Advice on Mandarin Spessartites

[bookworm21]

Hi everyone,

I just received a couple of mandarin spessartites from Dana at Master Cut Gems (who''s great and very responsive!) for comparison. I''m wondering if I can get some opinions on them. I''ve attached a few pictures...I''ve forgotten how difficult it really is to take even a halfway decent photograph of gemstones (and diamonds were much MUCH easier to photograph on a relative basis).

The following pictures were taken in my bathroom which has those incandescent vanity light bulbs.

All opinions/advice much appreciated, thanks!

First up, Namibian spess

Vendor photos are here.

Second, Nigerian spess

Vendor photos are here


Will upload pics from my digital camera in following posts (must resize everything).

Any opinions in the meantime are more than welcome! Thanks in advance.

 

[bookworm21]

Namibian Spess

 

[bookworm21]

Another of Namibian Spess

 

[bookworm21]

Last one

 

[bookworm21]

Nigerian Spess

 

[bookworm21]

Nigerian Spess 2

 

[bookworm21]

And three

 

[bookworm21]

And totally unrelated, but wanted to share since I''m resizing and posting photos anyway: Purplish pink spinel I received a couple days ago from Art Cut Gems.

 

[Indylady]

Very pretty! I especially like the 2.04 round.

 

[bookworm21]

IndyLady, hmmm....you''re the third person who prefers the round. I''ve decided (or rather my self-imposed budget decided for me) that I can only choose one stone and was initially leaning toward keeping the 2.97 carat, but but but...help?

I don''t know which to keep. I''m quite torn between the two and would keep both if my budget allowed me.

For cushion cut colored gems, is it common to see dark areas when looking at the stone? Because I noticed that when I looked at both the cushion cut spess and the purplish pink spinel, the bottom half looks brilliant, but upper half is dark.

Thanks!

 

[T L]

Unfortunately, if the photos are accurate, neither of those stones are what I would call "mandarin" color. They're a bit too brown. I feel the marketing term "mandarin" is really overused by the trade. It's supposed to be an orange color devoid of too much brown, and I don't think those are very fine pieces. The second one is described as intense orange, but is more reddish orange with brown in it.

If you like them for what they are, then that's fine, but if you had your hopes set on a true mandarin orange spessartite, I would keep looking.

This is what I would consider more of a true mandarin color, but they're more expensive too.

http://thejewelerseye.blogspot.com/2008/06/mandarin-garnet.html

 

[chrono]

Neither appeals to me. I know that orange is difficult to photograph accurately as I’ve experienced it myself but if yours is close to what your eyes see, both are quite dark and brownish. The first one is brownish and dark, the second one is reddish orange with some brown and dark. Then again, his price is inexpensive for those stones so perhaps the price reflects their lesser quality?

 

[Kismet]

Are your photos accurate to what you see? You may need better lighting or to correct the white balance on your camera (or both).

 

[enbcfsobe]

i''m certainly no expert, but i agree that neither of those is what i would think of as "mandarin". the brown modifier seems to make them more red. i definitely like the round much better than the cushion based on both sets of pictures. i own two red spess rounds that i bought a few years ago from dan stair -- neither were labelled as ''mandarin''. i personally like redder spess colors better than orange -- i love that burning ember look they can have, and the round looks to be more along those lines. while the cushion is bigger, it looks much darker and seems like it won''t read as large as it actually is, while if the round is anywhere near as bright as it seems, it will read larger than it actually is. (hope that makes sense)
my understanding is consistent with what others have said, essentially that the browner/redder colors are less expensive and not considered what i think of as the ''breed standard'' for this species. the price seems about right thinking back on what i paid. i hope that helps

 

[Arcadian]

I agree with Kismet....is your bathroom that dark? otherwise the white balance is really off on your camera.

Any possibility of taking the photos outside?

-A

 

[innerkitten]

Yes how about some outdoor photos? To make it simple you could just line them up for a quick pic.

 

[bookworm21]

Nope, my bathroom is nowhere near that dark; it''s actually almost blindingly bright in there. I don''t know how to correct the white balance though...I''m better with computers than I am with gadgets like cameras, but I''ll see if I can figure it out tonight.

The stones do look a lot more different in daylight. I compared them this morning outdoors, and the oval certainly looks more burnt orange (not really brown at all IRL) whereas the round looks more red than orange, almost like the color of a dark blood orange, if that makes sense. The oval''s color is like that of a really ripe pumpkin. I obviously am terrible at describing colors, but i hope those descriptions help some in terms of getting a better idea about the stones'' color.

I''ll try to get some pictures tomorrow and post them; if not tomorrow, then over the weekend. Right now, I''m leaning more toward the oval just because the color is more pleasing to the eye in most light environments.

Thanks for your thoughts everyone, and hopefully, I''ll get more pictures up over the weekend.

 

[chrono]

For me, outdoor pictures are a lot easier to take so I hope it’ll be the same for you. I’m not sure what burnt orange or ripe pumpkin orange because to me, it brings to mind a brownish orange or yellow orange colour. Sorry.

 

[T L]

For reference, the color descriptor I think of that represents some of the best spessartite color is actually Fanta orange soda. Yes, some really do look like that color.

 

[platinumrock]

<--------------------- Did someone say FANTA???

 

[chrono]

Date: 4/22/2010 5:55:24 PM
Author: platinumrock
<--------------------- Did someone say FANTA???

I feel thirsty every time I see your avatar.

 

[StonieGrl]

I bought a spessie this year at Tucson. I had a lot to choose from, LOL.

Since I had a firm budget, (yeah right) I had some tradeoffs to make.

For myself, I wanted that Fanta orange color and I accepted some tiny bubbles in the stone to get it. The bubbles are not unusual in spessies and I was comfortable with that trade off.

Go to the Pala web site and look at their range of spessies, its an education. Only the trade can buy from them but you can see the range of color in a spessartine garnet and the kinds of inclusions, etc.

Then see Peter Torraca''s spessies and Doug''s spessies at bespokegems.com. Oh, and Barry at acs has some good ones as well.

Then you''ll have decision points.

 

[platinumrock]

Date: 4/23/2010 11:29:57 AM
Author: Chrono

Date: 4/22/2010 5:55:24 PM
Author: platinumrock
<--------------------- Did someone say FANTA???

I feel thirsty every time I see your avatar.

I get hungry everytime I see YOUR avatar. I just want to take a bite of that ripe, juicy pear!