Yellow Spinel

[davi_el_mejor]

Where would I find a stone worth keeping?

 

[m76steve]

iv been buying spinel for several years & have bought some pretty good peices off of ebay-plenty of material for sale & ebay stands behind all sales-u must read what the seller describes his product as being before the sale to ease ur own ghosts & get what u want in a stone-good deals r to b had-u just have to shop properly-steve...

 

[packrat]

I didn't know spinel came in yellow??

 

[colormyworld]

I have only heard of yellow spinel in a book called Gemstones of the world. There is even a picture showing a nice yellow color. I am not sure that yellow spinels even exists outside the pages of that book though. If there really is nicely colored yellows they are by far the rarest color spinel. If anyone has links to any I would love to learn more about them.

 

[davi_el_mejor]

I have only heard of yellow spinel in a book called Gemstones of the world. There is even a picture showing a nice yellow color. I am not sure theat yellow spinels even exists outside the pages of that book though. If there really is nicely colored yellows they are by far the rarest color spinel. If anyone has links to any I would love to learn more about them.

That's what I feared

I would love to know about them too. What are the coloring agents that make up yellow in stones? Or does it vary?

 

[T L]

I have seen synthetic yellow spinels (my brother's class ring), so be very careful about buying one if you do come across one. It should have a lab memo indicating natural origin.

 

[Harriet]

Ditto to CMW. I've also asked every spinel expert I know. No reported sightings.

 

[davi_el_mejor]

It seems the yellow to green spectrum in spinel is rare. That's very interesting to me. It also makes me sad

 

[cellentani]

I have only heard of yellow spinel in a book called Gemstones of the world. There is even a picture showing a nice yellow color. I am not sure theat yellow spinels even exists outside the pages of that book though. If there really is nicely colored yellows they are by far the rarest color spinel. If anyone has links to any I would love to learn more about them.

That's what I feared

I would love to know about them too. What are the coloring agents that make up yellow in stones? Or does it vary?

I know that some yellow comes from traces of iron. Coloring agents in spinel include iron, as well as vanadium, chromium, and cobalt.

 

[m76steve]

since im the one who said its available-it is-iv seen it on ebay-there is not lots of the material for sale so the natural stuff is rare but its listed as burmese & not real clean but yellow it is-listed as no treatment or natural & in the 1-3 ct. range-steve...

 

[Roger Dery]

Hi Davi,
In over 29 years in the gem trade, I have never been offered, or seen a yellow Spinel.

 

[m76steve]

iv been dealing with quite a few appraisers, goldsmiths, & gem technicians & in my short time in gems- iv talked with many people who have never seen many of the stones i have in my collection which amazes me & these people r in the trade-they have told me they have only read about, looked at pics or have seen the real item in a museum if that-i was told from a collector that one of the pendents i have, has more stones than he has in his collection of over 30 yrs-go figure-from what if seen in the past year or so, new items usually dont surprise me any more-if i want a certain stone i usually no where to look-steve...

 

[LD]

since im the one who said its available-it is-iv seen it on ebay-there is not lots of the material for sale so the natural stuff is rare but its listed as burmese & not real clean but yellow it is-listed as no treatment or natural & in the 1-3 ct. range-steve...

Steve mate - please take stones on Ebay with a pinch of salt. We all know you can get the occasional bargain BUT you really have to know what you're doing otherwise you buy synthetics and rubbish gemstones.

 

[m76steve]

since im the one who said its available-it is-iv seen it on ebay-there is not lots of the material for sale so the natural stuff is rare but its listed as burmese & not real clean but yellow it is-listed as no treatment or natural & in the 1-3 ct. range-steve...

Steve mate - please take stones on Ebay with a pinch of salt. We all know you can get the occasional bargain BUT you really have to know what you're doing otherwise you buy synthetics and rubbish gemstones.

i respond to LD with utmost respect but when i get involved with a perticular stone or one that is questionable of material or origin i do my homework-i know many peeps in the business & soooo many appraisers that if a question arrises about a stone i will clear the air to the best of my ability-since this is a hobby & im only satisfying myself i can take the time for research & verification-when i present material to the web im sure what i present is the real mccoy-in my experience iv been wrong or stepped on less than 4 times if that-i do buy on the bay but also use other webs to-im very satisfied with my junk to date-again i appreciate any & all input from the gallery-STEVE....

 

[Roger Dery]

Perhaps I should amend my previous statement...

In over 29 years in the gem trade, having an antennae for the oddities one may find, searching Tucson vendors for 22 of my 29 years, and having a desire to acquire those gem types and species that are normally shunned by the rest of the industry as being "too far out there to by marketable" -- I can say anectodally, that yellow Spinel is not commonly found even among those gem folks who focus on true collectors. This is in addition to 13 buying trips to Africa.

I'm not saying they don't exist, but I have yet to find one. And therefore, you should be very pleased with yourself for being so fortunate. I would be.

 

[m76steve]

roger dery-i have been going to gem shows since my interest in stones started about 2004-i used to go to 3 or 4 large gem shows in the washington dc area & met some very well traveled people-some had their own companies & cut their own stones or they were just importers-iv seen stones presented as aaaa but in fact were not or the stones were so mispriced as to not be possibly labled correctly-i have talked with many peeps who have been bonked on ebay or any one of many sellers on the internet-things do happen & happily not too often-my experience with most of the sellers on the web have been positive & all sales have been on the plus side of my ledger-from most of the books i have yellow spinel does exist but not in large amounts, with little call for the material-but i do believe if one wants it, it is out there-i keep an open mind-i been taught several things about garnets in the past few months that were not set in stone as the joke goes-thanks for ur input-steve...

 

[Treenbean]

In this matter I would defer to all things Roger Dery on this on, ie:it is a white elephant. I did a quick cursory search of the internet, yes it does exist. Some people call it Rubicelle which is also the name for flame spinel, or something like that. Most of it is ugly, really grey or brown. Not a lot of this material out there. Found several pics of synthetic yellow spinel. I would not trust ebay as far as I could theoretically throw it, in this stone.

 

[davi_el_mejor]

Thanks Treen! The synthetic isn't even the color for which I was hoping.

I guess I'll move on to try and find a straight up yellow Chrysoberyl or Sapphire.

 

[Largosmom]

Yellow chrysoberyl and sapphire are nice. I am a fair newbie to collecting gems, but other yellows I personally appreciate are beryl and sphene.

 

[VapidLapid]

Straight up chrysoberyl and sapphire are not so run of the mill either. Chrysoberyl is almost always greenish to brownish. Here at PS-CS we have access to two incredible exceptions that I know of; TL and Chrono's. They are exceptional and they are exceptions. Yes they are possible, I know of a few available right now even. Still they are far from straight up. About a year ago there was talk in here about the postulation of a yellow spinel. I dont recall it being shown then to exist in nature. Piggybacked on that was a discussion of the postulation of a naturally untreated yellow star sapphire. I think I remember Ed Bristol saying he had seen one, not very nice, once. end of story.

 

[Arcadian]

vapid, Ive also seen a yellow star sapphire. It looked like a booger I have only heard and read things about the so called yellow spinel but have never seen one in person. I don't know why but I can't really imagine them to look that good for some reason.(I could be totally wrong about that though!!)

-A

 

[Harriet]

Steve,
If you can find a yellow and gemmy spinel, please let me know. I'd be happy to eat my words and buy the stone.

 

[VapidLapid]

vapid, Ive also seen a yellow star sapphire. It looked like a booger I have only heard and read things about the so called yellow spinel but have never seen one in person. I don't know why but I can't really imagine them to look that good for some reason.(I could be totally wrong about that though!!)

-A

LoL
Just one of the many reasons I missed you so.

 

[colorluvr]

A fairly yellow 2.35ct Chrysoberyl (hard to photograph - prettier than the picture but not a WOW yellow) and a couple of yellow beryls that are quite common, but VERY yellow. I have a certified unheated "pastel yellow" sapphire, but it's not very yellow at all. The other yellow sapphires I have are heated and I have no clue if they are BE heated or not, so I won't post them

Just thought I'd share while you guys are talking about yellow.

BTW, the second photo got labled yellow chryso, when I saved the file, but it's obviously a yellow beryl - sorry about that.

 

[Lovinggems]

This place has 3 lovely golden beryls, are these usually heated/irradiated etc?
http://www.steveperrygems.com/gems/beryl.htm

 

[davi_el_mejor]

Straight up chrysoberyl and sapphire are not so run of the mill either. Chrysoberyl is almost always greenish to brownish. Here at PS-CS we have access to two incredible exceptions that I know of; TL and Chrono's. They are exceptional and they are exceptions. Yes they are possible, I know of a few available right now even. Still they are far from straight up. About a year ago there was talk in here about the postulation of a yellow spinel. I dont recall it being shown then to exist in nature. Piggybacked on that was a discussion of the postulation of a naturally untreated yellow star sapphire. I think I remember Ed Bristol saying he had seen one, not very nice, once. end of story.

In this instance, an acceptable modifier would be brown or bordering on the warmer side with orange. I'm searching for a smallish 5-6mm yellow stone with above average cut (not necessarily precision but not opposed to it either) and something that has the life of a spinel if that makes sense.

I want something to complete a new rainbow of gems. The only one missing in the right size is yellow.

Colorluvr- OOOOH pretty! Thanks for the photos. In your opinion how does beryl compare to spinel?

Arc- LOL I'm finding a lot of yellow stones look boogerish or corpsey.

LG- I'm not sure about beryl treatments. While the ones you pointed out are lovely, they're a tad too big, but the price is right

Largos- I loves sphene too! It's just too soft for what I want

 

[Largosmom]

That round beryl is a very nice color to me...very buttery!

Laura

 

[chrono]

I’ve heard of yellow spinel but never seen it. I expect it to be quite unspectacular though, probably just a hint of yellow or mostly brown. Will you consider a yellowish spessartite since you don’t mind some orange? Some Loliondo spessartites are very yellow with a lot of dispersion, being a garnet.

 

[Roger Dery]

In this instance, an acceptable modifier would be brown or bordering on the warmer side with orange. I'm searching for a smallish 5-6mm yellow stone with above average cut (not necessarily precision but not opposed to it either) and something that has the life of a spinel if that makes sense.

I want something to complete a new rainbow of gems. The only one missing in the right size is yellow.

Davi, I have seen some Grossular Garnets in the color you desire from cutters like Gene Flanigan and Peter Torraca. If I recall, it was referred to as Lolatema Garnet and they were not pricey. The only drawback with the Grossulars, may be their hardness and durability over the long term.

Hope this is helpful to you.

 

[m76steve]

harriet-the yellow spinel i saw was small, not clean looking, cloudy but was listed as natural yellow spinel-iv seen several books that do list the yel in spinel-would only buy to complete a collection though as most peep on the web would not buy-iv been told that there is no blue garnet-every color but..who knows-nature has no limits-some peeps dont really understand this & if they dont see any new or different items in their little spaces then it doesnt exist-steve...