Nickel treated blue spinel

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Not nice. Hope none of you were caught?

GIA Discovers Spinel Treated by Nickel Diffusion

Organization had not seen this type of enhancement before.

rapaport.com

 

[Autumn in New England]

Thank you for the heads up, @Garry H (Cut Nut)! I've been toying with the idea of owning a blue for a while, but I've yet to find a color I like in person. They all seem to have a teal tone in daylight and are way too inky or murky for my tastes. It seems no matter how much I spend, it's eluding me. Of course, I love the true cobalt stones, but they're impossible to find in any worthwhile size or clarity (and would be well beyond my budget anyhow).

But I wanted to ask you a question. I do have this melee set from Yvonne Raley. She purchased them from Bob Von Wagoner, who was on the board of AGTA for some years. He specializes in cobalt spinel, paraiba, and bixbite. They cost me a pretty penny. I trust Yvonne and Bob implicitly, but you just never know what could have slipped through the cracks. And now seeing this article, my trepidation is renewed. Do you think I need to send them to a lab for testing? I plan to set them with a valuable red spinel I have, and I'd hate to be possibly using treated stones.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

I imagine no one would be applying a treatment like this on very small stones. The cost benefit is not attractive to greedy folk!
Also if you have had them for a while thats a good sign too as i expect GIA probably had a wave of these stones hit them from different sources all at once - thats what usually happens with a new treatment.

 

[Mrsz1ppy]

Thank you for the heads up, @Garry H (Cut Nut)! I've been toying with the idea of owning a blue for a while, but I've yet to find a color I like in person. They all seem to have a teal tone in daylight and are way too inky or murky for my tastes. It seems no matter how much I spend, it's eluding me. Of course, I love the true cobalt stones, but they're impossible to find in any worthwhile size or clarity (and would be well beyond my budget anyhow).

But I wanted to ask you a question. I do have this melee set from Yvonne Raley. She purchased them from Bob Von Wagoner, who was on the board of AGTA for some years. He specializes in cobalt spinel, paraiba, and bixbite. They cost me a pretty penny. I trust Yvonne and Bob implicitly, but you just never know what could have slipped through the cracks. And now seeing this article, my trepidation is renewed. Do you think I need to send them to a lab for testing? I plan to set them with a valuable red spinel I have, and I'd hate to be possibly using treated stones.

I have the same question. I just bought some from Yvonne and they were not cheap.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

I have the same question. I just bought some from Yvonne and they were not cheap.

No harm in asking the supplier if they have or will be sending some stones to GIA for testing to preserve their well earned reputation?

 

[Autumn in New England]

I have the same question. I just bought some from Yvonne and they were not cheap.

Yvonne is supremely confident that they are not at all treated. But I just have OCD about these things. lol I certify all of my gems, regardless of their history. But CS melee are sort of new to me. What does the "TZ" mean here, @Mrsz1ppy? Mine didn't say that. TIA!

 

[Autumn in New England]

I imagine no one would be applying a treatment like this on very small stones. The cost benefit is not attractive to greedy folk!
Also if you have had them for a while thats a good sign too as i expect GIA probably had a wave of these stones hit them from different sources all at once - thats what usually happens with a new treatment.

Thank you for easing my concerns a bit! I thought the same thing. But, as you said, maybe it wouldn't hurt to send off one batch just out of curiosity's sake...

 

[E H]

Thx for the update i also agree that they wont be treating melee stone just yet. Remember when Be treatment first hit the market? Every Be treated sapphire that hit the market was big and clean stones. Only after the treatment got discovered by the labs, ppl start treating smaller n melee stones

 

[E H]

Btw the Tz mean tanzanian. It is the newly found cobalt spinel mine in mahenge

 

[Autumn in New England]

Ah yes, thank you @E H!

 

[T L]

I first saw cobalt diffused blue spinel a few years ago, but this new nickel diffusion appears to cause a green blue color according to the article.

 

[Autumn in New England]

@E H Is there any difference in quality between the new Tanzanian strike and the Luc Yen material? Mine is Luc Yen, but I wonder if I could go larger with TZ melee. TIA!

 

[Mrsz1ppy]

Yvonne is supremely confident that they are not at all treated. But I just have OCD about these things. lol I certify all of my gems, regardless of their history. But CS melee are sort of new to me. What does the "TZ" mean here, @Mrsz1ppy? Mine didn't say that. TIA!

Mine are from Tanzania (Mahenge) not Vietnam. I certify everything too! And it is 20% cheaper. I’m curious too, to know the difference.

 

[Autumn in New England]

Mine are from Tanzania (Mahenge) not Vietnam. I certify everything too! And it is 20% cheaper. I’m curious too, to know the difference.

What will you do with your beautiful stones?

 

[Mrsz1ppy]

What will you do with your beautiful stones?

I’m not sure yet. Cobalt is my absolute hands down favorite color. I just read her blog post, and knew I had to have some more. From what I’ve read, the Tanzanian cobalt is a small find, so I pounced!

 

[Autumn in New England]

I’m not sure yet. Cobalt is my absolute hands down favorite color. I just read her blog post, and knew I had to have some more. From what I’ve read, the Tanzanian cobalt is a small find, so I pounced!

I can tell by your profile pic how much you love this shade!!

 

[fredflintstone]

I imagine no one would be applying a treatment like this on very small stones. The cost benefit is not attractive to greedy folk!
Also if you have had them for a while thats a good sign too as i expect GIA probably had a wave of these stones hit them from different sources all at once - thats what usually happens with a new treatment.

I agree.

 

[fredflintstone]

Green leaning Spinel or teal Spinel is always medim dark to dark in my experience, never a medium light or lighter tone. You may find a few medium but that would be as rare as frog's hair.

Good article, Gary!

Thanks!

 

[Autumn in New England]

You may find a few medium but that would be as rare as frog's hair.

Does a frog wearing a tiny wig count?

 

[fredflintstone]

Does a frog wearing a tiny wig count?

Nope, don't count. That's a toad!

 

[E H]

@E H Is there any difference in quality between the new Tanzanian strike and the Luc Yen material? Mine is Luc Yen, but I wonder if I could go larger with TZ melee. TIA!

The finest tanzanian are comparable to luc yen material. the average material (lesser color saturation) also comparable to cobalt spinel from other location.

I am not sure about the color shift tho. Spinel tend to shift color and lose too much of its color saturation under warm light. Warm LED light isnt as cruel as the old incandescent light, but 99% spinel still react a lil too much under warm LED

And the craziest thing about this mahenge cobalt spinel is the price. It has been sky high during the sept hk show. And it was even higher at the tucson. Soon it will arrive at the same lvl as the luc yen material.

 

[Autumn in New England]

The finest tanzanian are comparable to luc yen material. the average material (lesser color saturation) also comparable to cobalt spinel from other location.

I am not sure about the color shift tho. Spinel tend to shift color and lose too much of its color saturation under warm light. Warm LED light isnt as cruel as the old incandescent light, but 99% spinel still react a lil too much under warm LED

And the craziest thing about this mahenge cobalt spinel is the price. It has been sky high during the sept hk show. And it was even higher at the tucson. Soon it will arrive at the same lvl as the luc yen material.

Oh it already is... I checked with Yvonne. She has her TZ material priced right up there with the VT stones. We spoke today. Yvonne said the colors are indistinguishable. I have some on the way, so we'll see how they stand up to my VT melee (which are neon, without so much as even a whisper of green, and that's a term I don't throw around lightly). Thank you for the insight!