CC garnet (gray blue/purple) - getting one

[katharath]

I love cc garnets. I own 4 pieces with them right now, but the largest piece still only has 4.1 mm round garnets in it, so I've been looking for a nice 6 mm round. I've been looking for a couple of months but have been having a very hard time finding what I wanted within the set parameters ( those being size, cut, color, clarity, and PRICE, lol).

I prefer the blue green that shift to purple. They can be pretty dark gems which I don't always like, and of the gems I've found online, SO many are oval shapes, which knock them out right away. Price is my next consideration. The remainders are usually too small or too large, and then what's left usually have too many inclusions. If you want to see some bad looking cc garnets, check ebay. Yikes!

But, I think I've settled on one. I'm having it shipped to me this Friday, and I'll know for sure if I'm keeping it when I see it, but I'm hoping this will work. What I've ended up compromising on a bit is color. It's not the usual blue to blue green color that I prefer, this one is a much darker gray blue (it goes to purple with a strong color change). The clarity is VVS, which is better or as good as any of the others I've seen in my price range, and the cut is what I prefer. Also since I'm getting this one from my jeweler friend, I'm getting a far better price than any comparable gem I've seen, and that does matter to me - enough that I'm willing to sacrifice a bit on the desired color. If I had thousands of dollars to spend I'd end up with a nicer gem, but since I don't, I'm thinking this one will fit what I can do plus what I can be happy with.

Since I already have a few items with the color I most prefer, it doesn't really bother me to be going with something a bit different - having a nicer clarity and cut, etc, is more important to me than color on this. I think that's partly bc I know that cc garnets are a little color crazy. The ones I own shift all the time, even with just slightly different amount of sunlight. So the color is a weird factor anyway.

It's 6.3 mm round, 1.12 cts. Pics, showing the color range (I'm only interested in the round although an oval is also shown).

I just thought I would share, since I'm excited

 

[chrono]

I hope the cc garnet works out for you. Should you be the market for more, MC carries a ton. Not always the best cut but sometimes a good deal can be found.
http://www.multicolour.com/gallery/?/gallery/color_change_garnet

 

[katharath]

Beautiful stones. The color is fabulous!

Thank you! I'll post some hand shots when it arrives, hopefully early next week.

 

[katharath]

I hope the cc garnet works out for you. Should you be the market for more, MC carries a ton. Not always the best cut but sometimes a good deal can be found.
http://www.multicolour.com/gallery/?/gallery/color_change_garnet

Thanks for the link. I did look at MC, along with about 8-10 other sites (the other sites were mostly those on the recommended list that I found here on PS a few weeks ago). But I am paying less for this gem than any other comparable gems that I found. That's bc I'm getting it from the jeweler I buy most frequently from, I've built a solid relationship with her by buying a ton, lol. So she will always discount for me. I do think MC would be a good source for the future though, the site has a ton of gems! The next gem I'm looking to buy after this one is a demantoid, I think.

 

[katharath]

I heard from my jeweler that my cc garnet has been set, and I'm hoping to see some pics today!! This is a neat but strange gem, I saw it in person before deciding to buy it (my jeweler shipped it to me). Can't wait to see how it turned out...

 

[derbygal]

Can't wait to see this beauty set!

 

[katharath]

Thanks derbygal, it's going to be pretty casual though . I wanted something fun to reflect how fun I think this gem is! I almost always choose yellow gold (or rose gold), and I ended up going with yellow on this one as well. It's bezel set, I think it was supposed to be the same bezel (airline style) that I have on my mint garnet. I wanted them to be similar in that regard bc I'm planning to wear the cc garnet on my right hand. (My ering is my mint garnet, so it's nice to have a vaguely similar look to this ring too). But for the band I used this cute polka dot style. So I can't wait to see how it turned out - I hope it looks good and not weird, lol.

I will post pics if I get some, I'm still waiting on them.

 

[katharath]

Well, I have two pics from my jeweler - I'm kind of reluctant to post them as they don't reflect anything near her ability to take good pics. She just snapped these really quickly as a favor for me, at the end of a long day for her. The point was to give me an idea of how the setting turned out, so they're not intended to focus on the gem (which I've held in my hand and seen).

I'll have the ring in hand by Wed afternoon if all goes well, it's supposed to be shipping express mail tomorrow morning, so I'll post better pics when I have them. But, here is the setting, simple and cute as I'd hoped for, I am very happy with how it turned out! Notice that even with the blurry pic, the cc garnet looks to be yet another shade of blue (if you compare it to the pics earlier in this thread, they all look different, lol!!) Crazy cc garnets, I love them, always showing a little different personality (i.e. color).

It is bezeled with an airline bezel, on a 2 mm by 2mm wide 14 k yellow gold "polka dot" band. The bezel is set slightly into the band so it didn't stick up too high, I can give more details on that later if anyone's curious about why we did it this way.

 

[chrono]

I am curious to find out how the bezel affects the colour change. I bezeled my cc garnet and found that it didn't look as nice as it was loose, so I ended up removing the stone even though the setting was very pretty. The airline is very small and may not make a difference.

 

[chel180]

very pretty kath and i really like the polka dot band!

 

[katharath]

I am curious to find out how the bezel affects the colour change. I bezeled my cc garnet and found that it didn't look as nice as it was loose, so I ended up removing the stone even though the setting was very pretty. The airline is very small and may not make a difference.

Chrono, this is my main concern, too. I tried sort of wrapping the gem in foil and in cloth to try to get an idea, before I had it set. It seemed to look very good. My jeweler made a comment about it yesterday, something along the lines of "the color still looks very good, even with the bezel". So I'm hoping it will be fine. In my (somewhat limited) experience with cc garnets, you always need to see them in person before you really know anything. I remember pretty well how it looked before it was set, I spent a lot of time viewing it in different lighting conditions, and I took some pics too. So I think I'll be able to see any differences pretty well.

I do have a few other smaller cc garnets, the next size down is 4 mm. They are bezeled without an airline, and they look fabulous. They are also from the same source, same mine, etc, as the larger new one. So I'm very hopeful that I will like it. If not I can do as you did and remove it, but I won't do it right away, I want to wear it a bit.

And chel180, thank you!

 

[katharath]

Oh, I meant to add, about the airline bezel - I'm not expecting much out of it, I actually just choose those bc I like the look. It's a nice somewhat thicker sturdier bezel with more presence than some of the thinner ones. So I am not counting on it to actually do much to help the gem, don't worry

 

[katharath]

More pics! It's shown in different lighting condition too.