Seaglow's Finds

[Seaglow]

I love to hunt for gems and I will post in this thread some from my collection and some finds.

First in the list is an exquisite color change sapphire. The stone is 2.04cts. from Africa and has a lighter color in one side but crystal clean and has good color in all lighting conditions. It changes from a nice blue to purple, and in some lighting, purple with magenta flashes.

Also in some photos is a 2.35ct. Burmese red spinel ring in 18k yellow gold. It is deep red with fiery red flashes, typical of Burmese origin of red color.

 

[Acinom]

Yay! I love collection threads.
You have a beautiful ring and color change sapphire!
Will you set your sapphire and do you have any setting ideas yet?

 

[Seaglow]

Yay! I love collection threads.
You have a beautiful ring and color change sapphire!
Will you set your sapphire and do you have any setting ideas yet?

Thank you, Acinom. I will set the cc sapphire in a ring in white gold with diamond or pink sapphire melees but not yet sure of the design.....

Meantime here is my halo ring collection.

Top row: Ruby, Paraiba
Middle row: Morganite, Star Sapphire, Pigeon's Blood Ruby, Icy Jade
Bottom row: Emerald, Rose Cut Diamond, Color Change Diospore (Zultanite), Ruby

 

[lilmosun]

Beautiful collection and the color change in your sapphire is to die for

 

[Seaglow]

Lilmosun,
I had to choose between a hazy (eye clean in person but doesn't sparkle) 5.15ct. color change and a 2.04ct. bright one. It was a decision of size vs. clarity and in the end a chose the smaller, more beautiful one against carat weight. The larger stone costs less than the one I got.

Another from my collection. These top quality royal blue Burmese sapphires I bought many moons ago, back when I was starting my collection. They were not that hard to find then and not crazily expensive, the days when bezel setting was a fad. I'm not sure whether to reset them but I was thinking the bezel setting protected the stones well as I wore these as my everyday jewelry ages ago.

 

[Acinom]

Oooh, I love love love sapphires. And a very royal colour indeed. And a very royal jewelry suite.

 

[Desertrose]

What a lovely suite! I like them set just as they are. But if you were going to add diamonds that might be a nice upgrade for them!

 

[Keeliamira]

Wow! What a lovely collection! Your new sapphire has a wonderful cc...and your older ones are gorgeous! I adore the color of your paraiba!

 

[Sungura]

Seaglow you have a beautiful collection. I really like both of your pear shaped rings set sideways. The blue burmese sapphires in yellow gold are fantastic. That royal blue color looks so nice in yellow gold. I'm excited to see more of the new color change sapphire. I have one that needs to be recut, but i love just taking it out and playing with it

 

[Burmesedaze]

Those are gorgeous blues! If you're into really nice royal blue sapphires, try to get them from the Baw Mar mine in Mogok. I've seen them IRL but they are really pricey and the ideal trade blue.

Love your ring collection!

 

[mochiko42]

Beautiful collection, Seaglow! I love your paraiba ring

 

[elle_71125]

What a lovely collection you have. I'm gonna have to say that the paraiba ring is my absolute favorite!

 

[Seaglow]

I like spinels simply because they come out of the ground beautiful and usually not heated or treated.

Here are Burmese stones.

I stumbled upon a vibrant violet lot and some bluish/purplish gray stones with some color changing from gray to faint purple or blue.

The violets and grays I keep for my collection with the bi-colored stone.

The rest of the fancy colored ones I will use for my jewelry designs.





The violets are very vibrant. Usually purple spinels have a gray tone or light in color. This lot is vivid with pinkish tone.


Bi-colored spinel.


6 shades of grey.

 

[Lovinggems]

Great collection Seaglow, thanks for the photos!

 

[Seaglow]

Thank Lovinggems.

Here's some type A jade.

An imperial jade ring with imperial jade earrings and bi-colored earrings icy jade earrings.









A small imperial Jade pendant with pink sapphires.



Pinkish lavender carved owl pendant.



Carved monkey in lavender jade.



Icy Jade rings.

 

[Burmesedaze]

The bi-coloured icy jade earrings are lovely! I've not seen the likes here so far

 

[Seaglow]

So I'm sort of hoarding mandarin spessartites. Lol. I prefer lighter than Fanta orange. I like them a bit velvety but still glowy with no extinction...I have no Fanta around so maybe an Hermes box would do for color comparison...I might get one Fanta and one on the reddish side as well but will definitely make a ring as part of my ring collection.

 

[Acinom]

I love your bright green jade as well as your Hermes orange stones.
Any idea on how you will set one of your orange stones?

 

[Seaglow]

Thanks, Acinom. I still have no clue on what design! The stones are eye-catching on their own. Maybe with diamonds? Or pink sapphires? Or tsavorites? I'm open to suggestions.


I would also like to know the PSers' opinion on what stone to set in a ring. I will only set one. If you had to choose among the stones, which would it be? I got some darker ones today and some cabs, and a bigger one at 3.99cts. that is more crystal than velvety but also included.

Would appreciate any feedback!

Here are the photos on different angles under LED light.

 

[Burmesedaze]

Perhaps a faceted brighter orange for a ring stone?

The darker cabs could pass off as amber to the casual observer.

 

[Acinom]

I have a huge weak spot for cabs and yours are no exception.
What kind of settings do you love?
What a luxurious problem to have

 

[chroman]

Tough choice!! Of the faceted ones, I don't think you could go wrong with any of the three ovals between your middle and ring fingers on the hand shot. The smaller one nearest your fingernails might be my favorite of those three. But they're all amazing

 

[Seaglow]

Thank you for your thoughts!

Burmesedaze, you are right. They do look like amber. Some brownish tones appear on some lighting.

Acinom,

I love cabs and rose cuts and checkerboards. However, my cabs for this bunch are small, and the biggest one (2.33cts.) doesn't have a good inclusion in natural light. So I will go for faceted this time. I have some color change sapphires as side stones. They are dark gray in most lighting it can turn dark purple or dark bluish green in some lighting.

Chroman,

The ones you chose are among the biggest and I'm considering those.

The middle stone I like the texture but there is a small natural black dot inclusion on the surface. The round one seems to appear cleanest and the biggest one which is more crystal performs best in some lighting but the inclusions are more visible in bright light.

I'm leaning towards these but might go for the biggest or round. Yellow gold might make them a bit orange or darker (?) but white gold seem to look good on the stones. Not sure what metal color yet.....

Here are photos on outdoor natural light before noon.

 

[Seaglow]

Emeralds



The cab is a recent purchase. It's a Columbian double dome 1.59 carats, and I plan to set it with the lower dome face up, as it is cleaner on that side.

 

[Seaglow]

Still have projects lined up but here are some few loose zircons waiting in boxes. I plan to buy a bright blue or blue green in a larger size. The biggest one a golden yellow and the smallest a brick red but can turn reddish brown or stoplight red in some lighting.


In LED lighting:



In morning natural daylight:

 

[Seaglow]

Spinels - rough and cut stones side by side.

 

[dk168]

Nice collection, thanks for sharing!

DK

 

[Seaglow]

Thanks, DK.

So I finally got a bigger blue zircon. I chose between a blue green cushion and a bigger faced oval darker blue but chose a sky blue stone. Originally I was opting for the blue green stone, but it didn't register well in fluorescent lighting, at least not beside the sky blue stone. The one I got is 4.75 carats and bottom heavy, but very bright in different lighting conditions.

Here it is in diffused fluorescent light.



In LED lighting.

 

[Seaglow]

Photo on a rainy morning.

Demantoid, Paraiba, Zircon. The demantoid looks nicer in person.

 

[Seaglow]

Btw, the violet spinels, upon equipment checking....and eventually to erase doubt, lab testing, turned out to be rhodolites. that's the thing about gem hunting. Many could look the same without equipment testing. I got those at Mei Sai, at the Thai Burmese border.


Meanwhile, I saw some pink diamonds at another thread. Here are my studs with a matching solitaire ring. .20ct. each. The stones are orangy pink in person, so it looks like salmon pink. I got these many years back before prices sky-rocketed.

Here in LED light:





In fluorescent light: