What should I be looking for?

[liaerfbv]

I stay over in RockyTalk with the diamonds so consider me a complete novice to colored stones. I'm in the process of changing up my e-ring and I'd like to find a colored stone to put in my existing setting for a few months. I am trying to determine what stones I should be looking at that are durable enough for daily wear. The stone would need to be 8-8.2mm round and able to be bezel set.

I'm fairly open on color, but I do not like pastels or anything orange/brown. Ideally I'd like to keep the budget around $500, but I have no idea how realistic that is. I'm going through the "New to Colored Stones" sticky threads and absorbing information. What stones should I focus on? Is my budget crazy?

Thanks!

 

[pregcurious]

Here's a good thread for starting:
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/new-to-coloured-gemstone-buying-read-this-first.174284/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/new-to-coloured-gemstone-buying-read-this-first.174284/[/URL]

Here's a vendor webpage that has a variety of stones that you can look at for prices. There are other vendors I like, but this one has a nice format and lots of different kinds of stones.
www.gemfix.com

You can look here for the differences in hardness between colored stones. For everyday wear, I recommend sticking with Mohs hardness of 8 and up (spinel, chrysoberyl, corundum, diamond), although jadeite is also very durable. For occasional wear, garnet and tourmalines are great. There are also other species I am not mentioning that are very beautiful and can be worn carefully.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohs_scale_of_mineral_hardness

 

[dk168]

OP,

I am not certain if bezel-setting can be recycled as the removal of the stone(s) will cause too much damage.

I had to scrap mine when I had my EC diamond re-set recently.

DK

 

[MollyMalone]

I'd speak to whoever made the present mounting (assuming it was custom made for you, not a stock mounting or designer brand) and ask, as DK intimated, about the feasibility of reusing the bezel setting --and also if their bench is experienced with setting colored gems & how deep a stone the ring can accomodate or could be tweaked to accept (colored gems are often deeper than their diamond counterparts of the same face-up size).

If the ring is a stock model or designer brand, then you're probably best off first consulting with a jeweler who's very much at ease with colored gems; people here could make some more focused recommendations if you share where you are.

 

[Marlow]

500 $ and no pastel, brown,orange - durable enough....

A tanzanian blue spinel - not as grey as Sri Lanka blue spinel - maybe?? Otherwise no chance for a 8mm spinel.

Rhodolite would be interessting too...

 

[minousbijoux]

The other complicating factor is that gemstones are cut differently - and typically deeper - than diamonds. So it also depends upon the depth of stone the setting will accommodate. But I agree with the others that if its a bezel, you may have to have the head remade after removing the existing stone.

 

[liaerfbv]

I've been told my setting is a good candidate for a reset by 2 different jewelers, but I'm sending it away to have my diamond removed within the week and will get a final yes/no shortly. I also have fairly decent depth to work with but I'm not positive of the exact measurement yet. I've been browsing gemfix and I'm so overwhelmed by all of the choices! I am really liking the raspberry-ish colors.

 

[pregcurious]

Marlow called it with the rhodolite.

 

[Marlow]

There are many custom cutter here - rhodolite rough for a 8-8,2 mm round should be no problem within your budget.

 

[liaerfbv]

Rhodolite is beautiful! Is it always this berry red color, or are there other color varieties?

I'm intimidated by the thought of custom cutting honestly. How does that work? I'm going to go search old threads.

 

[pregcurious]

Rhodolite is beautiful! Is it always this berry red color, or are there other color varieties?

The short answer is that rhodolite is associated with a pinkish-red berry color. The long answer is here if you download the PDF article which is 14 pages:
http://www.gia.edu/gems-gemology/winter-1981-garnet-color-manson