Have I found the right Alexandrite?

[Bradnish]

Hello,

After months of trawling through multicolour gems, Hatton Garden trade stalls and various auctions I think I may have found a gem to my liking but I would like everybody's 2 cents!

My filter is:
Round or Oval (close to round)
>5mm ideally closer to 6mm
Weak-Moderate colour change
Must hold a nice colour in natural light.

1.55 CT BRILLIANT STEP CUT NATURAL CHRYSOBERYL ALEXANDRITE

Alexandrite 7.42 x 6.24 x 3.77mm 1.55 cts Auction #1010141 Gem Rock Auctions

www.gemrockauctions.com

the second option that was a little out of my price range was:

Loose gemstones, rare colored stones, pearls and certified diamonds.

Buy loose gemstones and certified diamonds direct. Choose from over 10.000 real time gemstone inventory, including alexandrite, sapphire, ruby, tanzanite, tsavorite, spinel and tourmaline.

www.multicolour.com

Thank you for your advice and please be honest!

 

[chrono]

Alex 1: Gaping baydoor. Lovely around the edges, 2/3 dead otherwise. You will see your finger and/or metal setting underneath. Colour change looks nice but the other colour-way doesn't look purple in the video. It's sort of orangish? Stone 1 isn't accompanied by a lab report so you would need to have it verified yourself.

Alex 2: Colour not as nice as Alex 1 (at least by website photograph) but no windowing. Dark center could be caused by camera shadow but cannot confirm. Vendor 2 describes the colour more accurately than Vendor 1 (light yellow green to light orange pink). Stone 2 comes with GIA report.

 

[Bradnish]

Alex 1: Gaping baydoor. Lovely around the edges, 2/3 dead otherwise. You will see your finger and/or metal setting underneath. Colour change looks nice but the other colour-way doesn't look purple in the video. It's sort of orangish? Stone 1 isn't accompanied by a lab report so you would need to have it verified yourself.

Alex 2: Colour not as nice as Alex 1 (at least by website photograph) but no windowing. Dark center could be caused by camera shadow but cannot confirm. Vendor 2 describes the colour more accurately than Vendor 1 (light yellow green to light orange pink). Stone 2 comes with GIA report.

Thank you for your detailed response.
Alex 1 will be provided with a GIA report on deposit and is also going to work out ~1/2 the cost. The only concern I have is the window, I do like windowed gems but still not 100% sure if it’s going to fit in the ring style:

 

[Bron357]

Neither is “classic” Alexandrite colour change gems.
The two main aspects to consider are the colour in daylight and then colour under incandescent light AND the % of the gem that changes colour.
No 1 has the hugest window, that means you’ll see straight through it to your skin underneath. The day colour is lovely but the incandescent looks orange not purple/red and only about 50% change.
No 2 is better cut but again the colour change under incandescent is weak and not the whole gem.
That said, top colour Alexandrite can be $20,000 a carat plus especially in sizes over 1 carat.
All that said, buy what you love.
Here is my Alexandrite bracelet. These are wee gems about .35 carat each but they show what I consider “classic” Alexandrite colours and excellent % of colour change.

 

[voce]

Both gems are teal changing to orange, not teal changing to purple as in classic alexandrite. I would personally favor the round both because of ease to set and because the seller's description is much more accurate.

 

[Bonsai]

2 is better than 1 but I own a few alexandrite and as said neither is ideal color change and I wouldn’t buy either personally

 

[LilAlex]

#1 is just bad, imo. Unappealing color and weak color change -- neither pretty nor "cool." #2 is tiny and will be dark and underwhelming in the ring you show.

Friend has a "top-notch" 1-ct Hematita with Gubelin reporting strong color change. I have looked at many five-figure alex rings in person while browsing for other things. None are "killer" rings, almost no matter how much you spend.

For that money, you could create an actual beautiful ring with a sapphire, etc.