Bixbite!

[RockHugger]

I snagged them from redbarrels. 2 bixbites .07cttw. Both are VS clarity, and completely eye clean. They are small, but I like em! They sparkle like crazy!

 

[rparker1998]

**drool** this is one on my list of wants that I do not have yet......

very pretty - and who says size matters anyway


Who is this redbarrels you speak of?

 

[RockHugger]

I would rather have a VS small emerald/bixbite then a med-large included one!
Here is redbarrels ebay store.
http://myworld.ebay.com/redbarrels/

 

[rparker1998]

You are such a bad bad bad influence......


This will be added to my ebay vendors list

Thanks

 

[Kismet]

Is that your pic or the vendor pic? Neither of them really looks red to me. Left one looks kind of peachy orange and the right looks lavender.

 

[chrono]

Maybe it’s me, but neither looks red on my monitor. The one on the left looks peachy and the one on the right looks light grayish pink. All bixbites I’ve seen have the most amazing red colour.

ETA,
Kismet, you and I posted the same thing!

 

[RockHugger]

Thats my picture. They are more red, but my microscope desaturates the color at that magnification (60x). One does have a pinkish color, and an red/orange color but not so much as the scope shows. I cant do anything to adjust the colors on my scope .

 

[chrono]

The stones do not look magnified at all to me. In fact, I can barely make out the facet details, much less look at the internal details of the stones. Do you mind taking regular pictures of it? Also, I haven’t seen round cut bixbites.

 

[RockHugger]

Chrono- THey are .035ct each, LOL. So they are magnified by 60x. I can try and take a picture of them with my camera. Gimme a min.

 

[LD]

I hate to say this but if they're Bixbite I'll eat my hat OR the photos are rubbish and not representational of the true colour.

Bixbites are generally a raspberry rose colour, highly included (very rarely clean or clear) and almost always under 1ct unless VERY VERY VERY included OR have been part of somebody's collection that is being sold on. Anybody who owns Bixbite very rarely lets it go unless it's tiny. I know that mine won't be going anywhere!

Even Pezzottaite (which is often sold as Bixbite) looks more like Bixbite than the ones you've shown. Sorry. I don't mean to rain on your parade but Bixbite is one of those gems that invariably turns out to be something else on Ebay.

Here's a good selection for you to see and compare to:
http://www.multicolour.com/gallery/index.html

 

[LD]

The stones do not look magnified at all to me. In fact, I can barely make out the facet details, much less look at the internal details of the stones. Do you mind taking regular pictures of it? Also, I haven’t seen round cut bixbites.

Chrono - round Bixbites can be found. They generally come in all shapes and sizes. Although I use the term "round" loosely as they're normally so poorly cut to preserve weight that "round" isn't how they end up. That, for me, would be another clue that RH's stones aren't Bixbites.

 

[RockHugger]

Ok...here they are taken with my camera under my bedroom light (its thunderstorming, or I would take natural light pics).

By the way it took 10 pictures to get one that wasnt blurry. These are small!

 

[T L]

I took a photo of a bixbite ring at the Grainger Hall of gems. It's in one of my threads on the exhibit, but it was a medium red with strong saturation. No pink. Think cherry jolly rancher color. Since they are so tiny, they may be lacking in saturation, but it's very very rare to find clean ones, even in tiny sizes. I have a bixbite, but it's still in it's crystal form, and is opaque. however, it is red.

 

[RockHugger]

My stones are very very tiny. .035cts. Plus, I purchased them from a trusted vendor (redbarrels) who I bought my hauyne from, and I know many people on here have purchased stones from. Also, the fact they RI as bixbite.

 

[LD]

Please compare yours to the link I put in my post above. You'll see the difference.

 

[RockHugger]

The link you posted, they all look hot pink? Mine are more red then that.

Plus, again, they RI as bixbite. They dont RI as Pezzottaite.

 

[LD]

I very rarely ever say that in my opinion something is categorically not what somebody has been sold because there are so many variables. However, in this instance (and please bear in mind that I've collected Bixbite for many years) I am very certain that yours are not what they are purported to be. I don't know what they are and wouldn't even hazzard a guess but the cut, clarity and faceting of both almost 100% rules them out as being Bixbite (and also Pezzottaite - which I wasn't suggesting they were as they don't look like that either).

Bixbite and Pezzottaite are normally a raspberry pink/red in colour. Depending on the clarity the colour can run quite a wide spectrum of pink ranging from pale pink to bubblegum and fuscia pink although these are the exception not the rule.

The clarity of yours is, I'm afraid, the clincher for me. I've never ever seen a cut that is so precise and a clarity that is VS.

 

[RockHugger]

Then why do they RI as bixbite (1.57) ? Double refractive (.006). Its red/pink, with those readings. What else would they be?

 

[chrono]

LD,
You are absolutely correct about the cutting; all the bixbite I’ve seen aren’t cut well because of the numerous inclusions, with very few exceptions like bixbite from big name collectors and famous museums. Even those aren’t super clean and that well cut.

 

[RockHugger]

Why is it, whenever I bring up test results its ignored and people continue to say its not what it is. First was the nambian tourm, and now these.

 

[LD]

Quite simply test results that can be done at home are NOT definitive.

You've got a number of collectors on here who have all said the same thing but you're choosing to ignore basic facts. Bixbites are not cut like that and do not have that clarity. Please look at the link I provided that has 20 pages of Bixbite and point to one that even look likes yours.

At the end of the day, you've said you like them. That's all that counts.

I'm not going to post in this thread again because quite clearly you're seeing it as being argumentative when I was only trying to help.

 

[Indylady]

Lovely stones! Do you have any plans for them, or will you just keep them for your collection? I've seen some beautiful bixbite in person. It is truly a remarkable gemstone.

 

[RockHugger]

LOL Im arguing. Give me a pink/red stone that has those measurments, and is doubly refractive and I will believe you. Its easy.

 

[LD]

Morganite

 

[m76steve]

here is the real bixbite in rough form-the color is deeper & inclusions can b seen but this is the real stuff-my 2 cnts.....

 

[RockHugger]

Ok. true. I just tested the specific gravity of the stones, and they are 2.675 and 2.66.

 

[T L]

RH,
I hope you didn't pay a lot for them, but knowing how you like to shop around for good buys, you probably didn't.

Bixbite is virtually impossible to find in a clean gem, and if you do, it's in a museum somewhere. They get a lot of the same stress fractures as their cousin, emerald, but I think even more so. I would suggest perhaps finding a nice mineral specimen if you want one for your rock collection. I think Steve Perry gems carries some small gem quality bixbite, but I haven't checked lately.

 

[jstarfireb]

Whether or not they're actually bixbite, they're pretty and you like them. Provided you didn't pay an arm and a leg, that's what matters! Although it sounds like the seller is pretty reputable, so if you get them tested and they come up as something else, you could always try for a return.

 

[Burberrygirl]

Whether or not they're actually bixbite, they're pretty and you like them. Provided you didn't pay an arm and a leg, that's what matters! Although it sounds like the seller is pretty reputable, so if you get them tested and they come up as something else, you could always try for a return.

Yep, I totally agree. Whatever they are I like them, very pretty.

 

[Barrett]

Those are 100% genuine red beryl beryl/bixbites!
She got those from matt Mabus aka. Red barrels a personla friend of mine and one of the largest and most well known red beryl dealers in the country....has maybe the largest..or did have of red beryl save for maybe 2 or 3 people..all of the stones he sells are cut from red beryl rough that he has..has been selling red beryl/bixnite cut stones on ebay for as long as I have been going on ebay..every week you can buy some cut stones or specimens..he was collecting red beryl back in the 70's-80's before anyone really knew about red beryl in the gem and mineral world..heck he used to put up for auction cut stones and specimens that would fetch $1000-$5000 at any gem show..and they would sell on ebay for a fraction of the cost..last I talked to him about 2 months ago he was going to quit doing that since he was practically giving them away..I got my cluster floater red beryl crystal from him..although 99% of his material is violets claim he sold me his one thomas range cluster floater which maybe the finest red beryl specimen to come from that location..he has an endless supply...when he was buying up and dealing with the owners back in the 70's and 80's red beryl was not expensive..now it's through the roof..think about it..I have been on ebay for like 2 1/2 years..he was sellinbg on ebay before that and every single week..every week he has red beryl cut stones, crystals/specimens for sale under auction..same days..always saturday and sunday afternoon..like clock work..hasn't missed a week in those 2 1/2 years I have been on..tell me thats not a ton of red beryl..and thats only scratching the surface of what he still has