Find your diamond
Find your jewelry
shape
carat
color
clarity

New Spess!

Status
Not open for further replies. Please create a new topic or request for this thread to be opened.
Hi Magenta,

I have a ~4.5ct Spess from Dan. I will probably spend my Ruddy money to finally have it set.

Often when examining closely and trying to take photo''s it is similar in behaviour to yours. It seems like only 1 half under the table lights up. I think that this is a head shadow effect. Dan doesn''t cut with windows face up so you aren''t losing light through the back of the stone. Obviously you will get a tilt effect window at some point. Basically it''s your scone or the camera that causes this effect. You don''t see this in Dan''s photo''s because he has lighting/camera setup to avoid this effect.

If you have a helpful partner have them hold the stone for you vertically like a pendant in some nice diffused light. My spess looks like a stop light in these conditions, with great scintillation which catches the eye really well over quite some distance. Even at arm''s length for me (admittedly I''m 6''4" so I have a little reach, lol) the effect is apparent and as I pull it in for a closer look the stone closes up again, which is a little disconcerting. I''m confident that once it''s set and I have a bit more freedom when I try to take photo''s that I will be able to capture some much more flattering shots of the stone.

PS Just had a look at a 2.26ct Spess at Concave Gems of similar colour and it is $700 so there is always that to consider too...and this one "http://www.webgraphicsengineering.com/Gemstones/detail.cfm?zNum=5757" which shows a similar effect to our stones and is advertised on concave gems as no bowtie. I don''t think you have to worry about the quality of the cut.

Give that spess some breathing space and I''m sure it will light up. I think we all get so tied up in the minutiae that we often get too close in our examinations. If you still feel bad just go and look at some jewelry store garnets. That will perk you right up
2.gif
 
Dan admits on the website, it was cut on the shallow side (probably because he wanted to save on weight loss), and the fact that it's more brilliant around the edges.

This stone is a bit on the shallow side, so it's a little more brilliant around the edges than in the middle.

Therefore, I don't think this is caused by a shadow if I'm understanding you correctly. As for tilt windows, well cut garnets do not appear to have very evident ones because they are higher RI than other gems like tourmaline or beryls. Some do have natural extinction however, and that can add to the appearance of darkness when in certain lighting, or if cut a certain way.

Just wanted to clarify. I think that if you're purchasing a well cut stone, you should get one with facet angles that do not produce this effect. Then what is the point of paying a premium for a well cut stone?

However, if you're satisfied with the overall color, cutting, for the price paid, then that's a decision one has to make as far as keeping it. I have many stones with less than perfect cutting, but with great color and the pricing was very good, so I've kept them. Those stones were actually more about the color than the cutting (I'm not a stickler for precision cuts). I do have some beautiful precision cut gems, and while I think that their cutting brings out much of their beauty, I bought them more for the color. In this case, I think Magenta probably wants this stone more for the color than the cutting, which is fine and a valid decision on her part. Dan is relatively well priced, so I can understand that.

As for Richard Homer, since you mentioned him, I will say that I am extremely impressed with his work, especially in some of the recuts I've seen. He is truly a master at what he does. One day I would love to own a RH gem.
 
ok, blunt time: its a nice stone, just not a great stone. its priced nice as it should be and a good buy for someone who appreciates it as it is. a great stone is going to be big bucks.

i cannot abide oversaturation and/or extinction. i have a tolerance for some windowing but on the table. [beer budget, champagne taste].

each of us finds what we can tolerate or not not abide as we gain more experience.

for an e-ring, one usually wants the best stone one can afford. if the most one can afford is $500, then that''s what one goes with. however, do not expect the stone to compare with a high quality stone.

i think this particular spess was priced reasonably as it is a reasonable stone. is it e-ring material? only the OP knows what she can live with and what her budget is.

mz
 
 
um, that was supposed to be NOT on the table.....re windowing.

mz
 
MZ and TL have both given good advice. Given the price point, one cannot expect a top coloured and cut spessartite, but it is a fair price for what your received. It is indeed up to the poster to decide if it is -ering material. Personally, I would get the best stone I can possibly get within budget for an e-ring, keeping in mind that I have to wear it and love it for umpteen years down the road.
 
Sorry about the blank post earlier. I''ve been battling with a filter glitch that Andrey has fixed.

I fully agree with MZ comments here about this stone. I didn''t realise that the OP was looking at this for an ering stone.

You really do get what you pay for with gems and unfortunately there is little in the way of bargains unless you invest a lot of time or you buy a lot of stones, developing a good relationship with industry people. You are more likely to over-pay for a stone than pick up a great stone at a cheap price.

I think that if you are battling on a budget for an ering at the moment you need to be clear with your FI if he is happy to upgrade your ring at some point. I''m not sure you would be happy with this stone for the rest of your life. For a RHR that you don''t wear everyday I think it''s a fun stone and would perform well enough to keep you happy on a budget.

Hi Tourmaline Lover
1.gif
I too would love to own some RH stones. I introduced him to the discussion to show that the OP''s stone is fairly priced for it''s performance and size. I think Richard''s lovely stone is basically 3.5 times the amount the OP paid and most likely a fair asking price. I also showed the other stone to show that even someone as talented as Richard can only do so much with the material on hand or that the photography can often be hard. I certainly wasn''t trying to disparage RH work in any way!
 
Thanks for the comments, girls (and any guys who replied)!

I don''t think I was clear in this thread, only in my last one. I was intending for this to be an engagement stone. That being said, I was looking for a pretty right hand ring too. I agree with you guys that it''s not engagement stone material, but it''s certainly pretty.

I think I''ll look at setting it here, and/or sending it to wink to get it put in their tulip setting. I love the way the light moves over the stone, if it''s in reasonable lighting!

I seem to prefer multi-coloured stones (ie, different colours in different lights, or multiple colours in the same light), so I think i''ll look for one of those for the engagement stone.
 
Magenta,
I somehow missed this thread before- I had a green tourmaline from Dan that did the same thing, it had a tilt window no matter what I did, and had to go back. I really want my stones to ''light up'' all over all at once without too much coaxing. In the ''magic sparkle place'' in my old building the tourm was pretty, but something about that octagonal barion might just not work great in a low RI stone. I have a wee spinel in the same cut that does a bit of the same thing, but is so brilliant and small that it''s far less obvious than in a larger stone.

Historically, Dan doesn''t enforce the restocking fee if you have a legit complaint. If you''ve grown to love it, keep it. If not, say bye.

(and I have a ton of nekkid stones, they are fun to play with!)
 
Mercoledi,
I feel the same way as you. I found a beautiful colour change blue/purple spinel with no gray but returned it because I had to work very hard to get the blue to show up. Even though it''s very pretty, I don''t like to have to constantly try to make it look its blue, so it went back to the vendor. To me, a gemstone should look its best most of the time, not 10% of the time.
 
From the pictures, it looks lovely
1.gif
 
So, I finally bit the bullet and returned it. I was looking at the new camera thread last night, with that spess ring (*cue more drooling*), and thought "I'm always going to want one of those when I see them". At that point, I decided it was worth returning it, and using that money to save towards a better one.

As for the restocking fee, the answer so far has been "I will decide about the restocking fee issue when it gets here, and I have a chance to look at it again and compare it with the photo and description." So I live in hope!

Thanks for all your help! I'll keep posting pictures of anything else I do buy. I'm not this indecisive normally, thank goodness!
 
Magenta,
I completely 100% think you made the right decision here. Take it from someone that has kept many stones that I regret now keeping, and how that $$$ could have been better put to use. Good luck on your search for your perfect spessertite.
9.gif
 
Magenta,
Count me in as another who thinks you made a wise decision. My motto with buying things (not just gemstones) is “no regrets”. Just get exactly what you want the first time instead of continuing to wonder or pine for something else.
 
I think you made a wise decision too. If you are not crazy about a stone, you will end up not wearing it all that often. It is kind of a waste of money.

I hope you get your money back, and good luck with the search. What you are experiencing is just part of the learning process.
 
Date: 5/21/2009 8:55:48 AM
Author: Chrono
Magenta,
Count me in as another who thinks you made a wise decision. My motto with buying things (not just gemstones) is “no regrets”. Just get exactly what you want the first time instead of continuing to wonder or pine for something else.
Click to expand...
I agree. And I think it''s great that you''re going to take that money and put it toward something that you really really love. Good luck searching!
9.gif
 
magenta- absolutely the right decision!! No reason to throw away money on a stone you don''t love. I hope Dan does give you a full refund, though.
 
mmm...decisions, decisions...

I've been browsing concavegems, and while i'm not sold on the one listed earlier (that really doesn't quite look like an oval!), I did find a couple of rather nice ones. How close are the pictures to the real stones? How much does the flash add colour that isn't there in real life?

A round and an oval

I also emailed barry, and he says he's planning to recut a mandarin spess, which would also be a possibility.

I was thinking of using this as a setting (from Wink Jones), or something similar, for an engagement ring. Not sure what i'd do for a wedding band, with such a setting, either.
 
I really like both of those stones, beautiful colors. The setting is gorgeous too. Reminds me of the Lotus setting.
 
Both are very beautiful and different in colour from each other. If interested, I would ask how dark the stones are. Richard also described them as deep (aka dark).
 
Yeah, I think at this point it would be best to contact Richard and tell him what you are looking for.. and see if he can come up with anything that will work for you. The two you picked out do seem to be in the darker range.
 
If you're trying to keep the price down, I personally would rather get a brighter orange spess with more yellow in it. The RH ones you posted tend to be too dark and a bit too brown. When stones are being photographed, they tend to be flooded with light, so I would ask RH if those are the lightest and brightest those two stones ever get. Many garnets have a tendency, when they are darker in color, to go extinct easily, so it's best to get something a bit lighter and brighter in a garnet.

I posted this in another thread, but I think it's helpful in discerning the various shades of orange spessartite garnet. The top one is what I would consider more of a true mandarin. The bottom are both orange in color, but one is more on the brown side, and one is more on the yellow side. They are both still lively and pretty stones.

#######################

And here's a video of a very intense colored mandarin spessartite. I think the vivid orange color comes across much better in a 3D representation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z972vr2YmsE


Here's one that's more brown, but still pretty, so you can get the idea of the various colorations.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJK3wc33iig&feature=related


Here's one with more yellow in it, but still vibrant and pretty.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brF_tBnRSF0&feature=related


What you do not want are ones that are so brown, they look muddy or dull, or dark, or ones that are so yellow, they look too desaturated in orange color.
 
Status
Not open for further replies. Please create a new topic or request for this thread to be opened.
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP

Featured Topics

Jewelry Blog
PriceScope-Concierge-Ad
Find prime cuts.
Top