Help me ID this small green stone?

[Circe]

Hi, guys - I know, you get this a lot, and the answer is almost always GO TO A GEMOLOGIST. But since I won't have time to do that for a while, I was hoping y'all might maybe help me narrow things down ....

I know most of my gem collection backwards and forwards (acquired it over the years with my dad, who was a colored stone dealer before he retired), but with some of the smaller stones we just sort of hand-waved them and thought of them as accent stones. This little guy is 4mm, and a complete puzzle to me - I just got anew setting that needs an inhabitant, and this seems to fit the bill, but I'd like to know what it is I might be wearing!

Really bright green color with almost no modifying shade - a hint of blue, the way good emeralds sometimes are, but no tell-tale inclusions. Kind of an odd cut - very very very deep pavilion, like somebody was trying to conserve weight. Rather a good cut. Thoughts on what it might be? Photos below taken last night by electric fluorescent light ....

 

[Circe]

And this in sunlight sitting loose in the setting ....

 

[VapidLapid]

It looks like a tourmaline cut on the c axis so it faces up one color but shows a different one from the side. very pretty too.

Did you finish your comb carving?

 

[innerkitten]

Tourmaline?

 

[vickygigi]

My guess is also tourm.

 

[Circe]

It looks like a tourmaline cut on the c axis so it faces up one color but shows a different one from the side. very pretty too.

Did you finish your comb carving?

Cool, it sounds like there's a consensus - thanks, guys!

As for the comb ... almost! I got a couple of great books on shell carving fromthe 50s, and actually tried going about it without using any power tools (home bench, not enough ventilation for me to feel 100% comfortable with the amount of dust the Dremel would raise). I made the tines too thick, though, so while it works, it's not comfortable. Once I thin them out, I'm planning to post pics!

 

[bluebirrrd]

I have a pretty pair of blue green tourms that look just the same and are also bright green at other times.

 

[FrekeChild]

Is that a VC set? Looks like indicolite/tourm to me. Love it in the setting!

 

[vickygigi]

Is that a VC set? Looks like indicolite/tourm to me. Love it in the setting!

I agree! That setting is stunning!!!

 

[Circe]

Is that a VC set? Looks like indicolite/tourm to me. Love it in the setting!

Yes! I just got it, and I'm champing at the bit to set it. I had a related thread in RT, and Gemfever mentioned thinking about sapphire, too, though, and suddenly my brain is all like, "BLUE! I love BLUE! I've never had a ring that's bright BLUE!" and I'm a tad distracted.

I have been lusting over people's Luc Yen spinels for a while now. Since I'm trying to have this set without breaking the bank ... even a 4mm one of those that's got that virulently cobalt electric-blue thing going on is going to cost big bucks, right?

ETA: finally found the one that had stuck in my head ... like this amazingly beautiful one;

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-new-luk-yen-blue-spinel.186527/

 

[Circe]

Is that a VC set? Looks like indicolite/tourm to me. Love it in the setting!

I agree! That setting is stunning!!!

Thank you! I've been coveting one of these since LoveInBloom first started the "Show Me Your Van Craeynest" thread, so I'm feeling very happy! Now I just have to find it the perfect companion ....

 

[Circe]

Okay, so although no cobalt spinels materialized in the vault, I did find a slightly sleepy sapphire that should also fit the setting. Of the two, which would you guys pick? Comparison shots of both in sunlight and in shadowed interior light.

 

[iluvshinythings]

I think the tourmaline is gorgeous in that setting.

 

[peacechick]

They both look nice in the setting, but the tourmaline sparkles more. With that antique setting, it glows like an emerald

 

[Circe]

Thank you iluvshinythings and peacechick! The Green Giant is still the frontrunner ... but I looked through my collection and found a few additional contenders, some of whom are neck and neck (and some of whom are included because I'm nervous I'm going to go to the shop tomorrow and the bench will be like, "Pfft, you thought WHAT was going to fit?" - bezels I'm good with, prongs I'm not nearly as proficient). I cannot for the life of me figure out a way to add a poll to an existing post, so I'm going to start a new thread, I think, but for my completist self I'll include the pertinent info here:

*From the top, left-to-right:
- Emerald-cut alexandrite, about 4.7x3.2mm
- round brilliant sapphire, about 4.1mm, and cabochon sapphire, about 4mm even
- round green tourmaline, about 3.7mm, and emerald-cut emerald, about 5.5x3mm
- oval ruby cabochon, 4.2x3.7, round brilliant ruby, 3.6mm, and oval ruby cabochon, 4.6x3.7mm

The rounds all fit the prongs, though at varying depths, but in this setting I honestly won't mind having a 3mm stone in the slightest, so long as it's the *right* 3mm stone. The oval fits with a little adjustment: the two elongated emerald cuts would require some work, but I'm curious to hear what they have to say about them, because quality-wise, the one at the top is a rather good alexandrite and the one on the right hand side in the third row is an excellent emerald, and if it wouldn't be too much work to make them fit, I'd be massively tempted. Rubies are all, according to the guy who sold them to me, unheated and untreated, and as he, a) cut them, and, b) was basically the closest thing I had to an uncle growing up, I believe him.

Soooooo ... what do you guys say? Which would you choose? Poll will be up in a new thread shortly, and I'll be back to link it here.

 

[Circe]

Okay, poll now available HERE: [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/poll-till-10-am-which-stone-for-a-van-craeynest-solitaire.189965/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/poll-till-10-am-which-stone-for-a-van-craeynest-solitaire.189965/[/URL]

Thanks in advance, ladies - if I were smart, I would have gotten my ducks in a row from the beginning, but this has all been a rather delightful whirlwind! Hope y'all don't mind too much.