Looking for a lavender spinel

[demantoid]

I would like to find a lavender spinel with little to no grey in it. I have seen two in person and both looked lovely in bright light but were grey in normal to low light. I'm not picky about the shape, but want a really good cut. Any suggestions on where to search? I would also consider a sapphire in the same color.

 

[pregcurious]

You might want to check Swala Gem Traders. They used to have a few lavender spinels. You could also contact them and ask if they have something available that is not on their website. I've never bought from them, but you can do a search for them on the Pricescope Google search.

 

[minousbijoux]

For a while, Hemi at Gemcal had some pretty ones.

 

[chrono]

Alas, many of us are looking for the same spinel; a well saturated medium lavender with little to no gray. I haven't seen any lately although Swala used to have some 2 years ago. Sometimes the Gem Trader will have one or two, although most were a touch too light.

 

[minousbijoux]

Where oh where is TL, the lavender spinel whisperer, when we need her?!

 

[T L]

This is one of my favorite lavender spinels, and it's well cut, but unfortunately, it's really difficult to find a blue/violet/lavender family spinel without grey. Is this stone what you're looking for, because if so, you may have a lot of searching to do. The recommended vendor list at the top of this forum is a good place to start. I would show the vendors photos of what color you want because what is grey to you may not be grey to them and vice versa.

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-purple-spinel-and-diamond-ring-with-a-visit-from-my-oec-e-ring.64728/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-purple-spinel-and-diamond-ring-with-a-visit-from-my-oec-e-ring.64728/[/URL]

 

[demantoid]

Oh my goodness, that ring is gorgeous!! I really like that spinel, but I'm actually looking for one that is lighter in color. A pastel purple but it needs to have plenty of sparkle to make up for the lack of color. And I'd prefer bluish purple over reddish purple.

I'm finding it hard to judge stones on the internet because the same stone can appear to be a slightly different color in various photos. I've bookmarked a lot of vendors that I learned about from reading posts, but I will check out that list of vendors to see if I missed any.

 

[ForteKitty]

I got mine from Barry @ acstones.com about 2 years ago.

 

[ForteKitty]

I didn't see the part about the lighter pastel color. What size? I have a small round (maybe 5.7mm? I don't remember right now) from Barry that hasn't been set. I bought it before I got the one in the ring and decided to set that one instead.

 

[chrono]

The problem of going with a pastel purple is that you are going to get the gray with it. Tone is tied to saturation; at some point where it gets too light, the saturation will drop dramatically as well.

 

[minousbijoux]

Personally, my favorite lavender spinels are yours, TL. The one you posted is lovely, but I would say is more purple than lavender.

 

[T L]

Personally, my favorite lavender spinels are yours, TL. The one you posted is lovely, but I would say is more purple than lavender.

Thanks Minous,
I think there are so many people on this board that have such awesome stones, it would be difficult for me to say who has my favorite, but I have coveted those pictures of Facetfires' for a long time.

 

[pregcurious]

Dan Stair has one available. I've never bought from him, but judging from the vendors pics thread, this may be less saturated in real life. I would ask him if the stone is more grey in real life:

http://www.customgemstones.com/NewStone.html

 

[demantoid]

ForteKitty,

That stone is absolutely beautiful! Thank you for sharing. I did contact Barry!

Pregcurious,
Thank you for posting that stone. I will check out his site. For now, I have a spinel coming that I hope will be gorgeous. I'm new to buying stones over the internet, so I'm not sure if I can correctly judge a color by the photos. I can return it if it doesn't work out.

By the way, I'm assuming there is a tilt window in the stone Pregcurious posted. Am I correct? Is it one that is considered large, or one that isn't too much of an issue?

 

[pregcurious]

If it is coming from Barry, you are in good hands. He is a good guy, and will do right by you. I've bought several stones from him.

 

[Niel]

Skimming your posts i didnt see so i thought i would tell you i know jeff white has some lavender rough ( last i checked in december)
and his cutting is amazing

 

[chrono]

It is partly due to the step cut crown that you are seeing a slightly larger tilt window than expected. It is due to the design, not the skill of the lapidary.

 

[minousbijoux]

Skimming your posts i didnt see so i thought i would tell you i know jeff white has some lavender rough ( last i checked in december)
and his cutting is amazing

That is good to know - someone should snap that up fast!!

 

[pregcurious]

Skimming your posts i didnt see so i thought i would tell you i know jeff white has some lavender rough ( last i checked in december)
and his cutting is amazing

That is good to know - someone should snap that up fast!!

It may be very grey in person. I would ask a lot of questions.

 

[Niel]

Skimming your posts i didnt see so i thought i would tell you i know jeff white has some lavender rough ( last i checked in december)
and his cutting is amazing

That is good to know - someone should snap that up fast!!

It may be very grey in person. I would ask a lot of questions.

I believe he said it was this same kind of rough
http://www.whitesgems.com/gallery/SPL038.htm


I believe...........

 

[chrono]

I believe he said it was this same kind of rough
http://www.whitesgems.com/gallery/SPL038.htm

Yes, this one is very gray.

 

[minousbijoux]

Yes, lots of grey in that one, unfortunately.

 

[LD]

Dan Stair has one available. I've never bought from him, but judging from the vendors pics thread, this may be less saturated in real life. I would ask him if the stone is more grey in real life:

http://www.customgemstones.com/NewStone.html

Look at the colour of the background. You are quite right Preg that IRL this gem will be far less lilac and saturated than it appears in this photo (sorry)!

 

[demantoid]

http://www.wildfishgems.com/inc/sdetail/13373

I would appreciate some input on the stone in the link above. The color in the photo is close to what I'm looking for but I'm new to buying from photos and unsure if it would really be this color IRL. If you look at the other images of this stone it looks darker and more blue. The description says "no gray mask" but it looks a little gray to me. I'd love to hear opinions on color, cut clarity, saturation, anything you think is relevant.

I contacted some of the vendors mentioned in this thread but none had what I'm looking for.

 

[minousbijoux]

My thoughts: 1) I see grey in each of the photos, but more pronounced in the purple colorway (first pic); 2) his stones tend to be pricier than others.

I'm not sure what to do if the seller is saying "no grey mask" because that's a long way to send a stone to find out it in fact does have one. Could you ask him for additional photos?

 

[demantoid]

Minous,

I sent him a message with lots of questions but I haven't heard back yet. One question was specifically about grey in the stone. I'm patiently waiting for his response. Many people here seem to have experience in judging stones from photos so I thought additional unbiased opinions would be helpful.

I've been following this site for quite a while even though I only registered recently, so I know you all are usually right on target.

 

[minousbijoux]

Sounds like you know what to do and you're doing everything you can. Let's wait until you hear back. The other thing you can do is send him a picture of what you are hoping it will look like and see what he says...

 

[velouriaL]

Sorry to threadjack, but Demantoid, what is ring in your avi? It's gorgeous. I searched and couldn't find a thread/info on it.

 

[demantoid]

Thanks VelouriaL,

It is a yellow sapphire cushion with half moon diamonds. I can't remember if it's unheated or not, I would have to look at my paperwork. I don't have any threads on my jewelry because I didn't register here until recently, but I've followed this site for a while. That isn't a very good photo of it because I only have my phone to take pictures.

 

[chrono]

I would also request hand-shots too. There's so much glare in those pictures when I look at the lighting used and the positioning.