Help finding a pale silvery gray spinel?

[FightGravity]

I love frekechild's gorgeous light silvery grey spinel and am looking for something similar. Pale grey, no purple or pink modifier, blue or blue-green modifier would be ok but prefer a pure pale grey.

~1.5-2ct, round or cushion cut, looking for something very well cut (would consider buying something and having it recut), flexible budget. I plan to set it in platinum as a solitaire.

I can't seem to find any except on eBay, and I am a little wary. Should I be?

Thanks in advance for any leads!

 

[Acinom]

Try to contact Jeff Davies. He regularly has grey spinels.

 

[Marlow]

PURE gray is difficult - many have a hint of purple or blue or greenishblue. Would be much easier if you accept a tiny hint of color..

And you still find cheap grey spinel - it is a special color and has not many lover...

Acinoms advice is very good - but you can try some ebay stores - maybe a cheap larger stone with a good shape for recutting.

My grey spinels cost around 10-20 $ for 0,80-1,5 ct stones...

Use "watcheditem" and search for grey spinel...- you see all of offered stones ( choose "price")

The first one -- a bit to dark but a great gem!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PRECISION-CUT-1-80CT-GUNMETAL-GREY-SPINEL-VIDEO-DESCRIPTION-/371315613932?rmvSB=true&ul_ref=http%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F711-53200-19255-0%252F1%253Ftype%253D4%2526toolid%253D10014%2526campid%253D5336193084%2526customid%253Dsearch%2526mpre%253Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ebay.com%252Fitm%252FPRECISION-CUT-1-80CT-GUNMETAL-GREY-SPINEL-VIDEO-DESCRIPTION-%252F371315613932%2526srcrot%253D711-53200-19255-0%2526rvr_id%253D825408900061

 

[FightGravity]

Thanks for the advice!

I am ok with blue or green-blue modifiers, just not purple or pink.

How do you determine whether a stone would be a good candidate for a recut?

 

[dk168]

Jeff Davies currently has a small 5mm precision cut Silver Spinel listed on eBay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371316324529?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

It's worth contacting him to see if he has anything bigger, as I bought a pair of 6.1mm silver spinal pair from him before.

His "grey" spinels are quite dark in person, however, the "silver" pair I have is lovely.

One of my silver spinel from the pair next to my G/H MRB stud:


My collection of grey spinels from JD - I am collecting them for a multi-stone ring:


DK

 

[FightGravity]

DK - thanks! The silver is lovely. I know color perception is subjective - but is it purplish at all, to your eye?

 

[Marlow]

Thanks for the advice!

I am ok with blue or green-blue modifiers, just not purple or pink.

How do you determine whether a stone would be a good candidate for a recut?

A good shape and Minimum 5 mm better 6 mm. for a 1,5ct final result.

 

[LoversKites]

How do you determine whether a stone would be a good candidate for a recut?

It is a case-by-case thing but you need a sufficient amount of depth to allow for a recut. If a stone has a large window it is almost never a good candidate for a recut unless you're ok with a much smaller stone because there simply isn't enough material to work with.

Below is my favourite photo of a grey spinel

 

[SparkliesLuver]

I swear Peter recently had one that was gorgeous. I'd reach out and see if he still has any material.

http://www.torraca.net/

 

[ElleK]

How do you determine whether a stone would be a good candidate for a recut?

It is a case-by-case thing but you need a sufficient amount of depth to allow for a recut. If a stone has a large window it is almost never a good candidate for a recut unless you're ok with a much smaller stone because there simply isn't enough material to work with.

Below is my favourite photo of a grey spinel

Both shallow and excessively deep stones can window. You will need decent depth if you wish to recut, I was advised for a 6.5-7mm stone, to look for over 5mm, preferably 6mm deep.

Gray spinel prices are on the rise due to increasing popularity for significantly sized stones. The lighter they are, the more expensive. Do you have a budget in mind?

 

[katharath]

Check with JuliaB on etsy, she's on the preferred vendor list. I just bought a gem from her last week and we were discussing her inventory - she said she has tons of spinels and sapphires and other gems that aren't listed, and she specifically mentioned grey spinels.

Her store name is juliabjewelry. Good luck!! She has a lot of well cut and precision cut gems too

 

[LoversKites]

How do you determine whether a stone would be a good candidate for a recut?

It is a case-by-case thing but you need a sufficient amount of depth to allow for a recut. If a stone has a large window it is almost never a good candidate for a recut unless you're ok with a much smaller stone because there simply isn't enough material to work with.

Below is my favourite photo of a grey spinel

Both shallow and excessively deep stones can window. You will need decent depth if you wish to recut, I was advised for a 6.5-7mm stone, to look for over 5mm, preferably 6mm deep.

Gray spinel prices are on the rise due to increasing popularity for significantly sized stones. The lighter they are, the more expensive. Do you have a budget in mind?

Good point I often forget, thanks for adding that.

 

[katharath]

Check with JuliaB on etsy, she's on the preferred vendor list. I just bought a gem from her last week and we were discussing her inventory - she said she has tons of spinels and sapphires and other gems that aren't listed, and she specifically mentioned grey spinels.

Her store name is juliabjewelry. Good luck!! She has a lot of well cut and precision cut gems too

It just hit me after I wrote this - are you (the OP) referring to Freke's 3+ ct spinel that she bought in Nov 2013? Because that one actually came from JuliaB, lol... I remember the thread!

So if that's the one you like, then DEFINITELY contact her!! Even if it's not that one - I'd still contact her. I just got a gorgeous spinel from her literally last week, as I said - I'll be posting about it soon...but she definitely has grey spinels that aren't listed on her site, we just discussed this exact thing.

Funny...

Anyway here's a link to get etsy store, but you should just message her through there.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/JuliaBJewelry?ref=search_shop_redirect

 

[Marlow]

How do you determine whether a stone would be a good candidate for a recut?

It is a case-by-case thing but you need a sufficient amount of depth to allow for a recut. If a stone has a large window it is almost never a good candidate for a recut unless you're ok with a much smaller stone because there simply isn't enough material to work with.

Below is my favourite photo of a grey spinel

Not bad - you will buy it??? 2030-2035???

Just kidding - would be interesting how much this def. beautiful greyblue?? spinel will cost....

 

[LoversKites]

How do you determine whether a stone would be a good candidate for a recut?

It is a case-by-case thing but you need a sufficient amount of depth to allow for a recut. If a stone has a large window it is almost never a good candidate for a recut unless you're ok with a much smaller stone because there simply isn't enough material to work with.

Below is my favourite photo of a grey spinel

Not bad - you will buy it??? 2030-2035???

Just kidding - would be interesting how much this def. beautiful greyblue?? spinel will cost....

It'll probably sell by the time I'd save up if its not sold already anyway and yeah, I'm curious about the price too.

 

[FightGravity]

You guys are so helpful! Thanks for all the quick responses.

The one of freke's I love is the lightest silvery diamond cut one. The darker ones are gorgeous too but I worry they'd black out more.

The color of the 5mm Jeff Davies posted above is perfect - I'm just looking for something bigger. I contacted him and hopefully there's more rough to work with.

I would like something very sparkly, but would also prefer a cushion shape. I don't know if it's possible to have both? I'm not too concerned with budget - I think anything in the size I'm looking for should be well within reason - I'd love a grey diamond, but those are sadly definitely out of reach in the size I like.

 

[katharath]

Below is my favourite photo of a grey spinel

That spinel is amazing...OMG!

 

[shulaibaoma]

Good luck on your searching, wait to see what you are going to get.

 

[ElleK]

BTW, when I was in contact with a vendor about a year ago on larger medium-grays, I was looking at about $300-400/ct for 2-4ct range. And that wasn't at a retail establishment, but directly through a gem dealer.

 

[NKOTB]

I have three grey spinels that I've kept, one being the one that I am pretty sure you are referring to, of Freke's. It has the mildest shift of my three. The other two (one from Gemrite, one from Jeff Davies, where Freke's also came from) shift to either blue-green (I think my thread showed up first in the "related links" under your original post), or slight lavender. I have found it harder to find the lighter greys, and have (I think) annoyed Jeff in the past with my "on a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is black and 1 is colorless, what is the tone of this grey?". I have yet to see any for the prices Marlow mentioned.

I did get a chance to see this stone in person recently: http://www.torraca.net/projects/spin899/.. While there is a hint of lavender in the pics, I saw it more like the second picture, which to my eye was almost pure grey (might have been the lighting) - I thought it was really lovely, and very sparkly. It might be worth a peek, if Julia or Jeff don't come up with anything. Also, I've found that most of my spinels with blue usually shift to lavender/purple - the Gemrite is the only exception, so it might be hard to escape a slight hint of lavender completely, in all lighting, but I might be wrong.

 

[minousbijoux]

I have a few grey spinels including one from Jeff Davies. I was all set to sell it, as I've never done anything with it and have no plans for it, but when I started really looking and photographing it with various lighting situations and backgrounds, it was stunning! There is something about the way he cuts them that takes advantage of their color shifts and its dispersion. As a result, Jeff would absolutely be my first choice. In fact, if I were you, I would order 2 or 3 of slightly differing tones so that you can compare.

I would compare JuliaB's beautiful cutting style to more like that of the old fashioned diamond cuts - chunkier facets with broader flashes of sparkle, vs Jeff's more modern cutting style with constant, glitterier scintillation (if that makes sense) more consistent with a brilliant cut diamond.

 

[dk168]

DK - thanks! The silver is lovely. I know color perception is subjective - but is it purplish at all, to your eye?

I cannot see any purple, pure grey to me.

DK

 

[katharath]

I have three grey spinels that I've kept, one being the one that I am pretty sure you are referring to, of Freke's. It has the mildest shift of my three. The other two (one from Gemrite, one from Jeff Davies, where Freke's also came from) shift to either blue-green (I think my thread showed up first in the "related links" under your original post), or slight lavender. I have found it harder to find the lighter greys, and have (I think) annoyed Jeff in the past with my "on a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is black and 1 is colorless, what is the tone of this grey?". I have yet to see any for the prices Marlow mentioned.

I did get a chance to see this stone in person recently: http://www.torraca.net/projects/spin899/... While there is a hint of lavender in the pics, I saw it more like the second picture, which to my eye was almost pure grey (might have been the lighting) - I thought it was really lovely, and very sparkly. It might be worth a peek, if Julia or Jeff don't come up with anything. Also, I've found that most of my spinels with blue usually shift to lavender/purple - the Gemrite is the only exception, so it might be hard to escape a slight hint of lavender completely, in all lighting, but I might be wrong.

That PT spinel is so close to what I've been looking for personally - I just want slightly larger. If that gem were 2 carats+ I'd have probably already bought it! I'm still tempted...thanks for posting it!

 

[katharath]

I have a few grey spinels including one from Jeff Davies. I was all set to sell it, as I've never done anything with it and have no plans for it, but when I started really looking and photographing it with various lighting situations and backgrounds, it was stunning! There is something about the way he cuts them that takes advantage of their color shifts and its dispersion. As a result, Jeff would absolutely be my first choice. In fact, if I were you, I would order 2 or 3 of slightly differing tones so that you can compare.

I would compare JuliaB's beautiful cutting style to more like that of the old fashioned diamond cuts - chunkier facets with broader flashes of sparkle, vs Jeff's more modern cutting style with constant, glitterier scintillation (if that makes sense) more consistent with a brilliant cut diamond.

Minous - I totally agree with you on Jeff's cutting style (I've owned several spinels and garnets from Jeff). And you are also correct (IMO) about the style of many of the gems Julia offers. But I don't believe that Julia actually cuts gems, rather I think she sources them from various places - so you may see a mix of cutting styles. She told me that she has many - I think she actually said "hundreds" of gems, if I remember right - that aren't listed and that she's working on getting them up.

(The spinel I just got is Portuguese cut, which has always been a favorite of mine).

 

[ElleK]

Jeff Davies doesn't cut his stones either, btw.

 

[Marlow]

I have three grey spinels that I've kept, one being the one that I am pretty sure you are referring to, of Freke's. It has the mildest shift of my three. The other two (one from Gemrite, one from Jeff Davies, where Freke's also came from) shift to either blue-green (I think my thread showed up first in the "related links" under your original post), or slight lavender. I have found it harder to find the lighter greys, and have (I think) annoyed Jeff in the past with my "on a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is black and 1 is colorless, what is the tone of this grey?". I have yet to see any for the prices Marlow mentioned.

I did get a chance to see this stone in person recently: http://www.torraca.net/projects/spin899/.... While there is a hint of lavender in the pics, I saw it more like the second picture, which to my eye was almost pure grey (might have been the lighting) - I thought it was really lovely, and very sparkly. It might be worth a peek, if Julia or Jeff don't come up with anything. Also, I've found that most of my spinels with blue usually shift to lavender/purple - the Gemrite is the only exception, so it might be hard to escape a slight hint of lavender completely, in all lighting, but I might be wrong.

That PT spinel is so close to what I've been looking for personally - I just want slightly larger. If that gem were 2 carats+ I'd have probably already bought it! I'm still tempted...thanks for posting it!

Normally I would say this Spinel is a bit expensive......

But this stone is awesome -

 

[chrono]

If you know what you are doing, buying your own spinel as a preform and having it recut will be the most cost effective, which will be the price that Marlow alluded above. If not, then expect to pay more from cutters who are seeing a demand for such stones and making quite a good profit from it.

 

[T L]

How do you determine whether a stone would be a good candidate for a recut?

It is a case-by-case thing but you need a sufficient amount of depth to allow for a recut. If a stone has a large window it is almost never a good candidate for a recut unless you're ok with a much smaller stone because there simply isn't enough material to work with.

Below is my favourite photo of a grey spinel

That Yavorskky gem is a great substitute for a blue diamond. Diamonds that color are $$$$$$$$$.

 

[keemoog99]

jeff cuts some of his stones. i walked in on him and he was at the polishing wheel covered in polishing grit with a big magnifying lens mask head thing, faceting a stone. the other three girls were there polishing away too. so maybe he doesn't do all of them, but he does some of them. will put up the pictures of the stuff i bought in the next couple of days. pick up at the jewelry store tomorrow, catch a 20 hour plus ride to the states and then will photograph what i got from him.

 

[Marlow]

How do you determine whether a stone would be a good candidate for a recut?

It is a case-by-case thing but you need a sufficient amount of depth to allow for a recut. If a stone has a large window it is almost never a good candidate for a recut unless you're ok with a much smaller stone because there simply isn't enough material to work with.

Below is my favourite photo of a grey spinel

That Yavorskky gem is a great substitute for a blue diamond. Diamonds that color are $$$$$$$$$.

Yes!! Looks like a fine HGBV diamond ( hydrogen rich gray-blue-violet) !! So beautiful...