Flavor of the minute

[justginger]

Here we go again.



From Bruce Bridges, via Jason Brim. A 2.11 carat rectangular Loliondo, 8 x 6ish mm. I told Jason, who passed along to Bruce, that I wanted a Fanta label spess. Bruce responded with this gem, which according to him is pure mandarin in person, very clean, absolutely top quality, and he would put next to any of the old Namibian material. It is fairly expensive, but it is suggested that I will not be able to find a better spess in this size range.

What do you guys think? I must admit that it is very appealing. I can imagine it flanked by a couple of radiants...

 

[justginger]

And strangely, the photo once posted on here looks different than it does in my photo viewer on the same monitor! The photo once posted here seems to lack any real orange, and looks brownish - on my photo viewing program it definitely has Fanta orange running all through the middle of it, with only the bright N/E/S/W areas turning yellow in the flash, and NO brown at all.

 

[T L]

Here we go again.



From Bruce Bridges, via Jason Brim. A 2.11 carat rectangular Loliondo, 8 x 6ish mm. I told Jason, who passed along to Bruce, that I wanted a Fanta label spess. Bruce responded with this gem, which according to him is pure mandarin in person, very clean, absolutely top quality, and he would put next to any of the old Namibian material. It is fairly expensive, but it is suggested that I will not be able to find a better spess in this size range.

What do you guys think? I must admit that it is very appealing. I can imagine it flanked by a couple of radiants...

I think Bruce needs to get a new camera, or something is happening to his photos in the upload process here on PS. My monitor is calibrated to show more vivid saturation too, and this is not as it was described to you, based on the photo.

 

[T L]

And strangely, the photo once posted on here looks different than it does in my photo viewer on the same monitor! The photo once posted here seems to lack any real orange, and looks brownish - on my photo viewing program it definitely has Fanta orange running all through the middle of it, with only the bright N/E/S/W areas turning yellow in the flash, and NO brown at all.

Weird, maybe you can tell him that, and try to figure out what is going on with his photos.

I will say this, if you never ever saw a truly orange spessartite in person, it's harder to judge the quality IRL. For example, I just got a beautiful spessartite, that looks pretty orange to me, but then I put it next to my pear, and then I could see the yellow in it. I still love this stone though and am planning on setting it one of these days.

 

[justginger]

We saw this happening on the recent tsavorite thread as well - the photos all showed a strange, unpleasant olive shade but Bruce's descriptions were completely different. Was it Chrono who said she was familiar with his odd images? Maybe she'll weigh in.

At this price point, I'll be hit with 10% GST even if I return the stone, plus international shipping and insurance, in the case it matches the photo and not the words. I might need Bruce to put that thing on his hand in some sunlight!

 

[justginger]

TL, perhaps the only solution is to send all acquisitions to you first, with your pear serving as the official yardstick, by which all spesses (for me) are judged! You can carry out photo shoots to determine which prospect comes closest to your beauty.

 

[T L]

We saw this happening on the recent tsavorite thread as well - the photos all showed a strange, unpleasant olive shade but Bruce's descriptions were completely different. Was it Chrono who said she was familiar with his odd images? Maybe she'll weigh in.

At this price point, I'll be hit with 10% GST even if I return the stone, plus international shipping and insurance, in the case it matches the photo and not the words. I might need Bruce to put that thing on his hand in some sunlight!

Sunlight and fluorescent light. I love the cutting on it, although square corners like that do need extra protection (squared off prongs).

 

[T L]

TL, perhaps the only solution is to send all acquisitions to you first, with your pear serving as the official yardstick, by which all spesses (for me) are judged! You can carry out photo shoots to determine which prospect comes closest to your beauty.

I think you just made a bunch of people on this site barf, but thank you for the kind words.

 

[chrono]

I'm guessing it might be both PS and the camera (and lighting) that might not be up to par in the colour accuracy department. I would suggest a hand shot of the stone in both diffused sunlight and indoor lighting. His description sounds great but the photograph does not reflect that. Given the fact that you have to pay import taxes, regardless of whether you keep the stone or not, puts a damper on shipping the stone for your review without serious consideration first.

 

[justginger]

Yes, Jason is having the stone sent to him for additional photography, so I just have to keep being patient in the meantime.

 

[TristanC]

Justginger - seriously stop it.

Why are you spending money that should be used on more FCDs? Huh? Tell me why?

 

[beau-wy]

FWIW, I have never been able to photograph a pure orange spess without it showing yellow in the jpg. They are also the second-worst in my experience for looking horrible in photos compared to real life. If it has a brown modifier, though, it shows in the pics.

 

[justginger]

Tristan, I can ALWAYS justify buying garnets because they're my birthstone (convenient that they come in so many different colors). But don't worry, I'm still spending money on FCDs - just upgraded my 13 point, somewhat patchy green to the 14 point more evenly saturated green, listed yesterday.

I told my coworkers and they gave me the eye. Why bother, one asked. Blasphemy, I responded.

 

[minousbijoux]

Of course I'm holding my breath waiting for you to get the spess, but in the meantime, I wanted to remark on the fact that I'm so impressed with you hard core FCD followers that you're checking the sites daily! You deserve to find real treasures and I hope you do.

 

[goldfingerrrrr]

If you paid more than $100 for it you were ripped off.
I currently have an IF-VVS certified Fanta Orange Spessartite
that is over 5.8 carats and can't even get a bid of $300 for
it eBay.

Furthermore, without certification there is no way to PROVE
if the stone was heated or treated.

Making matters worse are the cheap $10-$25 certifiers who
will declare anything natural with tons of disclaimer
remarks.

With a stone like this, if you are buying it for fun or for show,
it can be worth the money if you can get it for $100 or less.

If you are thinking of buying it for an investment, you would
do better buying 100 rolls of toilet paper at Costco than to
buy this.

 

[goldfingerrrrr]

THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT TO GET WHEN YOU BUY STONES!!!

I have PROOF my spessartite is natural, unheated, and untreated.

What do you have?

If it's a verbal promise or a written opinion of a person other than a gemologist,
you are looking to be taken advantage of as another sucker.

 

[chrono]

This thread is a year old and the decision was made long ago. In addition, spessartite is generally untreated so getting a lab memo for proof of treatment is unnecessary. VVS or flawless clarity is also over-rated. Eye clean is the standard for coloured gemstones.

 

[ChrisA222]

Well, not for nothing, but the cert shows "deep orange" and "fanta" is NOT deep orange...

 

[FrekeChild]

lolz.

Why are all of these old threads getting bumped?

 

[chrono]

Cuz people don't bother to check if the thread is current or as old as my grandparents.

 

[FrekeChild]

Cuz people don't bother to check if the thread is current or as old as my grandparents.

Tee hee!!!