Your opinion on Spessartite sugar inclusions?

[pregcurious]

I am thinking of buying a spess to satisfy my desire for a large honker of a stone. I found one I like, but it has sugar inclusions throughout it. Is it going to drive me nuts? My only experience with inclusions is a little silk (evenly dispersed) or a veil (both in 2 different sapphires). My other stones are flawless to eye clean.

I realize this is somewhat of a silly question because it depends on my personal preference, but I'd like to hear opinions from people who have experience with spess garnets.

 

[T L]

They don't bother me as much as other inclusions, like cracks and feathers do. In some lighting, they remind me of glitter. I have a six carat spess with a lot of sugar in it, and I actually really enjoy the inclusions. However, if you're someone that just needs everything to be eye clean, no matter what, they might bug you.

 

[pregcurious]

Thanks, TL. I have such limited experience with certain qualities of gemstones like inclusions. Only recently, I've been learning more about silk, asterism, etc. I feel like I am evolving.

Does sugar have the effect of making the color more even, and making the stone glow?

 

[NKOTB]

In my limited experience, yes on the even glow. I like the sugar.

 

[FrekeChild]

GLOW.

A couple of these pictures are taken under some trees in strong sunlight - you can see what happens when that little bit of sun hits the spess.

Makes me all giddy...

 

[Starzin]

Yowsa!! That third pic looks utterly unreal!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gobsmacked
I've seen some bright stones in my time here but I think you just shot to the lead with that.

 

[chrono]

My 5 carat spessartite has sugar inclusions as well, which is typical of Loliondos. I don't see it most of the time but if the light hits it just right, I can see the teeny tiny dots, which are spread evenly throughout the garnet. I think in certain situations, it can help with the sparkle/glitter and glow. Unfortunately, unless you've seen stones with sugar inclusions, it is difficult to say whether it will bother you or not. It bugged me for a while but I accept and love it now.

 

[LoversKites]

Freke, its like the sun but you can look as much as you want!

 

[T L]

Thanks, TL. I have such limited experience with certain qualities of gemstones like inclusions. Only recently, I've been learning more about silk, asterism, etc. I feel like I am evolving.

Does sugar have the effect of making the color more even, and making the stone glow?

In my experience, I never thought of it helping the stone to glow, but others obviously have. To me, they remind me a bit of the schiller in sunstone, if that makes any sense. Very glittery.

 

[chrono]

TL,
Do you think that if they are microscopic (like silk), they help with the glow but if they are a bit larger (eye visible), then they glitter, the same way shiller does in a sunstone?

 

[T L]

TL,
Do you think that if they are microscopic (like silk), they help with the glow but if they are a bit larger (eye visible), then they glitter, the same way shiller does in a sunstone?

Chrono,
To be honest, I don't know. I supposed if they are very microscopic and evenly distributed across the stone, they might. My stone has some clean areas, and some areas with more sugar, so I don't really see it "glow." To me, the sugar just looks like glitter in the stone.

I have a spess with very fine silk in it, not sugar. It's obviously not a Tanzanian stone for which the sugar is found in. It does glow in certain lighting.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I finally found two spess that I love, they both have a little bit of sugar but nothing distracting. I don't feel that it bothers me at all, it's not really noticeable or distracting at normal wear-length, and even upclose, the stone is so bright that the inclusions aren't super noticeable.

Haha, my spess is my "honker" stone too, 4ct and 9mm, it's going to be huge on me!

 

[movie zombie]

there used to be poster here who is also in the trade: Vincent.
he wrote once of his evolution re color stones meaning that originally he thought clarity, etc. were the holy grail. then the longer he was in the trade and the more he was around the stones his love and appreciation for "inclusions" grew....to the point that now he would rather have those stones. another point that he made was that those inclusions made the stone identifiable either for location origin and also should you send your stone to a jeweler you can id your stone upon return. of course, color always trumps everything but a wonderful color with inclusions? he learned not only to live with them but to love them.

 

[pregcurious]

there used to be poster here who is also in the trade: Vincent.
he wrote once of his evolution re color stones meaning that originally he thought clarity, etc. were the holy grail. then the longer he was in the trade and the more he was around the stones his love and appreciation for "inclusions" grew....to the point that now he would rather have those stones. another point that he made was that those inclusions made the stone identifiable either for location origin and also should you send your stone to a jeweler you can id your stone upon return. of course, color always trumps everything but a wonderful color with inclusions? he learned not only to live with them but to love them.

Was it Vincent Pardieu? I was reading something the other day that had a picture of Mr. Pardieu inspecting rough and cut gems at a site. I thought, what an interesting job.

MV, you hit my recent feelings on gemstones on the head; I feel like I am maturing in my appreciation.

 

[pregcurious]

NKOTB, Freke, Starzin, Chrono, and MTG, thank you for input. I've been reading other spess threads and it seems that I will have to take color first, and for a stone like spess, learn to love the inclusions.

I'm really curious to see if I'll like it. I'm realizing part of this gem buying is buying an expensive education. I'll update (of course) if I make progress.

 

[T L]

NKOTB, Freke, Starzin, Chrono, and MTG, thank you for input. I've been reading other spess threads and it seems that I will have to take color first, and for a stone like spess, learn to love the inclusions.

I'm really curious to see if I'll like it. I'm realizing part of this gem buying is buying an expensive education. I'll update (of course) if I make progress.

Well, Nigerian stones tend to be a lot cleaner, although they can be browner. Tanzanian material tends to look more yellowish, and have the sugar inclusions.

If you're looking for a clean spess, perhaps you might want a Nigerian stone.

 

[pregcurious]

Hmm, I don't want brownish. Hmm. Thank you, TL. By the way, do you still regularly buy stones? I am starting to really "get into" this "hobby" and I want to buy EVERYTHING. It is really bad.

I saw this thread, which was very educational for me, for anyone out there who is wondering what TL means about brown.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/spessartites-loliondo-namibian-and-nigerian.158600/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/spessartites-loliondo-namibian-and-nigerian.158600/[/URL]

 

[tara3056]

I have a Loliondo spess with sugar inclusions, and yes, I think the sugar helps it to glow more evenly. That stone is almost neon at times when other gemstones are just 'normal' in the same lighting. It definitely POPS. The sugar doesn't bother me at all because I appreciate the effect it has, and because it's indicative of its origin. I think it would only bug me if the sugar was really unevenly distributed, like half of it being very crystal and half being very sugared. That would drive me nuts. I've seen quite a few Nigerian spessartites that were much cleaner but did have that slight brown component that bugged me. When my husband was selecting spess rough to cut himself, the Loliondo rough was twice the price per carat of the Nigerian regardless of its inclusions.