expand...

I didn't notice it until you pointed it out...now that is ALL I can see when I look at it!
That is crazy. Great imagination!
 
Ok I see it now.....creepy
 
turn it upside-down!
 
only on a precision cut could you do that
 
VapidLapid said:
turn it upside-down!
Click to expand...

U really made me flip my macbook upside down haha! And you know what it is another sad looking face :o

Indeed its creepy :errrr:
 
I think with that kind of budget, and because you have very specific requirements, that you should ask the cutters if they can cut you something on a custom basis. Send some emails out to dana at master cut gems, gene at precision gem, richard homer at concave gems, andrew at gemfix, barry at artistic colored stones and jerry at gem art services, and see what they have in available rough. You may want to browse their sites and see what style of cuts they do. Gemfix has a variety of round cuts that are named on their site, and any cutter can do that cut. They all use diagrams and if you like a portugese round, any one of them can cut it for you. They also have some cuts "in the back pocket" that they might not have showing on the site. These are the guys I know and I'm sure other PSers have experience with other cutters.

Are you sure you want an 11-12 mm round? That is a big stone! :shock: I can't say much, since I have a couple of big honkers, myself, and love them. :love: Here is a thread to my 11mm big round stone, you can see some hand shots for comparison on size.
I can't seem to load the thread directly :rolleyes: , search "my new richard homer".

As far as responsiveness, I had a pretty good experience with Jerry at Gem Art Services, he cut a stone and had it to me within 2 weeks. I don't have direct experience with custom cuts from the other guys. Search: "beautiful stone but too light"

I have learned that for an 11mm round you will need a piece of rough that will yield a 6+ carat stone. This means the rough will need to be around 12-15 carat piece. That's a big piece of sapphire or spinel! :o That will be the major hitch in your get-along. Most cutters will reduce that to a few stones, not just one. Most will have tourmaline in that size (it's really not that delicate) though.

Ask around, somebody will have something, I'm sure. But don't start the conversation with your budget, you might be able to swing a deal. :D
 
Oh for crying out loud, I can't get my threads to come up in my search!

Try clicking next to my little dog and click on All Users Topics.

Sigh :rolleyes:
 
I like that spinel TL posted. It's smaller than what you're wanting, but it's also 6+mm deep..a bigger stone would be even deeper. Is that okay with you?
 
With custom cutters, you will not normally find exactly what you want by just browsing their websites so you need to email them to find out if they have suitable rough material that will meet your requirements. iLander brought up a good point about the total depth of such a large stone. With a 11 to 12 mm round stone, the total depth will be at least 7 mm so once set you are looking at a ring that might sit close to 1 cm above your finger. Most people are not comfortable with that so I just wanted to make sure you’ve considered this fact.
 
iLander, I found your Richard Homer's citrine. :love: I am not sure if you have it set yet, but I also have an 11mm round solitaire, which I think looks proportionate to my 7.5 sausage finger (I attached a photo). I thought a 12mm would look fine too. Now I am not sure... A simple bezel (something like James Meyer style) would add 1mm or so to the diameter, so maybe I should look for something between 10mm and 11mm instead?

packrat, Chrono, my 11mm is fairly comfortable to wear (despite the boring color), so I think a big stone will be fine with me.

I will contact a few gem cutters that you guys recommend, and see if any of them has a large rough to cut something for me.

11mm_round.JPG
 
That is a good budget and you should be able to get something really nice...agree that focusing on the color you like and contacting a custom cutter may get you something fabulous!

Laura
 
Hello everyone, I have a quick update -- my jeweler looked around for stones for me in the past few days, and just informed me via email that an 11mm-12mm sapphire in lavender color would cost over $14K. I assume he was talking about faceted sapphire.

So I was wondering, would a fine 11mm round sapphire cab (or oval sapphire cab in similar size) cost significantly less than $14K, regardless whether or not I have it custom cut? Would it still cost a lot more than my budget limit? What about a tourmaline cab or garnet cab?

I think it would be wonderful to have a custom cut stone, but the drawback is that I cannot set it in a Jame Meyer setting, because he doesn't accept customer stones any more.
 
Sapphires are generally more expensive than other variety of gemstones, plus that since you are having a B&M jeweller find you a stone, their markup/margin is always more than what you can find online. Is the lavender sapphire heated? Untreated? For that price, it had better be untreated and of superb quality. Be sure you have seen a cabochon in person before making your decision. There are some who much prefer the added sparkle and scintillation of a faceted stone. Have you found any suitable spinels? They cost a fraction of the price of sapphires and are durable enough for everyday wear with amazing luster.

I’ve seen some Etsy jewellers do an awesome collet bezel reminiscent of James Meyer’s work so that is still a consideration if you are open to it.
 
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