fisiogrl
Shiny_Rock
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Alexandrite online?
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DiamondExpert
Brilliant_Rock
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- Jan 15, 2003
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Try Multicolour (for a few smaller ones with beautiful color, but theirs is one of the largest online inventories I happen to know of) and AJS...
Dunno... just skimming the list:
1.3cts/5k
1.2cts/2.5k
0.76cts/1.2k
Quite often some sort of only slightly color-change crysoberyl gets labeled "alexandrite" and is rather inexpensive. I find these rust-color stones appealing, but they have little in common with the purple/green look one might expect from alexandrite by reputation.
1.5cts/$450
0.9cts/$400
0.8cts/$240
The good part about such pictures is that they give some idea of what some alexandrite may look like (although not necesarily that one!). The bad... well, it is very likely that you will never see exactly those colors. These color changers may well be the most difficult photography subject of them all. The seller's verbal description will likely be allot more useful than pictures despite all the best intentions.
When I took these ones of the websites, I was merely trying to ecuate what the pictures look like with what on Earth I might expect from the seller for the respective price. That's allot of guessing in my book.
To make it worse (any need?), even expensive ones may have good color change (i.e. there is obvious difference between the two colors), but either one or both shades are muddy and unappealing. I've seen my share of shockingly ugly & 'valuable' stuff. At some point is hard to understand what are some people ready to pay for...
Chances are you'll see some crazy prices, but there are reasonable ones somewhere if you dig deep enough.
I would be very glad to see this discussion go ahead - there can never be too many Alexandrite stories.
Dunno... just skimming the list:
Quite often some sort of only slightly color-change crysoberyl gets labeled "alexandrite" and is rather inexpensive. I find these rust-color stones appealing, but they have little in common with the purple/green look one might expect from alexandrite by reputation.
The good part about such pictures is that they give some idea of what some alexandrite may look like (although not necesarily that one!). The bad... well, it is very likely that you will never see exactly those colors. These color changers may well be the most difficult photography subject of them all. The seller's verbal description will likely be allot more useful than pictures despite all the best intentions.
When I took these ones of the websites, I was merely trying to ecuate what the pictures look like with what on Earth I might expect from the seller for the respective price. That's allot of guessing in my book.
To make it worse (any need?), even expensive ones may have good color change (i.e. there is obvious difference between the two colors), but either one or both shades are muddy and unappealing. I've seen my share of shockingly ugly & 'valuable' stuff. At some point is hard to understand what are some people ready to pay for...
Chances are you'll see some crazy prices, but there are reasonable ones somewhere if you dig deep enough.
I would be very glad to see this discussion go ahead - there can never be too many Alexandrite stories.
fatafelice
Brilliant_Rock
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- Jul 26, 2004
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- 1,757
This site has some color change...but I can''t really offer opinions on the quality. I don''t know much about Alexandrite.
fatafelice
Brilliant_Rock
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- Jul 26, 2004
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What kind of size or price are you looking for? What kinds of shades/colors do you prefer?
CherryPicked has some, but most are already sold (I wish they removed things more quickly!) and aren''t listed as color change stones.
I noticed this one at AJS the other day and thought it was beautiful:
http://www.ajsgems.com/ALX/ALX-00066.htm
CherryPicked has some, but most are already sold (I wish they removed things more quickly!) and aren''t listed as color change stones.
I noticed this one at AJS the other day and thought it was beautiful:
http://www.ajsgems.com/ALX/ALX-00066.htm
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- Aug 29, 2003
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Speaking of timely reminder!
No wonder they would not put up 'color change' pictures - they are very difficult and terribly unreliable. For the sort of items on that list, I can understand why it would be very bad to give the impression pictures are realistic.
An innocent trial to taking pictures of alexandrite tends to mix the two colors (no idea why) and that is something you just don't get in person. Trying to put in the picture what you see is close to nightmarish. Well, at least that is where my vague experience ends. I should be so lucky to have such problems every day!
Here's one picture of nice alex that didn't even try to pic up the colors:
From this to the striking change in the pictures at Multicolor... there's some distance.
Rhapsody
Shiny_Rock
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- Sep 23, 2005
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I bought a small alexandrite from multicolour.com (cant remember exact weight but its around a quarter carat) that was 200 bucks shipped. I dont know enough to comment on the degree of color change but the color is pretty in all lighting and the clarity is good which can be a problem with alexandrite. Its hard to tell how good the stones are from the pictures. I think I got pretty lucky with my stone.
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