Would you mind helping me with Alexandrites?

[phooka]

Alexandrite is my birthstone and I''ve always wanted one. Well, a REAL one, anyway.

I have a fakey that I inherited from my mother. It''s obviously not real, but it was given to her by my father on her 16th birthday, so I love it just the same.

Anyway, I''ve been looking around on-line, and a few have caught my eye, but I''m hardly experienced in gem shopping, let alone online gem shopping! To compound my problems, I''m being very picky when it comes to shape--I reeeally want a pear, but I might settle for something else, if it was worth it.

I particularly like this one. The color isn''t nearly as drastic as I''d like, but I love the cut. Unfortunately, I can''t tell if it has some huge noticeable flaw I''m missing, because I have no idea what to look for. What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance for your help! And if anyone has any recommendations for sites selling alex, I''d really appreciate that!

 

[Harriet]

Hi,
What size do you have in mind? Also, are you working with a budget?

 

[chrono]

The ratio of the pear is very pleasing to the eye and the colour is bright.

Here''s a few things for your consideration:
1. There looks to be a small window in the stone. It will most likely be noticeable to the naked eye BUT might not be as obvious when set. Are you all right with this?
2. The stone has a grayish cast (both in the green and much more obvious with the pink). Is this acceptable to you?

 

[phooka]

Thanks for the replies.

Harriett,

I''m pretty flexible as far as size goes, anything around 1-2 carats is fine. I''m also not on a very strict budget. So far everything I''ve been looking at has been around or close to 1,000, and I''m very comfortable with that, but have no problem going higher. However, I don''t want to spend too much, because: 1. that leaves more money for the setting, and 2. I want to have this made into a ring, which I will most likely wear all the time. I can be a little rough on my everyday jewelery, and I don''t want to spend so much that I''ll be devastated if it gets a little banged around once in a while.

Chrono,

How can you tell if a stone has a window? I can do it in person, but have problems spotting them in pictures or online, unless they''re very obvious--what do I look for?
And I think the color is part of what''s attracting me to this stone in particular, even though I can see how someone might think the grey makes it ugly. Every time I flip through my bookmarks, my heart kind of stops when I hit on this one. I think the grey gives it a dark, stormy, moody kind of feel. Of course, I might think it''s hideous in person.

Has anyone every returned anything to MultiColour? Their return policy sounds solid enough, but I''d like some first-hand experience before I make any decisions. I think I might need to see this stone in person, in natural everyday light, before I decide if I really like the color or not.

Again, thanks for the help! I appreciate it.

 

[phooka]

Hi, I'm still mauling over this.

Right now I'm deciding between these three:



The first one I posted. I'm leading towards this one right now, except that I'm afraid I won't like the grey in person. So I decided to have a back up plan. I don't like the cut nearly as much, but it is much "brighter." Any opinions on this one?

 

[Harriet]

Phooka, if you don't have a fixed budget, may I be very honest?

 

[chrono]

Phooka,
Did you buy the first one? I can''t find it anymore. I like the 2nd one (even though the saturation is very light) because the colours are brighter and the window is so small that you''ll probably never see it once it is set. Also, I''ve returned an item once to Multicolour. Hassle free via Fedex.

 

[phooka]

I did buy the first one, after speaking with someone about the return policy. I think the reason I like it so much is because of the grey, which, I know, is kind of silly. But I kept going back to it, no matter how many nicer stones I looked at. I may very well hate it in person, but I wanted to make sure before totally ruling it out.

And, yes, brutal honesty is appreciated, Harriet. Don''t be afraid, I''ve got pretty thick skin. And I''ve gotten pretty used to having bad taste--I''m inexplicably attracted to quite a bit of the stuff being posted over in the "Good, Bad and Ugly" thread.

 

[MaineGemCutter]

As for the gray cast, I noticed a LOT of their photos have varying degrees of gray mask, I don''t believe it is the stone.

 

[CaityJ]

I can''t wait to see pictures, phooka. I hope you like the stone you purchased!

 

[phooka]

I am quite relieved to report that I''m very happy with the stone. All day I''ve been preparing myself to be disappointed and want to return it, so I''m pleasantly surprised at how much I like it. The picture from multicolour was very close to being accurate although not quite--the green is much brighter in person. Of course, the FedEx man got here exactly as the sun was beginning to set, so I only got to look at it in sunlight for about ten minutes.

The color change under direct fluorescent light is only very faint--it turns a very light pink with flashes of darker pinks and reds--very close to the picture from the site. Of course, I''ve only been looking at it under my rinky-dink kitchen cabinet lights, so it may show a little better under some decent lighting, but I''m doubting it. What really hooked me, though, is the color it turns under the regular lamplight in my house. The grey is very noticeable in my lighting, and makes it look like a dusky purple, almost like Victorian Lilac--my favorite color.

I''ve been looking for a stone in this color for a looong time, and I''ve gotten close with a few purple sapphires, but this is right on the mark. I was very, very surprised to see that and I''m also very glad I went with my gut on that one! I think I may have mentioned earlier the grey was what was attracting me to the stone in the first place, and I was right! It did not turn that muddy brown you see with alexandrites sometimes, so that was pleasing. All of the other stones I looked at in B&M stores had a tendency to look brownish. There is a pretty noticeable window but I don''t think it''s going to bother me enough to return it. Tomorrow I''m going to look at it in the sunlight some more (well, duh, of course I am!) and possibly head down to the jewelers, from there I''ll decide for sure what I want to do with it.

Caity--I''d love to show you pictures, but it didn''t take very long for me to realize why the picture on the site was fairly inaccurate--it is IMPOSSIBLE to get a picture of this thing. At first I thought it was my camera. I just got a new camera two days and I''ve only taken maybe 200 practice shots with it so far, and only a handful in micro. The pictures kept making the stone look deep, dark purple, almost like an amethyst, and it definitely does NOT look that way in person under any kind of light. At first I thought it was the camera, but I took pictures of some of my other jewelery to compare, and they all look accurate. Tomorrow I''m going to try taking some pictures of it in the sunlight, but then you won''t be able to see the purple at all anyway.

Of course, now I''m right back in the market for another alexandrite , since I still kind of want a more traditional green-to-red stone with a strong color change. But I guess that can wait until Christmas.

 

[CaityJ]

Sounds like a really cool stone. I am glad you are happy with it! I have been enchanted by alexandrite for a long time, but the quality stones aren''t really within my reach right now. Do keep us updated with info about what you decide to do with it, etc.