Please help me evaluate blue-green Namibian tourmaline

[Acinom]

Glad your stone arrived safely Mochiko
Thanks for sharing your home-made pics. The stone looks really beautiful and also looks great with your skintone. Looking forward to see pics in sunnier weather. Curious to see what that does with the color.

 

[Siameseroo]

Mochiko that tourm is stunning, it is my holy grail colour. Congrats!

 

[lovedogs]

Mochiko that stone is GORGEOUS! I love the color IRL, even without the sunny weather to make it "pop". Great job getting this one, and I hope you love it!

 

[minousbijoux]

The risk really paid off - from your photos and description, it looks like a beautiful stone, the coveted color and a decent cut. I love its chubbiness. Nice acquisition!

 

[Lovinggems]

The colour is gorgeous, the vendor's photo is pretty spot on.

 

[minousbijoux]

The colour is gorgeous, the vendor's photo is pretty spot on.

Yes, kudos to Jason Brim for good photos.

 

[mochiko42]

Thank you Acinom, ricezo, lovedogs, minousbijoux, and loving gems! I appreciate the advice and encouragement from everyone who's commented on this thread to help me through this decision-making process. I am usually terribly indecisive and prone to second-guessing myself, so THANK YOU ALL for your input. I'm loving the color,shape, size and clarity of the gem. The only issue that I have with this stone is the slight windowing. Normally I am quite picky about windows, but I think the color of this tourmaline is so nice that I will have to make an exception this time. I understand now when other PSers say they can tolerate some windowing if the color is beautiful enough. I am hopeful the window will mostly close up once set.

It's still a bit gloomy outside but the sky is a bit brighter this morning, so I tried to take some more photos.

- It goes from a deep bluish green in warm fluorescent to a cooler bluish green in natural light. It shows a tiny smidge of grey in natural light (when it's overcast outside - I'm still waiting for a sunny day to see what it looks like in nice weather!) but no grey in indoor lighting. It's interesting because in my bathroom lighting, you can see distinct flashes of blue and green, whereas in natural light the blue-green is merged (no zoning). I have to say I've never had a gem that looks attractive under my bathroom lighting until now!
- Both Jason's and my photos capture the color quite well, but I would say that the tourmaline is slightly less dark than the photos would suggest.

Apologies in advance for the photo dump:

Natural light


Sorry for the cat hair!

You can see the window clearly when it's against a white background

The window closes up a bit when on the hand - I guess it will look similar once set.



I would say that the above photo is most representative of the color that I see, so I included it even though it's slightly blurry.

Bathroom (warm white fluorescent bulbs)

Can you see the distinct green and blue in the above photo? It looks like a peacock feather to me. It has the shape, too.

At night with flash

 

[derbygal]

Wow. This color is amazing. Love the fat pear shape, too.

 

[Cognition]

seems like the stone turn out to be one beautiful one. grats

 

[MollyMalone]

STUNNING color (and I love chubby pears) -- congratulations!!

 

[dk168]

Thanks for sharing the new pics, it's a lovely stone!

DK

 

[lilmosun]

So glad that you love the color...its GORGEOUS!! Can't wait to see how you set it.

 

[Acinom]

Thank you for posting more pics!! The stone shows a different 'character' in different lighting and looks stunning all the time!!!

The tiny window does not seem very apparent in your photo's and will probably close a bit when set. I really hope it's a keeper for you.

 

[minousbijoux]

I love the fact that in certain lighting you can see the green and the blue simultaneously. Multiple personality stone for sure.

 

[marymm]

I *heart* this peacock stone - the color(s), the shape, the size, the face-up - it all sings - I think it would make a fabulous ring - and I do think the right setting would close up that tiny window... hope you decide to keep it!

 

[mochiko42]

Thank you all for the kind feedback. I'm about 95% decided that I should keep it. The remaining 5% is due to the windowing, which I usually have a low tolerance for. I'm still within the return window (Jason has a generous 7 day return policy even for int'l customers) so I am trying to view the gem as much as possible in different situations to guess how much of a window would remain after setting.

It's Monday morning here, and it's "Bring Your Gem to Work" day

Direct sunlight:


Under office lighting (cool daylight fluorescent)

(Urgh, my fat fingers. But Chrono will appreciate the Vulcan salute -- I only realized it after I took the photo to include my OEC and tsavorite rings for comparison purposes!

 

[chrono]

It looks good in almost all light sources and I understand the hesitancy about the window. The lilac spinel in my ring has a window but with the right setting, I can barely make it out now. However, it has the benefit of being light in tone, so it does better in an enclosed setting. I don't think this tourmaline will perform as well in an enclosed setting.

Oh yeah! Vulcan salute to the tourmaline.

 

[Sungura]

Mochiko- I agree with all the other commenters. It is a beautiful stone. The color looks very nice against your skin tone. I too am anxious to see how you set this. These wider pears are my favorite pear shape. I have a couple but have never set them.