Show your Spessartite

[athenaworth]

Roger Dery just posted this one today on his FB page. This is what he says about it:

Nigerian oval. Final specs:
4.67ct ~ 10.0 x 8.45 x 6.65mm
In the hand, there is no brown, and is bright throughout the perimeter. I adjusted how the culet came together to remove the natural 'bowtie effect'. Another Tangerine Tango!

Of course I have no clue what the price is, but it's pretty.

 

[chrono]

5 carats of goodness from Loliondo, Tanzania, precision cut by Jeff White.

 

[bright ice]

I have this coming from Gene @ Precision Gem. He picked up some pretty clean Tanzanian rough while in Tuscan. He reports it's a fireball, no extinction, only some minor sugar crystals . I can't wait to see it. I'll post my own photos when I have it.

4.36ct Oval Loliondo

 

[colorluvr]

Congrats Bright Ice! Can't wait to hear what you think of it in person.

 

[Kismet]

Here are my two.

 

[T L]

I have this coming from Gene @ Precision Gem. He picked up some pretty clean Tanzanian rough while in Tuscan. He reports it's a fireball, no extinction, only some minor sugar crystals . I can't wait to see it. I'll post my own photos when I have it.

4.36ct Oval Loliondo

I have a loliondo spessartite from Gene, and I hope you love it as much as I love mine! Post pics when you get it.

 

[bright ice]

Richard Wise has two that I am somewhat interested in. Give me your thoughts on the three (including the above photo) as to overall qualities.

http://www.rwwise.com/products/id|1476

http://www.rwwise.com/products/id|1963

 

[T L]

Richard Wise has two that I am somewhat interested in. Give me your thoughts on the three (including the above photo) as to overall qualities.

http://www.rwwise.com/products/id|1476

http://www.rwwise.com/products/id|1963

If the photos are accurate, the bottom link shows a stone that is an unattractive yellowish color with some brown in it. I don't like it at all, but then again, it might be more glowy in person.

I like the top one better, but it may be a little on the brown side IRL though. It's very clean though, and well cut.

Spessartites are so hard to evaluate from photographs as orange is a very difficult color to photograph, as is green.

 

[anythingorange]

The one from Gene looks beautiful, and a nice size, too! I recently purchased mine from Richard Wise, and he was a pleasure to do business with. He was very quick to respond to my emails and he generously spent a lot of time on the phone with me. Based on my experience with Richard, his still photographs do not do his stones justice. If you're interested in his two stones, don't hesitate to contact him. He's very accessible, and he might even tell you some fun stories too (he told me about his experience with the famous Pumpkin diamond).

Good luck in your search!

 

[minousbijoux]

Of all the stones posted on this thread, what is the consensus on which would be considered closest to true mandarin, or "fanta" color?

I'm curious because probably like most of us, I have seen everything labeled as true mandarin! I know the color I love - Namibians such as Cell's beautiful 6 carat stone. I may be crazy, but I will continue the search for my holy grail, a saturated, eye clean, Namibian with that ever so slight hint of red...sigh

 

[T L]

Of all the stones posted on this thread, what is the consensus on which would be considered closest to true mandarin, or "fanta" color?

I'm curious because probably like most of us, I have seen everything labeled as true mandarin! I know the color I love - Namibians such as Cell's beautiful 6 carat stone. I may be crazy, but I will continue the search for my holy grail, a saturated, eye clean, Namibian with that ever so slight hint of red...sigh

I don't want to comment specifically on stones in this thread because that might be insulting to some. I will say that for me, a true Fanta or mandarin with high saturation should look like this color or maybe slightly lighter, but the same general hue.

As for Fanta soda, the color of it varies I have found out, based on what country you're in, so I don't want to say it looks just like that.

You really need to see one in person, as a static photo never ever ever does these stones justice.

 

[T L]

Here's a really old photo I took of three of mine.

The one on the left is reddish orange (Nigeria)

The one on the right is a Gene precision cut gem from Loliondo Tanzania, and yellowish.

The one in the middle is my most pure orange stone.

The photo is bad, sorry, but at least it gives you a range of hues on these stones.

 

[T L]

I may be crazy, but I will continue the search for my holy grail, a saturated, eye clean, Namibian with that ever so slight hint of red...sigh

I don't know if they're still mining in Namibia, but the famed original mine where the first deposit of the legendary orange stones came from, has been long closed (as far as I know). The stones were rarely eye clean, and had some silk in them. I do think the slight bit of silk makes them a bit extra glowy!!

 

[Enerchi]

WOW!!! TL - those are AMAZING! You have the most fascinating collection of stones/rings! That collection is TDF! (and I'm not even an orange fan!!... I think I may need to rethink that ....)

 

[anythingorange]

TL, you're killing me here! Gorgeous! For some reason, I had it in my mind that I didn't care for the trillion-shaped stones, but I love yours! This is not good news for the poor husband.

 

[anythingorange]

This would provide some seriously good finger coverage!

 

[minousbijoux]

This would provide some seriously good finger coverage!

Yeah, but might get caught on things...

I know the Namibian mine has been closed (or at least Namibia is not producing the gorgeous, glowy, saturated stones as in the past), but I know there is rough out there and second hand stones periodically. I'm not in any hurry, as long as its decently cut...

 

[Fly Girl]

Here's mine. Dana at Mastercutgems had several spessartites a while back from his African source, and I just asked him to select a pretty one for me. A 6 x 8 mm Loliondo oval set in a LOGR 14k white gold ring. I like playing with it in the sun. It wasn't a big investment and is a lot of fun to wear.

 

[Arkteia]

http://www.peterlees.com/productSelect.php

The photos of my best one, a true Namibian from Africagems, were lost when my computer broke. It is in the left upper corner of Peter Lees' website and trust me, it looks exactly like in his picture, pure orange. I am posting a pale copy of original picture.

 

[Arkteia]

A 1-ct stone bought from Gary Braun. Very clean and very orange, too bad that it is small. I have plans for it, though.

 

[Arkteia]

This is a 5.33 ct stone, likely a Lloliondo, very orange but very windowed. With a sad heart, but I have to recut it to close the window, at least partially, it is too large.

And a Lloliondo from Gemfix

 

[T L]

http://www.peterlees.com/productSelect.php

The photos of my best one, a true Namibian from Africagems, were lost when my computer broke. It is in the left upper corner of Peter Lees' website and trust me, it looks exactly like in his picture, pure orange. I am posting a pale copy of original picture.

Wowza, the photo on Peter's site blows yours away. It's a gorgeous gem. You need a new camera! Definitely traffic cone orange!

 

[LD]

http://www.peterlees.com/productSelect.php

The photos of my best one, a true Namibian from Africagems, were lost when my computer broke. It is in the left upper corner of Peter Lees' website and trust me, it looks exactly like in his picture, pure orange. I am posting a pale copy of original picture.

O M G!

 

[NKOTB]

Richard Wise has two that I am somewhat interested in. Give me your thoughts on the three (including the above photo) as to overall qualities.

http://www.rwwise.com/products/id|1476

http://www.rwwise.com/products/id|1963

I really like this first one of Richard's. I tend to prefer the stones that are less yellow. I also really like the cut.

 

[ChrisA222]

Hi, I've been a lurker for a while..I just thought I'd post a picture of my recently aquired and "fixed" spessartite. I bought this originally inexpensively from an Ebay member...a very clean pear of 3.6cts and described as "mandarin" (I realize everyone has a different definition and I took this description with a grain of salt) because of the great price I got, the size, the clarity, and I liked the color. I then shipped it for a precision re-cut (Dan Stair) and the stone looks much much better. It is now 2.55cts but faces the same (9x6 if memory serves).It is much more brilliant now, and really sparkles when you move it around.

I'm a collector, so it won't go into jewelry unless I sell it to someone else as such. To me the stone seems way Orange with maybe a little brown, but to Dan it was "very Reddish, Reddish-Orange". He says "not Mandarin". I say "dark Mandarin".

I'd definately be interested in opinions. My total investment into the stone is less than $200 so I think I came out ahead. My pictures are much closer IRL, Dan's photo shows it much much darker and redder than in person. He also re-cut a Morganite so that is the other photo. That stone IRL is much, much paler...

 

[T L]

Hi, I've been a lurker for a while..I just thought I'd post a picture of my recently aquired and "fixed" spessartite. I bought this originally inexpensively from an Ebay member...a very clean pear of 3.6cts and described as "mandarin" (I realize everyone has a different definition and I took this description with a grain of salt) because of the great price I got, the size, the clarity, and I liked the color. I then shipped it for a precision re-cut (Dan Stair) and the stone looks much much better. It is now 2.55cts but faces the same (9x6 if memory serves).It is much more brilliant now, and really sparkles when you move it around.

I'm a collector, so it won't go into jewelry unless I sell it to someone else as such. To me the stone seems way Orange with maybe a little brown, but to Dan it was "very Reddish, Reddish-Orange". He says "not Mandarin". I say "dark Mandarin".

I'd definately be interested in opinions. My total investment into the stone is less than $200 so I think I came out ahead. My pictures are much closer IRL, Dan's photo shows it much much darker and redder than in person. He also re-cut a Morganite so that is the other photo. That stone IRL is much, much paler...

Based on your photos, I would say it is a regular spessartite, not a mandarin or bright orange one. Unfortunately, most vendors are now touting regular spessartites as "mandarin," or "Fanta orange" and you have to be careful.

 

[LD]

I would agree with TL that giving it a label of mandarin would not be correct as it has a lot of brown in your photos (and red in Dan's). It is a regular spess but you've certainly improved the look of the gem with the recut and it sounds like you're delighted with the result which means it's money well spent.

 

[TonyMontana]

Hi!

Here is a picture of rough mandarin garnet. I thought after all these cut stones you guys might appreciated seeing some juicy mandarin rough aswell. Its an old photo which was taken some time ago and ass someone already mentioned the original mine in Namibia is played out or at least not economical to mine anymore...

Cheers

 

[ChrisA222]

Ok, well I figured as much. I thought if it was more Orange than Red, that it would be some form of "Mandarin". What kind of value would this stone have if sold by a retailer? Does my investment of around $200 allow for any profit if I were to decide to sell the stone? Or is it a loser or worth about what is into it? As I said Im a collector but I do want to try to sell some stones for profit if I ever end up making good decisions on what I'm buying and what I'm investing to have it fixed/recut.

I don't really need sugar-coated responses as I"m trying to learn what I should look at and what I shouldn't as far as value of any stone. When I see spesartites smaller than mine at not-really that much better cutting going for $600 or more I get excited. I see top stones with top color here going for thousands. So with a good cut (that it already has) but not ideal color, is it still worth something like a $500 or $600 price tag or is it a loser? LOL. I don't know how much value the precision-cutting provides either...

I've been collecting/learning as much as I can for a couple of years now..and somehow I thought this particular stone was worth the investment in recutting and thought that it would end up allowing me to make some kind of profit...

Thoughts?

 

[LD]

Please don't try to make profits on stones. It's normally a non-starter unless the gem is super rare or super wonderful. Regular garnets dont fit into that category. If you look a page back you'll see a red spess that I have (3.81ct) and I bought it for around $40. Of course there are people out there who pay silly amounts of money for dreadful stones and that will always be the case! What you see for sale at $600 may also never sell. So buying and selling stones for a profit is a risk.

The only time I've made a profit when selling stones is with alexandrites and paraiba tourmalines. The only reason I've made a profit is because I bought years ago when prices were lower and I bought good quality stones. If they were poor quality I'm not sure I would have been able to sell for what I bought them for.