Pls help my friend. Could this be Russian Alexandrite?

[kenny]

I have a friend who is too shy to post here, so she asked me to post this for her.

To quote her: "I have my grandmother's alexandrite ring, which my mom recently gave me.
It was purchased in Lithuania in the 1920's or 1930's, so I know it's the real deal and not lab created.
I think the stone is 4 or 5 carats, based on what a jeweler thought when he looked at it years ago.

Do you have any idea how I would go about finding a value for it?
At the time I showed it to a local jeweler, he told me that Russian alexandrite was quite valuable.
Now that it's mine, I don't know whether to wear it or to put it in a safe deposit box.

I poked around on Pricescope (didn't sign up or post).
Interesting stuff on alexandrites, including that many thought to be real turn out not to be.
I still think it's worth looking into given what I know about the ring's history.

(Then I told her the gold on the right side is bent away from the gem.)

Wow, Kenny.
Now I'm really glad I posted the pic for you to see.
I didn't notice that damage.
I was focused on the stone rather than the setting.
The stone is not loose at all, and I can't wear it anyway because it's too small for me.

The ring is too small for my mom but she continued to wear it up until a few years ago and it was really hard to get off her finger, and she had to rock it over her finger joint.
I'm guessing that's how it got damaged.
I'm pretty sure its 18K.

If you don't mind posting the pic, that would be great.
I wouldn't have a clue as to who has something of value to say from those who are blowing smoke.

For history...the ring was purchased in Lithuania in the 1920's or early 1930's.
It was sold as alexandrite, which is completely plausible as Lithuania is next door to Russia, where alexandrite is mined.
And of course the stone is named after a Russian tsar.

Twenty years ago I convinced my mom to let me take it to a local jeweler just to look it over.
He used some sort of device to check the refractive index (is that the term?) and it matched that of an alexandrite, though he told me then that a synthetic would also.
He estimated the size at 4 to 5 carats (without removing the stone).
He also said that to make a real assessment I would do best to contact the GIA. I never did anything with it.

Now that my mom has given it to me, I wanted to check into it further in case it valuable. Twenty years ago, the local guy said that genuine alexandrites of good quality were selling for upwards of $8000 per carat.

One thing I read on Pricescope in the discussions on alexandrites is that they change color in sunlight and can look green.
I haven't noticed the stone doing that, but when I took the first pic I did notice the front of it is green in the photo.
I don't know if that's just a fluke or what they're referring to when they say the stone turns green.
Here's the photo, which I'm posting for the green in front in case it means anything to anyone."

End of quote.
So, what do you gals and guys think?
My friend found an appraiser on the PS list, but do you think it would be better for her to send it to AGL?

 

[kenny]

Re: Could this be Russian Alexandrite?

Two more pics.

 

[soberguy]

Re: Could this be Russian Alexandrite?

I can only tell you what i see, and I do not think it is an alexandrite.

 

[kenny]

Re: Could this be Russian Alexandrite?

I can only tell you what i see, and I do not think it is an alexandrite.

Why?
Color?
Optical properties.
What do you suspect it is?

Clearly it's shallow and windowing.

 

[chrono]

If she never saw it change colours, it rules out alexandrite. It must look green or slightly bluish green outdoors, changing to purplish red indoors. It will never look amethyst purple if the pictures are accurate.

 

[soberguy]

I cannot imagine not noticing a color change. In my experience, most alexandrites will at least show a green color. The tricky color is the incandescent/flame color. So my point is, I would expect her to see it as greenish most of the time. It appears "glassy" to me. Again, just my observation. Here are some alex's that are by no mean showstoppers in my opinion, but as you can see, the green is dominant, the purple color is weak. Hard to photograph as has been said here before. I admit, my opinion is mostly gut reaction.

 

[soberguy]

The light used in the picture seems like fluorescent. Alexandrites are green in that light.

 

[artdecogirl]

Hello Kenny, I do not know what the stone could be and I hope some of our knowledgeable CS members can help you out but I did want to mention because she says in the beginning she felt synthetics were ruled out because of the timeline that in the 20s and 30s it was very common to use synthetics, it was new technology and quite popular although mostly sapphire and emerald, synthetic rubies appeared later, I have not seen synthetic purple stones though in that era jewelery but I am not a expert, just a insomniac who spends way too much time on the internet looking at jewelery of that era very cool use of prongs on the ring btw, good luck!

 

[artdecogirl]

After thinking a little I had to research when purple stones were made and it sounds like they were available at that time but the more I look at your friends ring the more I think it is older then that, it has more of a victorian look, does she know if it was bought new?

 

[LD]

Kenny I'm going to link to a thread if you don't mind because this is such a common question and may have some answers for you:

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/have-you-really-got-an-alexandrite-read-this-first.179784/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/have-you-really-got-an-alexandrite-read-this-first.179784/[/URL]

If you don't fancy reading that, I can tell you categorically that that is NOT a Russian Alexandrite and it's also not an Alexandrite for several reasons:-

1. Alexandrites ALWAYS look green in daylight (there are no exceptions to this). So the fact that your friend does not see a daylight green colour completely rules out Alex. Alexandrites are bottle green during the day (sometimes the green has elements of grey or brown - sometimes a teal colour - BUT on the whole the general colour will be green). Some people also mistake them for dark Emeralds. At night, in incandescent lighting conditions they will appear almost like an amethyst purple with some pink/red flashes. At dusk (when the lighting is normally mixed) you see the green and purple mixing for a short time. However, it's virtually impossible NOT to see green during the day. If the colourway is any different to this, the stone is not an Alex.

2. 4-5ct in Alex is very unusual with a cut like this. Not impossible but certainly points away from Alex.

3. The lack of inclusions in that size stone (particularly those that you would naturally find in Alex) makes it even less likely (that's based on the photos and of course it would be better to have it in hand with a loupe).

4. The cut - nobody would cut an Alex with any wastage and this cut will have had wastage.

5. The fact that it's an old piece. Synthetic vanadium laced corundum was commonly put into gold (and sometimes even platinum) jewellery from very early in the 1900s. They were often sold as Alexandrite (usually Russian) because of their colour changing properties.

6. The RI of the stone (checked by your friend's jeweller) is a good indicator that this is synthetic corundum because the RI is the same as a natural Alex. This is why lots and lots of pieces are commonly misdiagnosed - even by jewellers who usually haven't seen more than one or two pieces (if that) during their career! Of course, there are exceptions but the fact that your friends jeweller didn't even realise that it wasn't daylight green and so couldn't be an Alex just proves my point.

7. It's also quite common that the family history links the stone to somewhere near Russia.

At the end of the day, these stones have a family history and as a curiosity they have a value (as well as sentimental value) so my advice to your friend would be to just enjoy it. If you want a definitive yes/no then of course AGL would be the best route but categorically this is not an Alex because of the colourways described. (Sorry). If however, your friend is colour blind (I mean no disrespect by that) or he/she hasn't described the colourways correctly then the above may well be wrong but the indicators (even taking the colourways out of the equation) really suggest this is not an Alex. I'd love to be proved wrong though!

 

[JewelFreak]

It's amethyst color & I wondered about that, but the clarity also makes it unlikely. The setting is TDF, though, really lovely; she should enjoy wearing it, whatever the stone is or is not.

--- Laurie

 

[minousbijoux]

This isn't very helpful, I know, but can you imagine if that stone was a Russian Alexandrite?!!

 

[Quantz Studios]

4. The cut - nobody would cut an Alex with any wastage and this cut will have had wastage.

Not unless the rough piece was near to this shape to begin with.