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Please help me find a purple spinel for engagement!

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purplegirl

Rough_Rock
Joined
Feb 20, 2014
Messages
99
Hi Guys!

I'm fairly new to buying gemstones, and the ones I have gotten were hit or miss. I'm horrible at reading gemstones! I want a purple spinel for my engagement ring, and I want this purchase to be spot on.......hence, me asking for your help. :) Even more of a challenge is my budget. I'd like to stay between $500-$752070 if possible. $800 would be my absolute max. I would love all shades of purple from light to fairly dark as long as the gemstone is beautiful. I love all things b lingy and even something unique. I don't mind if it has a hint of another color such as pink or gray either. I like cushion cut the most, but I'd be open to other shapes too. I'm thinking anything 7 - 9mms would be a good size or larger if a miracle happened. ...lol. Oh! I'm a huge Frekechild spinel fan. Love your taste! Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks!
 
That one is a good call deskjockey!

I actually have seen it in person, and it's beautiful. I'm surprised no one has snapped it up yet. It's a more pink-purple, but the color is nice and vibrant. I'm attaching some pictures I took of it when I had it. They aren't the best, because taking pictures of multiple stones is super difficult, but you get an idea of the color!

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The added pics are pretty interesting! If someone wants a cooler purple I could see it not being for them, but it's right up my alley (no worries, not shopping for a spinel right now, LOL)
 
If you like a medium light lavender colour, Brad at www.thegemtrader.com sometimes has lovely spinel like the one in the pic I've attached. This particular one is already reserved and above your budget anyway, but I'd shoot him an email to see if he has anything else like it =)

Edit-- here is another one from him in an engagement ring: [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/engaged-brad-found-my-dream-stone-2-42-ct-lavender-spinel.198242/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/engaged-brad-found-my-dream-stone-2-42-ct-lavender-spinel.198242/[/URL]

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Thanks so much you guys! Oh my! All of those are gorgeous, but I absolutely love the light lavender by the Gem Trader! What are the odds something like that would ever come around again?!! One lucky girl! :)
 
That truly is perfection. Try shooting Brad an email -- he's very helpful & will be glad to see what he can do for you. If he finds more of those, I'm right behind you in line!
 
I just emailed him! Still keeping my options open though. :)
 
purplegirl said:
Thanks so much you guys! Oh my! All of those are gorgeous, but I absolutely love the light lavender by the Gem Trader! What are the odds something like that would ever come around again?!! One lucky girl! :)
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This one resembles it... somewhat greyer and more violet, I think, but still nice. I'd ask for a handshot if you think it's up for consideration.

http://www.wildfishgems.com/inc/sdetail/11039/14572
 
purplegirl|1402682446|3692493 said:
I just emailed him! Still keeping my options open though. :)
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Good luck, I hope he will have something!
 
That one's pretty too!
 
Here are a couple of examples of the direction I would like to go with settings. What do you guys think?

Thanks!

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Those are great Virginia's and Frekechild! Although, if I had to choose, I would say the spinel speaks to me more. This may sound silly, but how does the carat weight affect the stone if you're supposed to look at actual measurements when choosing colored stones?

stacks_image_1.png
 
purplegirl|1402694117|3692627 said:
Those are great Virginia's and Frekechild! Although, if I had to choose, I would say the spinel speaks to me more. This may sound silly, but how does the carat weight affect the stone if you're supposed to look at actual measurements when choosing colored stones?
Click to expand...
I really like the sapphire myself, because I've seen it in person, but I will probably always go for spinel over sapphire.

With colored stones, you can't really consider a universal measure for carat weight the way you can for diamonds. Unless there is something really wonky going on, a 1ct diamond is going to be between 6-7mm. For colored stones, the cuts are all over the place, so a 1ct spinel could be anywhere from 4-7mm, and who knows what kind of performance it'd have if it's really deep or really shallow.

So you really have to look at measurements. I typically use a diamond size chart to give me an idea of how a stone's measurements stack up to other shapes, but never for the carat weight.
http://www.anjolee.com/educational/images/carat.jpg
 
Thanks for the tips. Makes a lot of sense. I find myself gravitating toward larger sized stones, but I know that spinels can get pretty pricey.
 
I really like the lavender one!
 
purplegirl|1402695803|3692655 said:
Thanks for the tips. Makes a lot of sense. I find myself gravitating toward larger sized stones, but I know that spinels can get pretty pricey.
Click to expand...
It's not just that, but spinels in larger sizes are harder to find because the rough doesn't grow that big. Something to keep in mind is that to cut a 1ct stone, you're probably going to have to have a 3ct piece of rough to start out with - and that's with good return on the cutting. So to cut a 3ct spinel (around 8mm round) you're going to need a 9ct or larger piece of rough.

So to find a large spinel, in a color that you like, within your price range....well it's asking for a lot. ESPECIALLY because purple-violet-blue spinel prices are skyrocketing right now.
 
Ah! That makes sense too.
 
I like the opera mauve one, but will it be darker in real life? What is wrong with it if you don't mind me asking. I want to be able to read stones better.
 
Are there pictures of purple spinels that you admire, so we can see what you're aspiring towards?
 
Sure! I'd have to say that you guys have hit the nail on the head though. I love purple in general though, so I'm even open to darker stones. Here are some……lol…..I think there may even be one in there from Frekechild.

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Here is another one.

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This one is on Jeff Davies' site, http://www.pinterest.com/pin/342555115380267895/. It's a blue purple in this photo, if that appeals to you -- he doesn't have video links set up yet (he just started a new Pinterest page), but you could ask for a video and/or more photos to see if the color holds in different lights. 7 mm, $425.

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I just had the chance to watch the video of this one! It's gorgeous!
 
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