Spinels - my little collection

[katharath]

I just added a lovely spinel to my collection so thought I would post pics of it plus (repeat) pics of my entire spinel collection. The new one was from Dana's sale at MC. There were several that looked to be similar material and I almost bought a different one that looked VERY similar to the one I got but was bigger (1.51 cts vs 2.5+ cts - I got the smaller one). I ended up choosing this one though bc it was a tiny bit cleaner (VVs2 vs VVs1) and I liked the cut a bit better. I'm so glad I got this one!! It's my first lighter spinel. Dana described it as pink to lavender and it is. It's a very very pale pink and appears almost colorless in some lighting. In fluorescent it shifts to lavender. My focus for this gem was dispersion - not so much color, although I do like the color. I can't seem to get the dispersion to photograph well (or at all, lol) - but it's very much there. The sparkle is gorgeous!! It's an OEC modified cut and I've long admired this cut and have wanted one...love love love this gem. Dana was incredibly nice to deal with, truly excellent customer service, and honestly I cannot believe I hadn't bought from him before! I plan to make up for that in the future with many more purchases, lol.

Lots of pics to follow. First the Dana spinel (which is 6.9 mm, 1.51 cts, Burmese, round OEC modified by Dana/recut by Dana). I've become obsessed with spinels lately and I now have a small collection of loose spinels, several blues to blue gray to lavender; then the mahenges; then this new light one. First two photos are Dana's for those of you who like to compare vendor photos.

 

[katharath]

my pics, these are indirect daylight

 

[katharath]

showing more lavender in fluorescent

 

[katharath]

some groups shots

 

[katharath]

couple of misc shots

 

[katharath]

I think I've captured the colors fairly well although I can't seem to get the sparkle nearly as well as I'd like to. And of course they pretty much all shift (although not much shift in the mahenges at all, but the rest all shift at least somewhat). I really can't believe that it took me so long to discover spinels...they're such gorgeous gems!

 

[katharath]

Oh I'm sorry - I've been writing fluorescent and I meant to say incandescent - apologies!! Anywhere you read that, just switch the words out, lol.

 

[JewelFreak]

Love the new one, Katharath -- nice delicate color(s) & I love the shift to lavender. Your various blues are totally yummy too! Thanks for the peek at them.

--- Laurie

 

[NKOTB]

Nice collection! I love that Mahenge pair - any plans for them yet? Or any of these?

 

[katharath]

Laurie - thank you Hope you liked the pics!

NKOTB - I'm planning to have the mahenges set as earrings soon, hopefully! They're one of my very favorite things that I own right now. Just something simple, probably prong style as I don't want them darkened up the least bit by a bezel (even though I love bezels...) And, I've been thinking about maybe doing a solitaire ring for the Dana spinel. I wasn't really planning to at first, but I adore that pretty little thing! Plus it's my favorite size for a solitaire - I really like 7 mm on my hand, it's within my sweet spot (6.5-7.5 mm).

Anyway, thanks for the kind words, ladies

 

[RTFrog]

Hi Katharath,

Very nice collection, I really like the shots with the different colors. Those mahenge's should make a very vibrant pair of earrings. I look forward to the picture of them all set up. The blues around that lavender are stunning - that would make a very pretty and unique ring or pendant. Very pretty shift, captured very well, in the non-mahenges too!

The dispersion on that OEC must be beautiful. Very hard to capture what it does in photos. I looked at that one too, and am glad to see it go to a good home, is appreciated, and how it turned out

 

[minousbijoux]

They all look quite pretty - love all those colors - but my favorite might just be that lavender/violet/light purple round. So pretty! Does it show a lot of dispersion? Actually which of your stones shows the most dispersion?

 

[katharath]

Hi Katharath,

Very nice collection, I really like the shots with the different colors. Those mahenge's should make a very vibrant pair of earrings. I look forward to the picture of them all set up. The blues around that lavender are stunning - that would make a very pretty and unique ring or pendant. Very pretty shift, captured very well, in the non-mahenges too!

The dispersion on that OEC must be beautiful. Very hard to capture what it does in photos. I looked at that one too, and am glad to see it go to a good home, is appreciated, and how it turned out

Thank you RTfrog The dispersion on the OEC is definitely what I bought it for, and it is exactly what I was hoping for.

I have this pair of mahenges to set and also a small pair of Ceylon blue sapphires - I was leaning towards setting the sapphires first but I've been rethinking that the last few days. I have this vision of being able to look in a mirror from across a room and see those bright little mahenges in my ears, lol. They are small but so bright - I think they will make a darling pair of earrings.

 

[katharath]

They all look quite pretty - love all those colors - but my favorite might just be that lavender/violet/light purple round. So pretty! Does it show a lot of dispersion? Actually which of your stones shows the most dispersion?

It's a pretty little thing, isn't it? The dispersion on it in sunlight is quite good IMO. It's second only to my new Dana spinel in dispersion, as compared to all of my spinels. (The new Dana spinel shows the most dispersion overall).
I bought the lavender round that you like completely on impulse, but I'm so glad I got it. It's 5.8 mm, although I'm not sure of the exact ct weight. I got it on LT not long ago at all. I've been spinel crazy lately!

 

[Xrisus]

I must say I really like your red mahenges, such a wonderful color-and the elongated cushion is such a nice shape!

 

[ilovegemstones]

What eye candy! That made my day. My favourite is the Mahenge cushion. What are your plans for that one? What a gorgeous ring it would be!

 

[kenny]

What a beautiful collection!

 

[chrono]

Lovely collection and my favourite is the lavender blue round (the middle one in the 3 blue stone shot). Would you consider doing a 2 stone or some sort of bypass ring? I rather like such settings these days because not only do you get to see 2 different colours at the same time, but you save a bit in the setting cost too.

 

[alice87]

Love you blue and lavender spinel, they are so lovely. Keep repeating, lovely ....

 

[katharath]

Thank you all for your nice posts!! I really appreciate them. I'm glad that people seem to have enjoyed the pics. I love taking pics of my gems and sharing them over here. I wish my pics were better, but they actually are better than they used to be, lol!

Chrono - that's a really good idea about the bypass ring. I hadn't even considered that but I like it. I think that would look amazing with those two gems. The larger blue spinel is a darker gem (that's my Barry blue), but the color in sunlight can be such a beautiful blueberry color - and of course being a Barry gem, the cut is quite beautiful. I think it looks very nice with the lavender spinel. I am going to seriously consider your suggestion.

Kenny - that's such a compliment coming from you with your lovely FCDs! I sort of feel like my spinels are my version of FCDs, or at least the closest I will ever get, lol. The sparkle and dispersion on some of them reminds me of diamonds

Ilovegemstones - thank you, that little cushion is one of my top favorite gems that I own. I keep thinking that I might have it set in a simple stacker (to replace the one I just sold!) but I really don't know for sure. Maybe I'll do something fancier.

Xrisus and Alice - I see you both like different gems the best So you see that's why I needed all of them - I love them too! Thank you both for the nice posts.