my gems

[Arkteia]

This is the first try. I do not know how it will work out. This is my alexandrite in daylight. I think it is 2.63 cts.

 

[Arkteia]

Same stone in incandescent light. Bought for the red color, in reality, it is purple-red and very vivid. The color shift is amazing, although, as you may note, the cut is poor. But I have seen about 20 stones and chose this one because the color shift was the strongest, the best one. Also, in our climate, there is so little sun. So we use artificial light all the time. When I went to Florida, I saw my stone turning bluish-green in daylight but it never happened in my home town. Sorry, the stone is dirty, there may even be wool threads caught in the prongs. I cleaned it only once. When cleaned, it is brighter.
Last time that I am choosing a poorly cut stone - just because of the color

 

[Arkteia]

This is my 2-ct. Burmese ruby. Bought abroad, shortly before the embargo. Not a bad stone, and in real life the color is more saturated, more purple. It has ample fluorescence. but unfortunately, has minor glass residue in fissures. Of interest, original GRS certificate did not mention it. I sent it to GIA for certification and they mentioned glass residue. In general, I probably paid for the ring its fair price (it was a very reputable jewelry store). At the time, of course, I believed that it was the deal of the century. It was the first gem I ever purchased.

Hopefully, next picture (demantoid - my best project of 2009) will look livelier.

 

[ma re]

Those are lovely stones, and some pretty rings!

 

[Kim Bruun]

Was the ruby flux-healed? That''s too bad... It''s definitely the kind of thing sellers are morally obligated to state, regardless of the price they demand. The color is lovely, though.

 

[chrono]

The purple red colour of your alex is very pretty. I’m surprised GRS made no mention of the fracture filling of the ruby. Still, it has a lovely colour. What made you decided to send it to GIA for a second certification?

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Beautiful colored stones! I really like the setting for the alexandrite as well with the double pointy prongs

Looking forward to pictures of the demantoid!

 

[Kismet]

That''s a really nice color shift on that alex and I LOVE it''s setting. The ruby is really pretty too, even if it is fracture filled. Can''t wait to see pics of your demantoid.

 

[Arcadian]

I will almost always choose color over cut, so I know why you picked that Alex. Its gorgeous!


-A

 

[Arkteia]

Well...I brought my opal and the ruby to an independent appraiser that was highly recommended to me by another gemologist. The appraiser looked at the ruby and said it was Thai because of typical inclusions and thought my opal was artificial (he still appraised it high because of the gold and diamond setting). I got into this long e-mail battle with the jeweller who sold me the opal. Usually I am polite, but there was so much rage about the opal, I threatened to leave scathing reports on all tourist websites known to me, mentioned FTA. (I still tried to be polite, but it was all acid rain). Finally, he got exhausted and offered me to send back the stone for a local appraisal. I said, no, and sent it to GIA. Since I was sending the opal, I also sent the ruby. It was somewhat easy with the jeweller store that had sold me the ruby. I told them of the first appraisal, informed that I was sending the ring to the GIA and said that if it indeedit was Thai ruby, that meant that they sold it to me with fake certificate. In this case, said I, they have two options: either to get the ruby back or watch how many websites would mention their name. (Usually I tend not to get involved in legal battles for one simple reason: you lose more than you gain because most of the money goes to the lawyer). They told me that they were positive it was not Thai and they totally stood back behind their products. Well, I got the GIA reports and decided, forget the flux, it was my mistake, you should not get into this venture without having a certain knowledge about what you are doing. I felt bad about the opal story, the opal proved to be real, but by the time all of it was finished, I just could not see it. So I donated it. It was probably a good stone, but I knew I wouldn''t be wearing it.
I was looking for a Burmese ruby because I supposed that after the embargo, the prices should go up (wrong, they were hyper-saturated as it was) and that it would be impossible to get a ruby in the US (double wrong). But many Burmese rubies sold now are flux-healed, although usually it is mentioned.
And by the way , I am still working with that appraiser. Mostly, people bring in diamonds for appraisal and he has a great eye for diamonds, but he is gaining experience with colored stones and double-checks it now.
But about the GRS...Has anyone else had experience with their certificates? Now that the AGTA is closed, I trust only GIA and Gubelin. What do other people think?

 

[Arkteia]

Also, thank you all for positive feedback. I looked at the photographs of alex...it is not included, it is pretty clean, but looks so because of the dirt! I have to use liquid soap all the time because of the place where I work so all my stones are dirty. At least the hands are clean!

 

[Lovinggems]

Lovely rings, looking forward to seeing the Demantoid garnet ring.

 

[chrono]

Crasu,
I''m so sorry about your past experience with gemstone buying. Does the GRS cert match up well to the ruby? In the US, I like GIA and AGL.

 

[klewis]

The colour change in your alexandrite looks impressive to me. Very nice.

 

[Arkteia]

Date: 12/18/2009 9:37:25 PM
Author: Chrono
Crasu,

I''m so sorry about your past experience with gemstone buying. Does the GRS cert match up well to the ruby? In the US, I like GIA and AGL.

It did match. In fact, it said that the composition and color were typical of Myanmar rubies. It just mentioned minimal amount of glass residue. I am positive that the GRS report is not fake, I have seen many since then. Also, the stone has unusual cut and it was correctly reproduced in the GRS picture. I do not know what to think of it.

As usual, thank you for your interest and comments. The stone in your avatar looks great.

 

[Cind11]

That''s quite a dramatic color shift on the alexandrite and a beautiful ring. The ruby is pretty, treatment aside.

 

[LD]

Hi Crasru - as you know(!) I do like my Alexandrites so of course, I''m going to ask you tons of questions!!! Do you know the origin and was it certified???? Does it have any inclusions? Have you sent it to the GIA by any chance? The colour change is very dramatic in your pictures and looks like it has almost 100% change. That''s pretty unusual, especially in a gemstone of that size. Hence my question!

BTW, cleaning an Alex won''t hurt it and, presuming it''s not colour filled (unfortunately more and more are nowadays), it would be safe to put in an ultrasonic. If you haven''t had this piece checked out thoroughly (and your appraiser won''t have the experience to do this), please do it. If it''s a genuine Alex with superb colour change it''s an heirloom piece.

Don''t worry about the cut on it. Most Alex''s are cut for weight. I don''t think I''ve ever seen a precision cut Alex. Obviously some are cut far better than others and yours looks to be well cut in the photos so don''t give it a second thought.

As for the Ruby -

- sorry to hear your story. I guess in some ways it''s good that (a) you found out and (b) have used it as an education when buying again. You won''t be the first or the last that this has happened to. I''ve been burned on a number of occasions BUT it''s made me a better, more knowledgeable buyer!

 

[Arkteia]

Thank you for your interest. The alexandrite comes from Brazil. It has Gubelin and GIA certificates. My appraiser certified it as well. It is clean and has not been treated in any way. Gubelin''s certificate mentions "strong" color shift, the size and cut matches what I have. So does the GIA one. I think my jeweller took the time to recertify it, just in case.

As I may have mentioned, this jeweller is well-known and he brought me about 15 alexes to choose from. He recommended another one, with much better cut. The green was amazing, but the color shift was weak. I narrowed my choice down to two stones. As I have said, our climate is such that daytime portion almost doesn''t matter - I wonder if we ever have what other people would call "daytime", it chronically rains. And when it doesn''t rrain I am still inside because of my work hours. Finally, I saw a very weak lamp in the appraizer''s office, he got it from Ikea. I came up to it to check the ones I chose, and this one turned to red. It was so strong that we all agreed I should take it. The price was at the higher end of what I was offered from other retailers, but some of them offered worse stones for even higher prices. As I have said, the cut was poor so it took us a lot of time to decide on the setting. The jeweller wanted to flank it with two baguette-cut diamonds but I thought it would distract attention from my stone. I also felt that "gypsy" setting was inappropriate, I wanted the light to flow through it. So the setting itself is high, creating a space between my finger and the stone. In real life, artificial light would bring out more purple than red, but I think it is typical for Brazilian alexes. I have several fakes, or maybe they are not fakes but just color-change garnets (I still have to certify them). One comes from Russia and is old, but I know for sure it is not alexandrite, it turns blue in daylight and light-violet in evening light, and there are no specs of color in the evening, it is all violet. The other three were bought by my father in Laos. They are very sturdy, so I suspect it may be artificial corundum. Definitely not glass. This stone looks totally different, just like any other alexandrite only with stronger color shift.

I would be very much surprized if it is fake. My jeweller is GIA-certified, has been in business for a long time, his company is huge and he is very obsessive-compulsive.

 

[LD]

Well you did absolutely the right thing in going for colour change over cut. An Alexandrite''s value is mostly in the colour change, so you most certainly picked the best one.

Just as a FYI, some Alexandrites do look a blue/green in daylight - think teal. I''ve seen this mostly with Brazilian material but I know others think that the Brazilian Alex is the best green. For me, the best daylight colour is the Indian material but the Brazilian has the best incandescent colour - although this is very general you understand!

You must must must get that beauty insured. Anything over 2ct with a strong colour change is highly prized so well done on owning a gorgeous gemstone!

 

[Arkteia]

Oh, I did get insurance from JM. Not only for the alex, for each of my stones worth over $ 10,000.00. Also, one of the reasons it is always dirty is that I never take imy rings off my hands when washing them, unless it is my own house. I cleaned my alex and ruby in an ultrasonic cleaner once, and they sparkled even more. I occasionally clean my stones with alcohol wipes, I do not know if it is a good way of cleaning or not, but since it they are not oil, pearls or turquoise, I suppose nothing should happen.

As to the Burmese - the fault is all mine. Who would think of starting a collection with a Burmese ruby? But at the time, jewellers were talking of nothing but the forthcoming ban, and I took things too literally. I thought it would be enforced as strictly as embargo on Cuban cigars, but it seems that nothing has changed. Another thing - I just started reading about gems and thought that if Burmese stones were considered to be the best, I'd never find a good African or Vietnamese ruby, or a sapphire. However... Just look at Arcadian's pictures - her Pakistan peridot is so much more lively than the Burmese one. And I am with you on alexandrites, some of Indian or Tanzanian ones may be better than Brazilians, but these stones are so expensive that you have to see them "in person" before you buy. I never saw a Russian alexandrite, but jewellers told me that what appeared on the market was heavily included.

Following advises of our esteemed PS-ers I bought a new camera and plan to take pictures of my "fakes" or suspected fakes to post. I'm interested to know that PS-ers think.