Help Me Find A Red Stone: A Red Spinel or A Ruby!

[T L]

If something is going to be pure vivid red, and not very extinct, without any pink, brown, or orange (what people are calling "stop light red"), it is going to be very very costlly, no matter what it is. Red is the most valuable color in the gem kingdom, and prices have gone up significantly in recent years on red gems, in particular spinels. At least that is the trend I have noticed. With each half carat in size, the price will also go up exponentially. I cannot emphasize enough how expensive the color of pure red is. That's why many of us will get a stone with a little pink or orange in it as it does keep the price down a bit. I don't care for brown in gems, as that is a desaturating modifier.

 

[chrono]

I agree with LD’s post; I see hints of pink in the pictures of your red spinel as well. I also agree that a ruby is best if you want it red Red RED, plus a ruby will hold its colour much better under different lighting conditions, plus it’s a lot easier to find a fine ruby than a fine red spinel. That said, even a 3 carat heated fine ruby will cost at least $30K and upwards.

 

[Harriet]

Deb,

I'm sorry to hear the bad news.

Are you a purist about treatment? If so, I'd suggest a spinel over a ruby. Also, because spinels are less dense than rubies, a spinel will look bigger, assuming the same carat weight.

Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as a stoplight red spinel. They are hard to find though. Even with your healthy budget, expect a stone of around 2.5 ct, assuming top quality of course.

Try contacting Richard M. He was instrumental in my search.
Hugs,
K

 

[AGBF]

Deb,

I'm sorry to hear the bad news.

Are you a purist about treatment? If so, I'd suggest a spinel over a ruby. Also, because spinels are less dense than rubies, a spinel will look bigger, assuming the same carat weight.

Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as a stoplight red spinel. They are hard to find though. Even with your healthy budget, expect a stone of around 2.5 ct, assuming top quality of course.

Try contacting Richard M. He was instrumental in my search.
Hugs,
K

Long time, no see, old friend!!! And thank you for the kind words. Once upon a time, I had fantasies of owning a Burmese ruby-untreated-with the silk on. That is, most assuredly, not what I thought that I could get with my tiny (relative to what I am looking for) budget! I also would like a 3 carat diamond solitaire that is of a similar caliber of the solitaire I have now, but I gave up on that dream long ago, too! (I admire pictures of yours, instead!)

I do not care if I get a red spinel or a ruby; I just thought that a ruby (even heat treated) of the caliber I wanted would be out of my price range!

Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[movie zombie]

ah, even Harriet has emerged in this thread! it is indeed like very old times.

driving home from santa cruz this afternoon i was admiring the red tail lights of the car in front of me and how when the driver breaked the red got even brighter.........

MoZo

 

[AGBF]

ah, even Harriet has emerged in this thread! it is indeed like very old times.

What's the correct line from the song? Is it, "What a long, strange trip it's been"? I feel as if I went through the 1960's with you gals...Chrono, Sharon, Harriet, MZ...all the women from The Gold Thread. Where are glitterata and widget and the others?

Deb


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[movie zombie]

believe that is the correct lyric/line from the grateful dead song Truckn'.........

eta: " Lately it occurs to me: What a long, strange trip it's been. "

i had to look it up!

MoZo

 

[Harriet]

Long time, no see, old friend!!! And thank you for the kind words. Once upon a time, I had fantasies of owning a Burmese ruby-untreated-with the silk on. That is, most assuredly, not what I thought that I could get with my tiny (relative to what I am looking for) budget! I also would like a 3 carat diamond solitaire that is of a similar caliber of the solitaire I have now, but I gave up on that dream long ago, too! (I admire pictures of yours, instead!)

I do not care if I get a red spinel or a ruby; I just thought that a ruby (even heat treated) of the caliber I wanted would be out of my price range!

Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

We do go back a while, don't we?

I too did some digging around. Even with your healthy (and dreamy) budget, you'll be looking at a 1.5ct or so heated ruby of top quality (wouldn't expect anything less from a lady of such refinement as you). A 1.5ct oval ruby will be around 7.5mm in length. Hope this helps.

 

[Harriet]

ah, even Harriet has emerged in this thread! it is indeed like very old times.

driving home from santa cruz this afternoon i was admiring the red tail lights of the car in front of me and how when the driver breaked the red got even brighter.........

MoZo

But of course! It's Deb's thread.

Glitterata's well. Let me see if I can get her to make an appearance for old times' sake.

 

[glitterata]

Hello, old friends! Wow, I've been away so long that it took a few tries to remember my password. I had to stop visiting PS because it was too addictive--I wasn't getting any work done. But I missed you ladies like crazy.

And now I'm going to have to come back to see what glorious red stone you end up with, Deb.

Sorry to hear about your divorce. Even when it's for the best, it can still be sad. I hope this is the beginning of a wonderful new phase in your life.

xox
Glitterata

 

[AGBF]

Hello, old friends! Wow, I've been away so long that it took a few tries to remember my password. I had to stop visiting PS because it was too addictive--I wasn't getting any work done. But I missed you ladies like crazy.

And now I'm going to have to come back to see what glorious red stone you end up with, Deb.

Sorry to hear about your divorce. Even when it's for the best, it can still be sad. I hope this is the beginning of a wonderful new phase in your life.

xox
Glitterata

It's fabulous to see you again, glitterata! Since you've been gone, no one has made any earrings out of Victorian bootlace pegs or any other interesting objects. In other words, without you, it has been dull, dull, dull! I have missed you. Harriet is a miracle worker to have been able to retrieve you from the depths. Please don't go away again!

Big hugs,
Deb


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[movie zombie]

hey, Glitterata! this really is a reunion!

MoZo

ps Harriet, you rule!

eta: just sent Widget an e-mail to an address i had for her....don't know if its good any more or if she reads that account or if she'll respond. Harriet, any juice you can send in that direction as well?

 

[Michael_E]

If you just want to do some comparative window shopping these three places have a lot of nice pictures of different rubies:
Pala Gems, Stuller and AfricaGems. You can at least see differences between pinkish red, orangy red and purplish red. I think that I prefer the purplish reds the most as they often seem to be cleaner than the other colors.

 

[glitterata]

It's fabulous to see you again, glitterata! Since you've been gone, no one has made any earrings out of Victorian bootlace pegs or any other interesting objects. In other words, without you, it has been dull, dull, dull! I have missed you. Harriet is a miracle worker to have been able to retrieve you from the depths. Please don't go away again!

Big hugs,
Deb


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

Ha! No bootlace pegs, but I do have a pair of earrings made of tiger teeth that I don't think I've shown you...

I feel myself being sucked into the jeweled whirlpool...

 

[AGBF]

If you just want to do some comparative window shopping these three places have a lot of nice pictures of different rubies:
Pala Gems, Stuller and AfricaGems. You can at least see differences between pinkish red, orangy red and purplish red. I think that I prefer the purplish reds the most as they often seem to be cleaner than the other colors.

I had been to AfricaGems in the past two days. I took your advice and visited Pala. This was the best that I saw there. Did anyone else see anything better? What do you think of this one?

http://www.palagems.com/php/db_search.php?action=gemdetail&inventory_number=2294

Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[AGBF]

It's fabulous to see you again, glitterata! Since you've been gone, no one has made any earrings out of Victorian bootlace pegs or any other interesting objects. In other words, without you, it has been dull, dull, dull! I have missed you. Harriet is a miracle worker to have been able to retrieve you from the depths. Please don't go away again!

Big hugs,
Deb

Ha! No bootlace pegs, but I do have a pair of earrings made of tiger teeth that I don't think I've shown you...

I feel myself being sucked into the jeweled whirlpool...

I knew it! I knew there would be something new and interesting! Time for show and tell, glitterata!

Deb


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[Lovinggems]

You can try Swalagemtraders too, this one is sold, it has very little pink on the screen to me. These are African Spinels. In Chrono's avatar, the stone came from the same area and vendor.

http://www.swalagemtraders.com/search-gems/detail.php?pid=853

also sold but gorgeous colour.
http://www.swalagemtraders.com/search-gems/detail.php?pid=856

edit: revisited Chrono's stone, it's got more pink in real life photos, probably the stones I posted were too, so not what you're looking for.

I also like the Palagem spinel you posted, certainly talk to your favourite vendor and get a pricing on the stone, or visit their storefront.

 

[chrono]

Deb,
The Pala red spinel could be worth a look. It’s not stop light red (a little orangish and not of vivid saturation) on my monitor but that could just be the photography. I’m getting lots of updates from vendors, reminding me that they’ll have a booth at the upcoming Tucson show so that’s certainly a great opportunity to shop for one there.

LG,
I'm not a good photographer and use an old and inexpensive old point and shoot so my pictures aren't the best. I am very thankful for Whiteflash's pictures which are more representative of my Mahenge than I could ever attempt.

 

[Lovinggems]

Deb,
The Pala red spinel could be worth a look. It’s not stop light red (a little orangish and not of vivid saturation) on my monitor but that could just be the photography. I’m getting lots of updates from vendors, reminding me that they’ll have a booth at the upcoming Tucson show so that’s certainly a great opportunity to shop for one there.

LG,
I'm not a good photographer and use an old and inexpensive old point and shoot so my pictures aren't the best. I am very thankful for Whiteflash's pictures which are more representative of my Mahenge than I could ever attempt.

The WF photos were wonderful, thanks for prompting me to search for those, I still enjoyed looking at your photos since you don't post photos often and really they aren't bad. Unfortunately the two I posted weren't exact representatives of their colours in real life (from Swala's description), I wouldn't mind one of those myself.

 

[AGBF]

I wanted to repost the photos of the red spinels originally posted by Mogok (Vincent Pardieu) on this page so that they could be compared to the Mahenge spinels. I like the color of the red spinel on top. The one below is too orange for my taste. I acknowledge that the Mahenge spinels look like traffic lights, but there is something about them-their almost neon look-that I can't describe. Is it orange? Can someone tell me the difference between Vincent's upper red spinel and the lower spinel posted by Lovinggems? I mean, I read that the latter was pink, but that's not it. All the Mahenge spinels seem flaming to me, glowing, as I said above, almost neon. I prefer the calmer red of the upper picture Vincent took. I think.

Deb


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[movie zombie]

personally, i'll take the 2nd vincent stone.....love the belly on that beast! and i think i deserve it: today is my 6 year anni on pricescope!

all kidding aside, vincent was a fan of "native" cut and also inclusions. i remember him writing that this wasn't always the case: that he wanted that really good crystal but the more experience he got in the field the more he appreciated the less "perfect" stones. he also said that color ruled for him now and that inclusions gave personality and the ability to id a stone as well id the stone if it had left his hands.

MoZo

 

[AGBF]

personally, i'll take the 2nd vincent stone.....love the belly on that beast!

Of course you would! It's orange! And happy anniversary! We have been very lucky to have had you here for six years. You are one of the wisest people on Pricescope and interesting and nice to boot!

Hugs,
Deb


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[chrono]

Deb,

My 2 cents are based only on what I see on my monitor. There will be differences when viewed on other monitors with different calibration, and I also don’t know how accurate Vincent’s pictures are compared to the spinels in question IRL.

It is true that like all other red spinels, even Mahenge spinels will range in quality so some will be more orangish, pinkish, purplish or a straight red. Mahenge spinels are well known and in demand for the reasons you stated – fine quality Mahenges are indeed “hot”, “flaming” and glow due to the extreme saturation. Because most are a lighter shade of red, most will appear pink to the eye except those of very large sizes (with a few rare exceptions).

The upper red spinel picture VP posted in darker in tone (observed by the body colour in the profile view because the large window throws the colour off) and while the saturation is quite good, it is not something I’d consider vivid. The lower spinel is definitely orangish and dare I say, even brownish.

Below are two spinels from Pala (which I know aren’t ovals and if still in stock, are probably too small for you). To me, these look to be more saturated (even though one of them looks a bit orangish) than the two example spinels Vincent posted.

 

[AGBF]

Deb,

My 2 cents are based only on what I see on my monitor. There will be differences when viewed on other monitors with different calibration, and I also don’t know how accurate Vincent’s pictures are compared to the spinels in question IRL.

It is true that like all other red spinels, even Mahenge spinels will range in quality so some will be more orangish, pinkish, purplish or a straight red. Mahenge spinels are well known and in demand for the reasons you stated – fine quality Mahenges are indeed “hot”, “flaming” and glow due to the extreme saturation. Because most are a lighter shade of red, most will appear pink to the eye except those of very large sizes (with a few rare exceptions).

The upper red spinel picture VP posted in darker in tone (observed by the body colour in the profile view because the large window throws the colour off) and while the saturation is quite good, it is not something I’d consider vivid. The lower spinel is definitely orangish and dare I say, even brownish.

Below are two spinels from Pala (which I know aren’t ovals and if still in stock, are probably too small for you). To me, these look to be more saturated (even though one of them looks a bit orangish) than the two example spinels Vincent posted.

I like the red color of the upper spinel you posted, Chrono, but I would be very happy with a spinel that looked like the stone Vincent posted (the upper one). I just wouldn't know how to ask a jeweler for such a stone!

Deb


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Oooo Chrono, I love that second cushion! I don't even want to know how much it costs, lol

 

[AGBF]

I was emailing a PS friend when the topic of Nomad came up. I’d totally forgotten about them but they are a great source of a great variety of coloured gemstones in very large sizes and amazing saturation. I had contacted them in the past and while they do not sell to the public online, they will do so to those who visit their booth at gemshows. This may be a good option for you because Nomad has many high quality Burmese red spinels. What you are looking for probably will not be found via the regular venues.

Chrono-I wanted to let you know that I followed up with Nomad and they were great.

http://www.gemsbynomads.com/

They invited me to come to Tuscon to see their booth, but I explained that I couldn't go. They said that they are friends with Richard Wise and he will be stopping by their booth. If I choose to work with him (it was I who had raised the possibility), that would be fine with them.

My problem now is how I would describe to Richard Wise-or to anyone whom I asked to go looking for a stone (like Richard Martin, whom Harriet suggested and with whom I have worked before)-exactly what I want. I seem to be having some differences in what I like from what is wildly popular on Pricescope, and I don't know if that means that I like lower quality stones!!! I really need your help in pinpointing what I seem to be going for.

I don't like inclusions, but the large window in one of Vincent's spinels didn't bother me. Because you couldn't see through it. The color was "saturated" all through the stone. One didn't see any clear or white area through the window. I would have called that stone vividly saturated, but Chrono said it is not. Obviously, I don't know enough. I don't really know what to ask an expert to look for in order to get what I want. But I thought if I kept describing what I want here that you could figure it out and help me either to find it or to put it into words!

Deb/AGBF


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[canuk-gal]

hey, Glitterata! this really is a reunion!

MoZo

ps Harriet, you rule!

eta: just sent Widget an e-mail to an address i had for her....don't know if its good any more or if she reads that account or if she'll respond. Harriet, any juice you can send in that direction as well?

I'll say!

 

[colormyworld]

A little to large and over budget but this looks to be the type of thing dreams are made of.


http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?/details/single/spinel/sn8238aa/&1244716636

 

[AGBF]

A little to large and over budget but this looks to be the type of thing dreams are made of.


http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?/details/single/spinel/sn8238aa/&1244716636

I could live with 8mm x 10mm, but coming up with $68,000 wouldn't be so easy! Unless I took my husband to the cleaners with my divorce. Oh. I forgot. We aren't rich. I guess that won't work. Darn!!!

Deb


Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

 

[Harriet]

Yay, MoZo!

Now Colormyworld is on board too. It's a reunion! I'll try my best to get hold of Widget.

With due respect to Chrono, Mahenge spinels are prized for their pink-Red ultra-saturated colour. The Burmese (and perhaps Vietnamese) material is known for being a richer, purer, red. They sometimes have orange modifiers, making them look like glowing embers. Deb, I'll get you pics.

As for photographs, I'd trust Vincent's the most. He's a researcher and has no incentive to take glamour shots.

I'll be on the prowl in Tucson, also for red spinels. I'd be happy to let guru Rick (or whomever you choose to work with) if I come across anything worthy of you.