Gem Scoop!

[voce]

I put in a request for the color-change garnet. Hopefully I'm the first...

 

[2Neesers]

I put in a request for the color-change garnet. Hopefully I'm the first...

How exciting! I haven’t seen one in person and will be interested in what you think of it. The color change looks excellent!

 

[voce]

I have never bought from Jeff before. I wanted to source a Mahenge spinel from him but the email form on his website wasn't working, and I missed his call back for a month. This time I replied back to the Gem Scoop email; hopefully this was an acceptable way to indicate interest. I haven't heard anything back, so I'm sitting back and waiting!

 

[natasha-cupcake]

I put in a request for the color-change garnet. Hopefully I'm the first...

Thank you! I was sorely tempted by that garnet and I really should NOT be buying anything right now.

 

[voce]

Thank you! I was sorely tempted by that garnet and I really should NOT be buying anything right now.

to be honest, I should not either, but I'm a self-diagnosed dopamine-brained person with poorer than average impulse control.

 

[deorwine]

I put in a request for the color-change garnet. Hopefully I'm the first...

I hope you get it and I would love to know how it looks in person! I understand color-change garnets often look dark more than 1/2 ct but that one doesn't look dark at all!

 

[lovedogs]

Oooo I'm excited to see that one! It looks really similar to an Alex so I expect it's awesome.

 

[elle_71125]

For anyone not getting the Gem Scoop emails:

2.95ct Steely blue tourmaline


2.54 Mali Garnet


2.56 Lavender Spinel


1.16 Color change garnet (this one is stunning!)



1.41ct Orangy-Yellow sapphire


4.78ct Mint Grossular Garnet

 

[lovedogs]

Can someone please buy this one??? Love the color change!!

 

[voce]

So, the natural daytime color's near black, with blue, purple red sparkles. I was disappointed. But the nighttime color has got my heart racing and in love . Should I keep the gem if I only love it for part of the day?

Leaning towards keeping it since good color changes are hard to come by. How should I set this? Five stone ring? Halo? Halo and sidestones?

 

[2Neesers]

It’s too bad that it’s so dark during the day @voce . The color change is beautiful!

 

[T L]

I don’t know if it’s worth keeping a stone that has a color change to black. I guess it depends on the price.

So, the natural daytime color's near black, with blue, purple red sparkles. I was disappointed. But the nighttime color has got my heart racing and in love . Should I keep the gem if I only love it for part of the day?

Leaning towards keeping it since good color changes are hard to come by. How should I set this? Five stone ring? Halo? Halo and sidestones?

&

 

[Rfisher]

So, the natural daytime color's near black, with blue, purple red sparkles. I was disappointed. But the nighttime color has got my heart racing and in love . Should I keep the gem if I only love it for part of the day?

Leaning towards keeping it since good color changes are hard to come by. How should I set this? Five stone ring? Halo? Halo and sidestones?

Is the near black photo not pictured? Or is the camera not picking up what you see in real life?
If you love the nighttime look- I guess it wouldn’t be to unheard of to have a ‘night out’ ring!

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

I can't see black either @voce

Out of curiosity could you try and take a pic for us? The one you posted looks so lovely and purple

 

[voce]

Is the near black photo not pictured? Or is the camera not picking up what you see in real life?
If you love the nighttime look- I guess it wouldn’t be to unheard of to have a ‘night out’ ring!

You're right, I did not take a picture of the gem when it looked near black in California noon sunlight.

I can't see black either @voce
You're right, I did not take a picture of the stone while it looked near black in California noon sunlight.

Out of curiosity could you try and take a pic for us? The one you posted looks so lovely and purple

Drats, I was planning to take a daytime pic at work, but forgot to bring it today. I'll have to do so Saturday.

 

[voce]

Indirect mixed light.

 

[T L]

@voce , are u still debating it or keeping it?

 

[voce]

@voce , are u still debating it or keeping it?

Yes. I'm waffling. It was around $750. I can't get excited over it in direct sunlight, but it's beautiful in artificial lighting. I'm curious to compare it to real alexandrite from Yvonne. Garnets just don't do well in sunlight no matter what, unless they're top color orange or green,and a lighter color. I wonder what other garnet lovers make of it. @TheGarnetGirl what do you think?

 

[icy_jade]

Is this something you can wear mostly at night or where you are mostly in artificial lighting (aka office dweller like me)? If yes, the color is quite beautiful. If not, then maybe not?

Or maybe incorporate into a design with multiple stones and the others can make up for the lack of color maybe?

 

[deorwine]

I was afraid this would be the case. I saw once that Yvonne said in one of her listings that color-change garnets larger than about a half carat tend very frequently to be extremely dark. I have one that's 4.5mm (I think that's about a half carat, but not sure) that is a nice color in daylight -- a darker shade of green, more of a forest green than a bright green, but not black either. I think in indirect lighting it might look a little on the dark side. I don't have it with me right now but on Tuesday I will be able to check.

ETA: That green-blue pic you took earlier -- what kind of lighting was that in?

ETA2: Have you had much experience with color-change stones before? (They do tend to be extremely... moody.)

 

[T L]

My personal feeling is that if you’re paying a premium for a color change stone, the daylight color way shouldn’t be black or near black. I’ve returned stones that had unattractive color shifts, so I definitely could not tolerate that in a color change stone. I’ve seen color change garnets in person, and while I’m sure there are some that look good in all sorts of lighting, overall I find them too dark and unattractive. That $750 could be used for something you love better.

Just my two cents...

 

[voce]

I was afraid this would be the case. I saw once that Yvonne said in one of her listings that color-change garnets larger than about a half carat tend very frequently to be extremely dark. I have one that's 4.5mm (I think that's about a half carat, but not sure) that is a nice color in daylight -- a darker shade of green, more of a forest green than a bright green, but not black either. I think in indirect lighting it might look a little on the dark side. I don't have it with me right now but on Tuesday I will be able to check.

ETA: That green-blue pic you took earlier -- what kind of lighting was that in?

ETA2: Have you had much experience with color-change stones before? (They do tend to be extremely... moody.)

I've had color shifting stones before, and small color change garnets in an eternity ring I bought from @leslie1956. The earlier pictures where it looked nice were both in artificial lighting, and indoors at night. Incandescent bulbs in bedroom = purple and fluorescent lights in kitchen = green.

I think from the personal note that Jeff wrote me, he loves this stone. It is very nice at night. Do lapidaries just look at stuff in artificial lighting? I mean, all the lapidaries I've bought from seem to photograph their stones in studio lighting only or primarily.

It could be the UV in sunlight that makes the stone go dark. Maybe in other geographic locations it looks better in natural sunlight. I noticed that Finewater Gem's garnet that I bought and returned looked considerably better in Gary's hand shots than in mine.

I'm working in an office with natural light coming in from windows. Every room has enough sunlight that the garnet is utterly unimpressive by day. Really, am I the only one with this problem with garnets? Any kind of red or purple garnet, and some orange garnets, have this problem, which is why I am extremely picky with all garnets.

/Sigh I just think this stone's color change is rare and it's a unicorn, even though I don't care for it at all during the day. I don't know if another color change stone (in a non-melee size) is in my future.

I did totally want a black diamond once upon a time when the first Sex and the City movie came out. Should I just think of the black as yet a third color change?

 

[voce]

while I’m sure there are some that look good in all sorts of lighting

I am very, very much doubting this. Can anyone find me a 1 ct+ color change garnet that looks good in the sun? I've never seen one photographed in the sun that doesn't get unattractively dark. Maybe not to the extent it's as dark as mine, but until I see it I don't have faith one exists.

 

[T L]

I am very, very much doubting this. Can anyone find me a 1 ct+ color change garnet that looks good in the sun? I've never seen one photographed in the sun that doesn't get unattractively dark. Maybe not to the extent it's as dark as mine, but until I see it I don't have faith one exists.

I’ve never seen one either but I hate saying never, because I honestly don’t know.

 

[voce]

For what it's worth, I sent an email to Jeff about returning the stone. The straw that broke the camel's back is that in LED lighting at night at my parents' place, it looked black again. I think LED lighting is the way of the future, and it's just another place I go regularly where I can't enjoy the beautiful colour change, so maybe the gem just doesn't suit my lifestyle, which is a little heartbreaking.

 

[T L]

I feel your pain on garnets. I had a Barry Bridgestock Malaya garnet in a gorgeous supernova oval. It sparkled to the moon!! The artificial light color was a gorgeous pink orange. I sold it because it browned out during the day. I just couldn’t love it as much as I wanted to even though its other features (cut, luster, brilliance, evening color), were so amazing.

I can handle a little grey, but browning and blacking out drive me bonkers. I also sold a Jeff White indicolite for blacking out in the sun. It was sold three more times, so I’m sure I wasn’t the only one unimpressed! He loved that stone too.

 

[voce]

@T L I think you're luckier than me in some ways, because I see so much gray in a lot of gems like lavender spinels and teal colored stones, which other people either don't see, or it doesn't drive them crazy nearly as much. I see extinction in icy jade's tsav and a lot of other tsavs that are significant sizes, so even in green garnets it really depends. I think buying smaller melee gems helps. Many multi colored melee instead of one big colored stone also helps, because it's so much easier to spot flaws in a big stone, than look for flaws in many tiny ones.

Also--I don't have the budget to be able to get huge honkers for stones. Out of my stones I love, most are paraiba tourmaline, corundum or spinels, which also drives up the cost of my hobby quite considerably. I'm also weird in that I want every ring to be an heirloom and go for natural gems in as untreated a condition as I can find them.

 

[icy_jade]

@T L I think you're luckier than me in some ways, because I see so much gray in a lot of gems like lavender spinels and teal colored stones, which other people either don't see, or it doesn't drive them crazy nearly as much. I see extinction in icy jade's tsav and a lot of other tsavs that are significant sizes, so even in green garnets it really depends. I think buying smaller melee gems helps. Many multi colored melee instead of one big colored stone also helps, because it's so much easier to spot flaws in a big stone, than look for flaws in many tiny ones.

Oh I know what you mean about the extinction but irl some tsav have a glow that cannot be captured in pics (at least not in mine). The extinction in many tsavs I saw online also put me off buying them but then I buy most of my gems in person and it’s definitely easier to assess the gems in real life.

Same re: colors - I often see grey in my skin when I take pics/hand shots which I definitely don’t see irl so I won’t be surprised if the grey that you see is just due to color unbalanced pics, and maybe that’s why people don’t seem to mind the grey or drive them crazy.

I also think that where you stay makes a huge difference. I get bright intense sunshine nearly all year round. No dreary winters in Singapore so my gems looks good here. I’ve heard from folks in the trade that different regions have quite different color/tone preferences and I can’t help but think that apart from traditional preferences, the quality of natural lighting plays a huge part. Back to the tsav for example, I don’t think vivid green will look as good in somewhere that’s mostly overcast. But in brilliant sunlight... mmm I see such a beautiful green irl.

 

[T L]

@voce i see gray in in almost every cool gem as well, but I guess it doesn’t bother me as much as brown. I absolutely detest brown, which is what I see in so many red, pink and orange stones, it drives me crazy. I guess saturation is subjective and we’re only willing to put up with so much. I do dislike gray however if the stone is too dark, much like your color change garnet.

 

[voce]

@icy_jade you're right, it could be unbalanced colours on camera. I do love how your tsav looks in brilliant sunlight, but in other less than ideal lighting I don't love how the picture looks even though I know that it's a beautiful stone with glow that can't be captured on camera.

@T L I think part of the reason I usually prefer strongly saturated pads is because the percentage of brown I see is relatively higher in a pastel pad, compared to a more saturated color. I also don't love most pads enough to pay that price premium, same with most pinks. Hence why I can love pad colored spinels more so than sapphires (no price premium to pay yet).