Show me your ALEXANDRITES!

[sphenequeen]

LD-

I'm most interested in your pear Alex with the halo - can I ask the origin of the stone? As I am doing my research, I am finding that Alexandrites are coming out of countries other than Russia and Brazil, and I love the color of that pear.

Also, did you purchase that stone from one of the PS vendors? Just curious...

Thanks!

 

[LD]

The pear Alex is from Tunduru, Tanzania. The colour is graded as medium green/medium red-purple [pink] in incandescent lighting with a strong colour change.

I bought it from Multicolour.com many years ago. David is an excellent source for great Alex but he prices his stones accordingly (as you would assume). Unfortunately it's one of those gems that if it's natural and has a great colour change then you pay top $. There are very very very few bargains to be had and if you see one (anywhere other than a reputable seller), my suggestion would be to be incredibly wary. David only sells natural Alex and offers the option of having a lab report to accompany the stone.

As I'm sure you know the mines in Russia were closed many years ago and actually what was mined was a tiny amount - people attach a premium to Russian stones but in all honesty I've seen great Russian Alex and not so great. It's like everything else, there's good and bad and should be priced accordingly. The Brazilian mine was mined out about 8-10 years ago (I think - not certain of the time frames) and the Indian mines stopped after a Tsunami about 3 years ago. The Indian material, in my opinion, has the very best daytime green of all locations. I'm not sure if the Tunduru mine is still in operation though. The Sri Lankan and Madagascan mines may still be producing but my knowledge is about a year out of date so I can't say for certain.

If you're looking for a great Alex, ignore location and look for strength of colour change, clarity and size. Location shouldn't really enter into it because a good Alex, doesn't matter where it's from, will hold a premium!

BTW, if you see one that looks blue and turns to red run away as fast as you can - it's a sure sign of a synthetic! The other thing is one that is red is daylight and green in incandescent (i.e. reverse colour change) - again, it won't be real!

Hope that helps.

 

[sphenequeen]

Thanks for all of the advice, LD.
I am on the hunt!

SQ

 

[Arkteia]

This is a very bad picture which could not even be edited. I am posting it here for a reason. We were sitting in a restaurant, a huge company, and a friend of our family was having a small digital camera. He was making pictures, it was a candlelight dinner. I asked him to take pictures of my alexandrite ring in a candlelight. This is how, I imagine, Russian alexandrites were first viewed. Not a 60-watt bulb, but candlelight. He took a couple of pictures. With his poor photographer's skills, and my shaking hand (unsteady position), this is what we came up with. Part of the stone is covered by my finger, too. I also had to shrink it from 2500 pixel to 500 and then blow up to 50% so it is fuzzy. But this is a true picture, unedited, with no special light effects, just how my stone looked that evening.

The alexandrite is Brazilian. I yet have to capture the daytime green, which is beautiful emerald-green but it does not photograph well due to the cut. I have to wait till it is early morning in an area with strong UV component in the sun spectrum (I think).

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Oh how pretty, and what a romantic picture!!!

 

[Shazbo]

Hey experts..I'm a newbie and not at all clued up about stones but I love my colour changing rings. I have no idea for sure if they are alexandrite they make so many stunning colours in all lights..Have attached some pics ...ur all right it's pretty hard to get good photos. .. but here goes. Also few I took with
digital microscope..anyone on here good with this kind of detail. Looks like my big squ are ring has little alien pockets and tube type bits and lines like cuts inside??

 

[Shazbo]

Couple more pics

 

[Shazbo]

Fun with green laser pen.. makes the big ring scarlet read





Would be awesome if anyone can help with the stamps in last 2 pics.

Thank you

 

[Shazbo]

Hi All!

I know some of you have collected alexandrites and/or have made alexandrite pieces ~ would you care to share? I have been thinking about them A LOT lately and would love to know your stories.

Thanks in advance.

SQ

Check out my post please would love ur opinion.

Thank u

 

[Shazbo]

A few of mine - in my experience the "green" daylight colour is exceptionally difficult to photograph but the incandescent "red" or "purple" is very easy to photograph. You can see the difference in the daylight colour in the first picture. It's actually more green than either photo appears and incandescent colour in the second photo in is probably very realistic of what I see.:

3.06ct eye clean with superb colour change

2.78ct earrings with reasonable colour change

5.53ct trilliant cut bracelet with weak colour change

1.56ct pear necklace with superb colour change

I have over 50 pieces of Alexandrite most set but some unset.

Hello LD. Is olive type green known as one of the alexandrite colour changes. Would love you to check out my post. Thanks so much.

 

[Bron357]

Hi, lovely rings but I’m pretty sure they are synthetic.
Alexandrite is possibly the most synthetised gem around. Synthetics have been around over 100 years and in their day were quite expensive to buy.
Alexandrite, like Emerald, is classed as a type 2 gem so inclusions are expected.
Alexandrite in sizes over 2 carats are rare and over 10 carats almost impossible to find. Synthetic Alexandrite is almost always large sized.
The inclusions you photos show appear to be gas bubbles and curved striae , both diagnostic for a synthethic.
That said, an easy and simple test a jeweller can do for you is to test with a Presidum gem tester. Synthethic Alexandrite is either synthetic Spinel or synthetic Corundum and as such has a distinctly different thermal signature to Chrysoberyl which a Presidum gem tester can detect.

 

[LoveRed]

Andelain!

Thank you for being the only taker so far! I don't know why, but I thought more of the colored stoners had Alexandrites!

Your stones look very pretty - I kow how frustrating it can be trying to capture their beauty with a camera.

Thank you again for sharing ~ perhaps a few more PSers have these babies tucked away???

I have but synthetic I think in antique ring, I’ll see if I can dig it out.

 

[LoveRed]

Hi, lovely rings but I’m pretty sure they are synthetic.
Alexandrite is possibly the most synthetised gem around. Synthetics have been around over 100 years and in their day were quite expensive to buy.
Alexandrite, like Emerald, is classed as a type 2 gem so inclusions are expected.
Alexandrite in sizes over 2 carats are rare and over 10 carats almost impossible to find. Synthetic Alexandrite is almost always large sized.
The inclusions you photos show appear to be gas bubbles and curved striae , both diagnostic for a synthethic.
That said, an easy and simple test a jeweller can do for you is to test with a Presidum gem tester. Synthethic Alexandrite is either synthetic Spinel or synthetic Corundum and as such has a distinctly different thermal signature to Chrysoberyl which a Presidum gem tester can detect.

Yup, but there are some awesome antique rings

 

[LoveRed]

Yup, but there are some awesome antique rings

View attachment 627616 View attachment 627617

 

[voce]

View attachment 627616 View attachment 627617

LoveRed, you just seem to have something of everything when it comes to jewelry....thanks for sharing all of this eye candy!

 

[LoveRed]

LoveRed, you just seem to have something of everything when it comes to jewelry....thanks for sharing all of this eye candy!

Thanks, I have become a very eclectic collector. I don’t discriminate! Plus I have been buying at sales and fleas my whole life, and to this day. The ring I posted is an unmarked antique, tested gold and diamonds, paid $18 from a dealer at a local flea.

 

[ShinyPink]

The ring I posted is an unmarked antique, tested gold and diamonds, paid $18 from a dealer at a local flea.

I need to get out more...

 

[LoveRed]

I need to get out more...

Yup.,.. the stuff is out there!