My Diamond Spessartite Ring!

[gammygam]

Hi guys!

I'm finally posting the few pics I have of my ring. I now understand what you guys mean when you say it's incredibly difficult to photograph colored stones.

A little background, I found this Princess Diana/Kate Middleton replica ring at a pawn shop. The sapphire was was incredibly inky and dead and I knew instantly after louping the diamonds in the setting that I'd want to reset some colored stone in. The sapphire measured 12mmx10mm so I needed an oval to fit. I had mentioned ages ago to my jeweler that I wanted a spessartite some day...and that I liked some of the darker, more reddish stones. So he contacted a cutter in LA and had this one brought in along with other blue zircons. Problem is...I fell in love with both types of stones.

I also have a cert from AGTA for this spessarite and if memory serves me correctly, 7.68 carat at 12.3mmx10.2mm. I snapped a few pictures outdoors when it was partially cloudy...lately, the weather is just awful. Each diamond is about .15 and G/H color (although I suspect they are whiter) VS-SI.

Ugh also, I just want to say that the ring needs to be resized...it's a 4 currently and really needs to be a 5 (just check out my finger pudge!) and I already banged up one of the prongs I didn't want to part with it so soon..but I'm going to have to.





Last picture is kinda blurry but I think shows the color I see better.

 

[Coco914]

Wow! The color of your garnet is breathtaking! The diamonds are far from shabby, too. I love it... its a real attention grabber!

 

[gammygam]

Thank you coco!

I hate how areas of the stone appear dark when it's quite the opposite irl...then I realized the dark areas are shadows from my head?

 

[T L]

That setting is gorgeous. I can't believe you found it in a pawn shop. I actually like it better than the Kate/Diana ring. Enjoy your beautiful new ring. The garnet looks like a piece of hot lava! Very nice.

 

[Upgradable]

Wow! Beautiful!!!

The mounting is fabulous, and congrats on scooping up a great rehab ring. I love doing that!

And the stone is gorgeous!! Putting the two together has created a masterpiece! Congratulations!!!

 

[JewelFreak]

How smart you are, a pawn shop! These days that's a great idea as a place to look. Beautiful ring -- the spess is amazing! Great job!

 

[kelpie]

It's amazing!

 

[VRBeauty]

Gorgeous spessatrite and ring! Wear it in good health!

 

[Arkteia]

Such a beautiful color and brilliance! It surely makes a statement!

 

[stargurl78]

That is one of my dream settings for a stone! What a lucky find. And that stone is stunning

 

[y2kitty]

That's incredible, I love it. Did you get a good deal on the sapphire ring? Was it hallmarked? That would just make it even more phenomenal.

 

[Monpetitbijoux]

Wow!! Soo beautiful!!!

 

[gammygam]

TL thank you so much for your kind compliments! I don't know about my ring being better than the Kate/Diana ring...it was in pretty rough shape when I first bought it. The workmanship on the ring itself wasn't the best. I love looking at impeccably finished pieces on here. My jeweler does wonders in refurbishing pieces and was able to do quite a bit to the ring.

I love how you describe it as hot lava! I've been trying to come up with what describes the stone and that is a perfect description.

Thank you Miss Uppy! I just want to let you know I'm in LOVE with ur ring in ur avatar.... *DROOL*

JewelFreak thank you too! Pawn shops are kinda tricky...the thing is they don't really do colored stones and when they do have colored stones, they almost never tell you what they are. I do see tons of beautiful blue topaz pieces though. The only thing that they really guarantee is diamonds (that they are diamonds) but not if they are fracture filled etc. Many times I just gravitate towards older pieces for that reason.

Thank you kelpie! I really do hope your ebay situation gets resolved...I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

VRBeauty, thank you! I'm glad that you guys approved of the color...I know it's not the desired Fanta color (which I also adore) and I was almost a little shy about posting my ring.

crasru and stargurl thank you both for your kind compliments as well!

 

[gammygam]

kitty, unfortunately the ring was not hallmarked. My favorite pawn shop salesperson used to work in high end jewelry before the economy took a nose dive and before that in Whitehall corporate. He actually told me that he wouldn't be surprised if the ring was made by a small B&M (judging from the poor finishing) as he remembers when Whitehall couldn't keep these replica rings in stock. I feel I did get a good deal on the ring for $750, especially when I saw the quality of the diamonds.

I'm out of the country right now but when I get back, I'll post a picture of the sapphire to show how truly inky and dark it is. All is not lost though, instead of selling it on ebay, my SO and I decided to gift it to his mom for Christmas and set it into a diamond pendant. Yellow gold will do wonders for the Inkster (yes, because it sorta reminds me of an inky monster ) and she will really appreciate the gift. She's the type of person that loves any jewelry (my wallet wishes I was like that). I'll also take better pics of the Lava Rock.

 

[pregcurious]

Wow the color is that spessartite is amazing! It reminds me of the color of "carmine red" in my oil paint set. It looks like it was made for the setting.

 

[NKOTB]

Not much to say that hasn't been said, but... I LOVE this ring!!!!

 

[mariedtiger]

The orange hot lava color is fantastic. I really love it. I can imagine it brightens up any day to have that kind of color with you, what an impact.

 

[marcy]

Very pretty.

 

[DiaDiva]

Gorgeous ring. It's glowing on your finger!

 

[Deia]

I love this ring. The stone just glows and the darker "burnt" orange color is delicious!!