Which stones are the color of the Carribbean?

[eks6426]

I would love to get a necklace or earrings with stones the color of the Carribbean Sea...bright beautiful turquoise blue-green. Any suggestions?

 

[DiamondExpert]

Aqua?? Tourmaline?

 

[belle]

zircon, tourmaline, aquamarine... how much do you want to spend?

 

[eks6426]

Does anyone have links to pictures?

I think my husband''s max budget would be $500. He''s not going to do custom, so I''d need to find something ready made.

 

[monarch64]

http://www.mysolitaire.com/BlueTopazEarrings/

http://www.bluenile.com/product_catalog.asp?catid=189&keyword_search_value=BLUE%20TOPAZ

http://www.bernardine.com/gemstones/blue.htm

http://www.fancieface.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?search=action&category=p003&template=Templates/P003SearchResult.html

Well, there are a few for starters...I think blue topaz is a beautiful stone and reminds me very much of crystal clear Caribbean waters...

 

[The Joker]

You might also consider a Blue-Green Opal.

Like this one.

http://www.opalsdownunder.com.au/jewellery/20076474

Joker....

 

[eks6426]

Blue topaz seems like it might work. Love the silver one from Blue Nile...and of course the much more expensive ones from fancieface.

What about this one?

http://www.diamond.com/detail.asp?pf_id=30093

 

[monarch64]

island girl I really like that last one from diamond.com. I bet it would sparkle like mad on your neck! Here''s one from ice.com:

 

[monarch64]

That pendant was $175. Here are the earrings to match: ($150)

 

[eks6426]

monarch--oh those are pretty. I love the color. Exactly what I was thinking...

 

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

Hi Island Dreams,

You have been given some great suggestions so far. I attached a pcture of some eye candy for you. Topaz is very beatiful and is much more commercially available in the price range that fits your budget. Aquamarine is a great viable alternative, but natural stones can be pricey. Especially since your in the market for a piece which has already been fabricated. Blue Zircon is very beautiful and Paraiba is gorgeous with an astronomical price tag.

I think the earrings and necklace suite posted would look beautiful. I posted some pictures and notice the quality of the dark toned aqua on the top and the lighter green/blue shade on the bottom row. All gemstones come in many different great qualities.

Natural aquamarines will be a blue/green color rather than just the blue. A really fine aqua will have a medium strong blue color (like shown on the top row) with perhaps a hint of green, or if it has not been heat treated a strong bluish green color. It will also be free of eye visible inclusions and well cut with minimal windowing & exceptional color depth.

With your budget being around $500, stick with the suggestions given and I think you will be happy with what Topaz has to offer...

Happy Shopping...

 

[hearts set]

OMG!!

This is so strange!

I''ve actually been to Opals Down Under...and bought a gorgeous loose opal there!! (then off to Australia Zoo like a good American tourist!)

I still have it in the velvet bag waiting to set it...hopefully in a white gold bangle type bracelet!

The Opal is the pretty deep aqua color...very carribbean...would make a great choice!

 

[mogok]

Hi,

You can also try some sapphires especially the stones coming from Ambondromifehy, near Diego Suarez in the north of Madagascar, they are blue with an important amount of green... As a result some of these stones are very close to the color of many tropical sea waters. One more good thing, you can find many of these sapphire as opaque cabochons displaying a good star and they are not expensive.
All the best,

 

[valeria101]

Date: 11/23/2005 8:17:26 PM
Author: Vincent Pardieu
Hi,

You can also try some sapphires especially the stones coming from Ambondromifehy, near Diego Suarez in the north of Madagascar, they are blue with an important amount of green... As a result some of these stones are very close to the color of many tropical sea waters. One more good thing, you can find many of these sapphire as opaque cabochons displaying a good star and they are not expensive.
All the best,

Where !? Is there any way to see some online?


Sapphire the color of turquoise would be such a dream.

 

[mogok]

Hi,
most of the Madagascar star sapphires you find in the market are from the Diego Suarez area:

Here is some rough:

here again:

or here:

Most of the stones upthere are greensih with a small percentage blue and yellow, and it is easy to understand that even what is blue or yellow is greenish.
The problem is as green is not really a favorite color for sapphire most of the stones are then heated to remove the green and turn them to purer blue or yellow. But they have a charm or their own...

This is probably from Diego:

These are just examples.But I''ve seen there some very attractive ocean green blue gems.

All the best,

 

[valeria101]

Date: 11/24/2005 8:00:57 PM
Author: Vincent Pardieu


Most of the Madagascar star sapphires you find in the market are from the Diego Suarez area:

[...] most of the [greenish] stones are then heated to remove the green and turn them to purer blue or yellow. But they have a charm or their own...

Aha! No wonder these are not all over the place if heating turns them standard blue.

I found some light wash greish blue/green sapphire that didn''t quite remind tropical seas. Perhaps that was simply not promissing for heating (or recording if treated or not) and better saturation exists.

Thanks

 

[glitterata]

I just bought this Madagascar star sapphire. I htought the pattern looked really cool. It''s exactly the color of my blue jeans, though, not the color of the sea.

It has a great star in sunlight. I wish it were a little bigger, though, it''s hard to see the hexagons.

Anybody know if there''s a name for those hexagons?

Sorry to take the thread off track.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 11/25/2005 1:10:40 AM
Author: glitterata


Anybody know if there's a name for those hexagons?

They are gowth marks and the hexagonal strypes follow the shape of the crystal (this was a crossection) the way tree rings do. I am not sure what else to call them...

This picture comes from Richard Hughes site ruby-sapphire.com:

Angular growth zoning in sapphires from Australia.
(Photos by the author)



And the same thing on a naturally etched sapphire crystal:

The fact is, you are definitely not alone liking these odd rocks. They are pretty popular - 'Seen these?

 

[glitterata]

Those are cool! Thanks, Ana!

We now return to a discussion of stones the color of the sea.

I like blue zircons. They can be a lovely bright blue.

 

[The Joker]

This 15mm x 30mm solid Opal is as close to the "color or the Carribbean" as I could find for you.

Joker....

 

[Richard M.]

Hi,

Not all gemstones are transparent. Thinking of the amazing barrier reef off Belize with its famous Blue Hole, the stone that comes immediately to my mind is a blend of the copper minerals azurite and malachite, aka "azuremalachite." This example is from the famous Copper World mine and there are many color/pattern variations from other locales.

 

[Richard M.]

Another opaque sea-like gemstone is Larimar, mined in the Domincan Republic. It''s often compared to Caribbean colors and is named for a miner''s daughter Larissa combined with "mar" for sea. It consists primarily of the mineral pectolite but includes many other minerals. A search for "larimar pectolite" should yield several loose stone and jewelry suppliers, including Caribe, the source of this image.

View attachment Larimar_UnfinishedRock.jpg

 

[Richard M.]

Sorry -- the image didn''t appear pixelated in PhotoShop. I''ll try to find a better one.

 

[Richard M.]

With luck this Larimar image will display properly.

 

[Richard M.]

Then there''s this Brazilian opal doublet that captures sublime Caribbean colors...

 

[eks6426]

Colored Gemstone Nut--thank you for the beautiful eye candy pics. I love the pairaiba & the blue zircon but both of those seem out of my budget for now. The blue topaz & aquamarine seem like good options. Most of the aquamarine I have been seeing is a very pale light bluish green.....

Richard M....those are some beautiful stones. I love the azuremalachite with both the blue & the green. I'll be sending my husband more links!

 

[valeria101]

Date: 11/28/2005 9:08:43 AM
Author: IslandDreams


I love the pairaiba & the blue zircon but both of those seem out of my budget for now.

The blue topaz & aquamarine seem like good options.

But blue zircon is nothing like paraiba prices and aquamarine (well, aquamarine that looks blue not white) is allot more expensive.

Unless you want a large piece, blue zircon may be the least expensive next to topaz.


E.g.

4cts/ $120 piece from this lis of fancy Zircons

And if light blue is ok, I would definitely think of blue topaz with natural color - it definitely makes a conversation piece since few ever see this material not irradiated.


Anyway, the funny thing is that even your initial post mentions a gem already: turquoise.


Anyway, keep us posted

What do you have in mind?

 

[MJO]

Hello IslandDreams,

Blue Zircon is not out of your budget if you choose smaller 1 - 2 ct stones and not as deep a color. I have seen nice smaller stones at $15/ct.

Regards,
Maurice

 

[eks6426]

The blue zircon looks beautiful. Can someone describe the difference between blue topaz & blue zircon? Do they refract the same?

I have turquoise jewelry, but I really want the sparkle of gemstones rather than the flat look of turquoise.

If I were to buy a stone loose, what would be the easiest way to have it set? This is supposed to be a gift from my husband for Xmas and he isn''t used to custom stuff.

 

[glitterata]

Zircon is sparkly sparkly sparkly! Topaz is more about color.