Have you really got an Alexandrite? Read this first!

[minousbijoux]

Sorry but there's no way to sure from your photo. This thread is only aimed at giving pointers. Some people post photos and it's clear that they are not Alexandrites due to size, inclusion (or lack or), description, colourway but there are some very very very good synthetics so I wouldn't like to say with your earrings. The colour isn't quite right for Alex BUT they are notoriously difficult to photograph.

Yours are in the category of "very difficult to tell from a photo". I have a gut feeling but I think you'd be better going to a jeweller and having an RI test on both stones which should help you a bit further rather than relying on my gut!

BTW a correct RI test isn't definitive either because I had a synthetic that tested the same RI as an Alex - so in that instance I followed my gut and sent it for testing. It turned out to be synthetic.

LD: I would love to have your developed instinct (I was going to say gut, but my gut is already big enough, thank you very much).

 

[LD]

Sorry but there's no way to sure from your photo. This thread is only aimed at giving pointers. Some people post photos and it's clear that they are not Alexandrites due to size, inclusion (or lack or), description, colourway but there are some very very very good synthetics so I wouldn't like to say with your earrings. The colour isn't quite right for Alex BUT they are notoriously difficult to photograph.

Yours are in the category of "very difficult to tell from a photo". I have a gut feeling but I think you'd be better going to a jeweller and having an RI test on both stones which should help you a bit further rather than relying on my gut!

BTW a correct RI test isn't definitive either because I had a synthetic that tested the same RI as an Alex - so in that instance I followed my gut and sent it for testing. It turned out to be synthetic.

LD: I would love to have your developed instinct (I was going to say gut, but my gut is already big enough, thank you very much).

Now why on earth didn't I say instinct??!!! That's a much nicer word than gut! Minou you really made me laugh!

 

[rene_jewelry]

Hi,
You forgot Sri Lanka.
ugly greens, but in some stones you have the best red of all Alex.
I have one in stock, I will take photos and after solving the mystery of uploading an image to the forum
will upload it.

 

[LD]

Hi,
You forgot Sri Lanka.
ugly greens, but in some stones you have the best red of all Alex.
I have one in stock, I will take photos and after solving the mystery of uploading an image to the forum
will upload it.

Hi - If you are trade and selling your stones then unfortunately you can't upload them here as it's against forum policies - sorry.

 

[rene_jewelry]

A trick I found by accident to shut the red alex with no candles or special lights.
Take a photo with the camera flash light.

 

[rene_jewelry]

Hi - If you are trade and selling your stones then unfortunately you can't upload them here as it's against forum policies - sorry.[/quote]

Sorry my mistake

 

[Ale88]

Hi guys,

I'd like to buy an engagement ring for my girlfriend but instead a "simple" diamond I was thinking about Alexandrite. I found this one but of course before buying it I decided to investigate a little bit about it:



These are the only details I have, for the moment:
- Approx 4.72 mm;
- Approx 0.41 ct;
- Price: 2.135 euro (in dollars is pretty much the same ).

I read the first message of the topic, and I noticed the gem they proposed me is not too big, it has the purple/violet color as it should be when photographed and it's not cheap at all.

What do you think? I live near Milan (Italy), where there is a well known laboratory which could certificate the gem, but the gem is in Germany, so before trying to arrange the shipment, the analysis etc I'd like to be almost sure it's worth it.

Thanks a lot guys!
Regards from Italy!

 

[chrono]

I am not going to say anything about the colour because I don't know how accurate it is but the cut is so atrocious that around 80% of the crown area will be dead (no sparkle or brilliance) except for the very edges.

 

[minousbijoux]

Ale88: Welcome to the forum. This is not the thread for you to ask your personal questions about a search. Please start a new thread which can and will be devoted just to you and your search for the right stone. This thread is an educational thread about alexandrite.

 

[Ale88]

Ale88: Welcome to the forum. This is not the thread for you to ask your personal questions about a search. Please start a new thread which can and will be devoted just to you and your search for the right stone. This thread is an educational thread about alexandrite.

Hi minous, thanks for the welcome! I'm sorry I wrote in the wrong topic, I saw various people asked for tips and I did the same, now I opened a new thread here

 

[DanJ]

Both of these (see below) have Lab Reports yet the stones seem to photograph green. I was able to verify the AIGS report however the IGI report came back "no online information available" I have emailed them to see if they can verify. Since the stones seem to photograph green would this indicate the Lab got it wrong?

 

[DanJ]

Sent to GIA

 

[lilmosun]

Fantastic news! I always feel like doing such a happy dance I get back a lab report on something I've been questioning.

 

[DanJ]

Pick ed up another one

 

[bpaul]

hello folks, any updates or new input on where to buy good alexandrites?
i have read most of the previous posts and learned a bit...but need to know more.

thanks..

 

[chrono]

There's no one place, unfortunately, but we do have a list of vendors that carry alexandrite amongst other types of gems.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/list-of-vendors-for-reference.208782/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/list-of-vendors-for-reference.208782/[/URL]

 

[Bron357]

This is my little Alexandrite. The real deal, possibly Russian, who knows. It's about 1 carat and I'm going to set it in a ring later for my daughter whose a June baby so Alexandrite is her birthstone.

 

[LD]

hello folks, any updates or new input on where to buy good alexandrites?
i have read most of the previous posts and learned a bit...but need to know more.

thanks..

The man with his finger on the Alexandrite pulse is David from www.multicolour.com He is a collector/lover and seller of Alexandrite.

 

[PFY]

I stumbled upon this thread while googling how to determine a synthetic vs real "Alex" I am not a jeweler by any means.
My husband inherited a stone we believed to be an amethyst it waa old, dirty and not in a setting. He inherited it from his Eastern European Grandmother.
We took it to a jeweler to get an idea of what to do with it. After they cleaned it the jeweler indicated he believed it is a synthetic Alex. We have never heard of an Alex before. We are currently getting the stone set into a ring and plan on keeping it in the family. I know it's hard to tell via pictures if it's a true Alex or not but I figured it won't hurt to try.

We have not seen what the stone looks like in the light. I took the pictures in doors

 

[rene_jewelry]

Hi,

It will be helpful if you take a photo under white light,
It the color is changing to green my advice (even if the jeweler suspects it is synthetic) take it to a gemological lab,
A jeweler, even if he have the knowledge don't have all the tools to verify the stone.
An Alexandrite with this weight (over 2CT?) and so clean is expensive.
If no color change it can be another gemstone (looks little too reddish for amethyst), it can be a garnet, spinel or even a sapphire.
A small observation (your photos are not good enough to be sure).
The cut looks like a cut that a cutter will cut to get as much as possible weight.
99% of the synthetic stones will have a perfect cut and proportions
the rough is so cheap that no one will cut to get more weight in the expenses of a beautiful cut and luster.

Rene

 

[Vasilisa]

Thank you... I appreciate your comments!

I was able to take a closeup of it this morning. It is not as clear as it appears in the other photos.

What type of jeweler should I be seeing to confirm? Any suggestions in Chicago area?

Will update you later

Hi LizC. I would recommend Jennifer Santi, GG (GIA), CG (AGS), Appraiser for Gemworld International https://gemguide.com/appraisal-services/... The company is located in Glenview, IL. She checked my emerald and was very professional and straightforward. You have to call and make an appointment. Good luck.

 

[irinaalexandrovna]

With modern internet technologies I would recommend going directly to GIA for any type of gem certification. It takes about two weeks, but you get a GIA report and it will cost you less money than an in-person consultation with a gemologist. For example I paid about $90 including shipping to get this stone certified as Natural Alexandrite. GIA does not identufy the origin for Alexandrite stones, but I know it is Russian, from the Ural Mountains :
Shape Round
Measurements 5.69 x 5.61 x 3.71 mm
Cutting Style Crown --
Cutting Style Pavilion --
Transparency Transparent
Color Bluish Green changing to Grayish Purple
Phenomenon --
Item Description One loose stone
Species Natural Chrysoberyl
Variety Natural Alexandrite

I understand it is not the best quality stone, but it was quite cheap, and the color change is not bad, plus the Russian origin is important for me.

 

[irinaalexandrovna]

Another beautiful perfection from Russia: 0.23ct, clean as a teardrop:

 

[PFY]

Thank you Renee

I am awaiting for the setting to be complete in a few weeks and will post a picture under white light.
I will research a gemologist in my area to get a 2nd opinion. If anyone knows of any in CT or NYC that will be great.

 

[DanJ]

GIA and AGL are both in NYC

 

[scrappdaddy]

I was reading this post and am curious. I have a ring like you've described above (passed down in the family). I was told it was Alexandrite. From the story I was told by my mother, my grandfather got the ring and two earrings in Alaska in the 1920's from an Eskimo that told him it was Russian. It is about the size of a US dime. My grandfather was in the Coast Guard for 33 years and in Alaska for many years. The colors change from a green to a deep red, but photographs as purplish. There is three markings on the inside of the ring. two seem to have 14K and the one pictured seems to be an anchor, but it is worn a little. There is nothing special about the band. It is plain gold.

 

[pwsg07]

I was reading this post and am curious. I have a ring like you've described above (passed down in the family). I was told it was Alexandrite. From the story I was told by my mother, my grandfather got the ring and two earrings in Alaska in the 1920's from an Eskimo that told him it was Russian. It is about the size of a US dime. My grandfather was in the Coast Guard for 33 years and in Alaska for many years. The colors change from a green to a deep red, but photographs as purplish. There is three markings on the inside of the ring. two seem to have 14K and the one pictured seems to be an anchor, but it is worn a little. There is nothing special about the band. It is plain gold.

Can you please take a photo of the stone under the sun light? so we will have a better idea of the colour of the stone in daylight.

 

[Barrett]

With modern internet technologies I would recommend going directly to GIA for any type of gem certification. It takes about two weeks, but you get a GIA report and it will cost you less money than an in-person consultation with a gemologist. For example I paid about $90 including shipping to get this stone certified as Natural Alexandrite. GIA does not identufy the origin for Alexandrite stones, but I know it is Russian, from the Ural Mountains :
Shape Round
Measurements 5.69 x 5.61 x 3.71 mm
Cutting Style Crown --
Cutting Style Pavilion --
Transparency Transparent
Color Bluish Green changing to Grayish Purple
Phenomenon --
Item Description One loose stone
Species Natural Chrysoberyl
Variety Natural Alexandrite

I understand it is not the best quality stone, but it was quite cheap, and the color change is not bad, plus the Russian origin is important for me.

I am curious, irinaalexandrovna, as to how you know it's a russian alexandrite? You have no "origin determination" on a lab report. Did you mine it yourself, and that is how you know it's truly a Russian Alexandrite?
Did someone.....maybe the seller... just happen to tell you it was from Russia?
I used to see lots of people on Ebay., back when I kept track of such things, that were selling "Russian Alexandrite". The odd thing was, there was more "russian alexandrite" than alexandrite from anyplace else being sold on Ebay.
How could I have proven any of them wrong, since labs don't do origin reports on them?

The thing I find really odd, and a little ironic,is the number of people that have crossed my
path...here, at other websites, at shows, and about town, that all said they had Russian Alexandrite.
How do all these people know they have Russian material?
The irony of it, is the same topic was brought up before, with that guy 76Steve, who swore up and down he was sporting Russian Alex.. The Ebay seller told him it was Russian....and then his appraiser told him it was also russian. I decided to then try and figure things out, so I contacted the man who wrote the book on"alexandrite", literally. David Weinberg, at Multicolour, is the guy to ask in these situations. He told me that it was probably not or russian origin, and that he hadn't seen a russian alexandrite in over 15 years, back inlike 2013.
Odd, the guy who wrote the book on Alexandrite, who sells it, and is in the world capital of gemstones, hasn't seen one in 15 years.
Makes one stop to think, am I really sure I know what I have is what I think it is?

I was just curious to know, how you know exactly where it's from.
Pardon the sarcastic tone, if you do happen to have a viable and legitimate answer.
then I will have to [insert foot into mouth]

 

[DanJ]

The seller I purchased mine from also stated that they were Russian but I am not sure how to verify that. They were purchased in Afghanistan. I did not have my wife's ring tested but sent mine to GIA.

 

[Jimmy smith]

Hello, digging up the thread again. First post by the way
I wanted to see what you all thought. Probably not Russian but I got this ring for my wife 4 years ago from a reputable dealer local. SAID it was natural. I have the purchase papers somewhere on it but I’d need to dig.
In the first post it was mentioned green shouldn’t be able to be photographed on a camera, so leaning torward a fake. Wasn’t cheap either.
Let me know what your thoughts are. I also just bought this one but I can return it. Both look very similar in color. I wasn’t able to get a good reddish purple color because the sun was down when taking pics.
Thanks for any insight you can shed.
Definitely not the pink and lighter colors as some I’ve seen on here.
Basically just the darker green to a silvery green to purplish dark purple sometimes reddish color.