So I purchased a blue spinel from jewelsapphire....

[innerkitten]

I asked around here if anyone had any experience with them and against better judgement decided to try them out anyway. Had it been a more expensive stone I would not have made a purchase but for $120 I thought I'd just try and see how it went. It's a nice size about close to 8x10, I think. It is a dark stone, but it's also a nice color. It is blue as advertised. I guess it has some grey and violet. It's biggest crime is the cut. Major tilt window and half and half extinction. Not sure if it's deep enough for a recut. If not it's a good class stone and fun to play with. Being a spinel it is very sparkly and gives off interesting sparks of violet and blue.

I took some photos. Keep in mind I live in a house with very bad lighting and it's an over cast day. I'm willing to bet the color on this stone looks nice with bright lighting. I tried not to flatter the stone too much but just show it as it is in different rooms and even out doors under overcast lighting.

 

[innerkitten]

Photos are uploading onto PS a bit washed out. Oh well.

 

[innerkitten]

From the top I think. Nice to finally see a blue spinel in person BTW. You know I've been curious about them.

 

[innerkitten]

...

 

[FrekeChild]

It might be deep enough to clean up the pavilion angles and see if you can get *more* out of it. Do you like the body color enough to take the risk? Recutting would also run the risk of changing the color I think...

 

[innerkitten]

...

 

[innerkitten]

It might be deep enough to clean up the pavilion angles and see if you can get *more* out of it. Do you like the body color enough to take the risk? Recutting would also run the risk of changing the color I think...

I may look into it. I actually like the color but the cut, eh.

 

[chrono]

Nice colour for the price. I'm with Freke that I would contact a lapidary or two to find out if it can be touched up. Perhaps not a full recut but just minor tweaking to minimize windowing issues.

 

[minousbijoux]

Well, it has some good things going for it - the price, for what it is, is not expensive at all. The cutting is not bad either. The extinction at this point I feel like comes with the territory of most ovals so whaddayagonna do? The thing that would be my irritation is the color. I hate when the reality is that the gem is less saturated than their photos indicate. This one is not wildly desaturated, so while there is grey, it is not overwheming, but still, it bothers me that they advertise it slightly differently. But that said, the price is cheap, and if you could make it even more alive with a recut, its definitely worth looking into.

 

[LD]

Just out of a matter of interest, how does it compare to the vendor photo?????

 

[innerkitten]

I tried to find the vendor photo a few times but it was removed right after I purchased it. It's a very no frills service with him BTW. He's not good at answering emails. It arrived in just one week which I think it pretty good, all the way from Colombo to San Francisco. I think the color was pretty close to what I was expecting but it may have looked a little lighter in the photo ( if I remember right). I don't think the color was changed with photo shop or anything. Bright lighting maybe. I was expecting that and avoided the stones that looked super dark in the photos. I was pleased with the color when I opened the package.

I may contact Dan Stair about a re cut.

P.S. I also tried to avoid the stones that looked really obviously grey. And there are quite a few on that site.