First colored stone purchase, help with blue tourmaline identification?

[polarisfire]

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie here whose favorite color is blue green ( lucky me, Paraibas are so out of reach!)
I just splurged on this ring off of ebay and I'm curious what y'all think of the center stone. It's supposed to be a tourmaline and I'm thinking it might be a very light indicolite; it's almost paraiba blue. It's pretty included and even I can tell there's a big tilt window, but I really like trillion cuts and the color is nice. I was thinking of sending it to a lab but I'm not sure which, whether it's worth it, or how to go about it, etc.

The ring style is too heavy for my taste and I'd ideally like to take the stones out of the setting and then wait to have it reset... but I'm not opposed to it as is.

What do you guys think, yay or meh?
First 2 pics are indoors at night, second 2 are natural light in the shade.
Thanks in advance for your advice and thoughts!

 

[lovedogs]

Are you sure this is real vs synthetic? Often if the price is too good to be true (like on eBay), you can be sure you aren't getting a deal. If it were worth more, it would have sold for more (99% of the time)

 

[polarisfire]

I am not sure, being a newbie, but the price was not super duper cheap (~$600) and the seller had at least a 1000 feedback at 100% selling estate jewelry. Would I need to get it tested by a lab to see if it's synthetic or not? I guess I assumed it wouldn't be so included if it was synthetic but now I'm not sure...

Thanks

 

[polarisfire]

Bump

Any more thoughts or feelings out there?

 

[IcePhoenix]

The colour and setting are nice in my opinion, maybe you could find a lapidary or a jeweler with a presidium tester for gemstone so you can at least rule out simulants (like dyed glass or quartz). For real vs synthetic I'm afraid a lab cert could be the only way to go

 

[lovedogs]

I am not sure, being a newbie, but the price was not super duper cheap (~$600) and the seller had at least a 1000 feedback at 100% selling estate jewelry. Would I need to get it tested by a lab to see if it's synthetic or not? I guess I assumed it wouldn't be so included if it was synthetic but now I'm not sure...

Thanks

If it were actually as glowy as the pictures suggest then it would be much more than $600. My guess (unfortunately) is that either the pics are very misleading, or that it's not a natural Stone.

 

[lovedogs]

Do you have a link to the item?

 

[polarisfire]

Here’s the link! It is fairly well colored in real life but not the POW POW that I’ve seen for real Paraiba in photos (I’ve never seen a real confirmed paraiba in real life). I took those photos above myself with my iPhone, so they’re definitely not photoshopped or edited, my phone might bring up the saturation a bit more than my eye.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Modern-2-6...674221?txnId=1892128761006#vi__app-cvip-panel

Thanks very much for your responses so far I’m usually an anxious one so I’ve been turning it over and over in my head whether I should mail it to a major lab or try to find someone local to look at it... I do live in the LA metro so there’s gotta be a lot of resources and shipping to GIA is at least not far. From what I’ve read AGL is better for colored stones though?

 

[lovedogs]

Here’s the link! It is fairly well colored in real life but not the POW POW that I’ve seen for real Paraiba in photos (I’ve never seen a real confirmed paraiba in real life). I took those photos above myself with my iPhone, so they’re definitely not photoshopped or edited, my phone might bring up the saturation a bit more than my eye.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Modern-2-6...674221?txnId=1892128761006#vi__app-cvip-panel

Thanks very much for your responses so far I’m usually an anxious one so I’ve been turning it over and over in my head whether I should mail it to a major lab or try to find someone local to look at it... I do live in the LA metro so there’s gotta be a lot of resources and shipping to GIA is at least not far. From what I’ve read AGL is better for colored stones though?

gah, I totally misunderstood! Sorry! I thought you were pasting pics from the ebay listing and I was really suspicious. But knowing that they are your pics is 100% different! Yes, I definitely see differences between the vendor photo and yours, but yours still look very nice.

My guess is that because it's heavily included and has a window it was sold at a discount. It's also not "true" paraiba (of course), but likely from Africa (many from Mozambique have that color). There are definitely some great stones from there, so I think you did well!

Sorry for being negative at first--I was worried that you might be seeing pics that weren't true to life. I feel relieved knowing that wasn't the case. You could send to GIA (I think they can still assess whether a set stone is natural). But it might cost 100-200, which is a big chunk of the total price. Honestly, I might just enjoy it!

 

[polarisfire]

Ahh, thank you!!! This also makes me feel way better heh. Yeah I figured at best it was a tourmaline from Africa (or maybe Afghanistan?) and at worst not even a tourmaline. It looks like it would be like 85 + shipping and such for a GIA cert without origin (and doing origin would definitely be overkill), so like you said should probably just enjoy it. I'll probably go see if I can have somebody verify it's a tourmaline at least when I go get it resized.

Whew it's nice to have a positive opinion from someone experienced! Thanks again

 

[lovedogs]

Ahh, thank you!!! This also makes me feel way better heh. Yeah I figured at best it was a tourmaline from Africa (or maybe Afghanistan?) and at worst not even a tourmaline. It looks like it would be like 85 + shipping and such for a GIA cert without origin (and doing origin would definitely be overkill), so like you said should probably just enjoy it. I'll probably go see if I can have somebody verify it's a tourmaline at least when I go get it resized.

Whew it's nice to have a positive opinion from someone experienced! Thanks again

Yeah, you can have someone at least look at it under a scope and make sure they don't see any major undisclosed issues (like a crack or something). But if they don't then I'd just enjoy just don't tell them you bought from eBay. They'll say crazy/scary stuff to try to get you to only buy from them. Say it was a gift from family and you just want to make sure the stone isn't damaged or something.

 

[Bron357]

I’m the eBay guru (1,500 purchases and still going).
I’ve checked out most of the sellers listings. The seller appears to be correctly identifying gemstones and disclosing treatments (he has a few rubies for sale). His prices are very competitive and I think I’ve also bought from this vendor.
I am confident that it isn’t a synthetic gem. It has natural inclusions as do other items the seller has. If you bought it for the colour, it’s a good buy. If you were specifically wanting a Paraiba tourmaline, which it may be, you really need to be buying with a lab report because it’s the presence of copper that entitles a gem to be labeled “Paraiba”.
One thing to think about is that is you don’t like that setting, you are going to be needing a custom made setting. A custom made setting will easily cost more than the whole ring you just bought!
Personally, I love the setting and I would keep it as is.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie here whose favorite color is blue green ( lucky me, Paraibas are so out of reach!)
I just splurged on this ring off of ebay and I'm curious what y'all think of the center stone. It's supposed to be a tourmaline and I'm thinking it might be a very light indicolite; it's almost paraiba blue. It's pretty included and even I can tell there's a big tilt window, but I really like trillion cuts and the color is nice. I was thinking of sending it to a lab but I'm not sure which, whether it's worth it, or how to go about it, etc.

The ring style is too heavy for my taste and I'd ideally like to take the stones out of the setting and then wait to have it reset... but I'm not opposed to it as is.

What do you guys think, yay or meh?
First 2 pics are indoors at night, second 2 are natural light in the shade.
Thanks in advance for your advice and thoughts!

its really really beautiful
i love love love it
wounderful colour
i adore the setting
i think (very uneducated opinion) that you did well
if i worked beside you, we would be getting zero work done today

 

[Yelena]

Hi Polarisfire, I actually really like the setting. The bezel and channel are very practical and won't catch easily on clothes, babies etc. The bezel will do a good job of protecting the Tourmaline. I agree with the earlier posts here - I think it is likely that this is a natural stone as it is highly included. The colour is beautiful, so the inclusions don't matter so much. I think you did well for the price. Just enjoy it as it is. That colour is just beautiful

 

[arkieb1]

Here is what it can be;
A copper bearing tourmaline, yes not all of them glow many do not. An African tourmaline not copper bearing. A copper bearing tourmaline that has been heavily treated, an apatite same colour as paraiba just softer, or a synthetic.

Vendors sometimes get it right, but miss something, it could be a heavily treated paraiba, an untreated one or just a regular tourmaline - without a lab report no one is going to know.

 

[icy_jade]

Does it glow under unshaded sunlight? I think you did good for the price

 

[chrono]

Could be natural but chances are high it has been treated (oiled or resin filled) to lessen the appearance of inclusions or to add more stability.

 

[polarisfire]

Oh my, thanks everyone for all the encouraging feedback!
I will definitely take lovedog's advice on how to talk to the jeweler about its provenance. Yeah the setting is very practical indeed and it's definitely growing on me a lot. I think the problem before when I was taking the pics was that the other rings I had on were too delicate and didn't match. Uh oh this just intensifies my hankering for more rings lolol.

icy_jade, yes I think it glows under unshaded sunlight when you avoid the window angles lol.