Color-changer trillions: Are those good deals?

[marionberry]

As stated in the title, I'd love to get some earrings made and I'm wondering which of these gemstones you might find worth the money. I like all the colours shown, am not especially looking for very saturated tones, and don't mind inclusions too much. I like fire.
(make sure to look at extra pics for colour shift)

1) 5mm Chrysoberyls from BestinGems, pair $300:
https://www.bestingems.com/12763-10...air-Approximately-086-Carat-prouctdetail.html

2) 5mm Garnet from Multicolor, single ~$120 (edtited: oops, there's just one):
http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?-117481715

3) 5mm Garnet from Gemalaya, pair ~$450:
https://www.etsystudio.com/listing/232780207/5mm-pair-color-change-garnet-bekily?ref=sr_gallery_10

X) haven't found anything else yet ... help appreciated of course

Thank you!!!

 

[Bluegemz]

The third pair is beautiful! Love how interesting they are. Very modern looking. I will keep my eyes out.

 

[marionberry]

Thank you Bluegemz! Have you heared from the Etsy seller Gemalaya?

 

[Bluegemz]

Thank you Bluegemz! Have you heared from the Etsy seller Gemalaya?

I just looked them up. I love the pairs which they have!

 

[chrono]

Please define what is a good deal to you.

1. Too included as to look translucent rather than transparent
2. Weak colour change
3. Photoshop highly suspect

 

[chatoyancy]

I like number 3 best by far. Chrono, how can you tell if something may have been photoshopped? I sometimes worry about photoshopping, but don't know how to detect it. What clued you in on the third photo?

 

[chrono]

It looks too good to be true for the price. And I also noted this:

QUOTE
Great care is taken to capture our items’ true color properties.
We DO NOT "photoshop" our stones!
We try to capture the most accurate color and clarity of all of our stones.

However, we do not have control over the brightness and color settings of individual home computer monitors. While we test the color accuracy of all of our images across multiple monitors, there is no uniform standard in brightness or color tone from one monitor to the next. Please keep in mind these limitations when viewing an item.
END QUOTE

With no background reference (note that all the background is cropped, removed and replaced with a stark white), I have no true reference as to the colour I will see in person for my region. CC Garnet from Bekily tends to be extremely dark, from my personal experience. With the disclosure I cut and pasted above, I highly suspect this pair to be very dark in person.

 

[chatoyancy]

Thank you Chrono! That is so helpful. It has confirmed my suspicions on an item from another vendor as well. I hope this helps OP choose color change garnets. I have only seen color change garnets once at gem show. They were darker. I think this is a gem type you have to see in person.

 

[marionberry]

Thank you for your input chrono! A good deal would at least be that the stones look more or less like in the pictures and really exhibit a good colour change.

 

[minousbijoux]

Honestly, I have yet to see Bekily color change stones that are not dark in tone, and sincerely doubt that you would ever be able to duplicate how they appear in the vendor's photo unless you had the perfect lighting set up with extremely bright light.

Also, keep in mind that while vendors represent the two color change extremes (and rightly so), they tend not to show the way the stones might appear the majority of the time in mixed lighting. My experience with color change stones is that while they can have dramatic color change, they often are in between - often seen as a mixing of the two colors with periodic flashes of each color - which can be attractive, or not so much. Just something to keep in mind.

It is fair to assume that all vendors show the stones to their best advantage. This often means in highly regulated and controlled studio lighting. Sometimes vendors go farther and manipulate backgrounds, contrast, and saturation (in other words, photoshop), but I'd like to think that the majority of our trusted vendors do not. What is always a good idea is to ask for photos on the back of a hand as it is much more difficult to manipulate (anyone seen a green or pink tinged hand?) and in different lighting situations. The worst they can do is refuse.

 

[marionberry]

Great advice, thank you!

 

[marionberry]

... What is always a good idea is to ask for photos on the back of a hand as it is much more difficult to manipulate (anyone seen a green or pink tinged hand?) and in different lighting situations. The worst they can do is refuse.

..

Gemalaya sent me some videos (here are more https://vimeo.com/user48536492) and the natural light one drives me away fro this pair. I would have liked a true tealish green for the "default-all-day-appearance more"

 

[chrono]

The video does not load for me.

 

[mochiko42]

I would suggest that you can try Yvonne Raley. She has a good supply of color change garnets at reasonable prices. I've bought CC garnet from her before and was very happy.

 

[marionberry]

I have not yet found my colour-change trillions. I have now transitioned to hunting for non-colour-change minty green trillions in a matched pair (4-5mm).
The colours I am looking for a minty blue-toned green, not too light and watery, not too neon emerald-green.
I saw colours like this in kornerupines, tourmalines, sapphires, beryls, merelani garnets, even fluorite would be fine: Size-matching should be okay but doesn't need to be perfect (will be earrings).
Exact colour-matching is not really important to me, I actually love the idea of having slightly mismatched, tonal variations of green.

Now, how do you think are my chances in finding stones like this with a budget of about $200?

Thanks everyone!

 

[marionberry]

These are the colours I love, may be slightly paler.