Spinels

[Topazosjones]

For $18 I dont think it's likely a natural spinel

Its a cheap spinel I'm lucky it's not cloudy or included too bad,it's Burmese of the pastel variety with Lil silver

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

They are all beautiful but the color of “wonky” is blowing my mind!!!! Where did you get that beauty? It’s stunning!

Hallo

I bought it from https://gemkeepers.com/collections/spinel.

The owner also has another store: https://www.starruby.in/store/

Thank you! I adore the colour too! It is pure pink, no hint of anything else which is exactly what I wanted.

 

[Cerulean]

Hallo

I bought it from https://gemkeepers.com/collections/spinel.

The owner also has another store: https://www.starruby.in/store/

Thank you! I adore the colour too! It is pure pink, no hint of anything else which is exactly what I wanted.

Thank you so much for sharing! It's just gorgeous.

 

[caolsen]

Can I play? Here’s my spinel

 

[idola]

Here's mine! I bought a pair from Yvonne and made it into two rings, one for me and one for my closest friend.

 

[T L]

Twinkle twinkle!

 

[Topazosjones]

Can I play? Here’s my spinel

Its so coooool,unique color to be sure

 

[woweezowee]

For $18 I dont think it's likely a natural spinel

@Topazosjones, I looked at the vendor you've been buying from, kohinoorgems10 on Ebay, and they are one of the immoral vendors selling fake certified stones at too-good-to-be-true prices (a 33-ct natural red spinel for $149 anyone?). I am surprised only lovedogs has jumped in to warn thus far.

Spinel are AWESOME but @Topazosjones, you definitely need to do more homework on their properties and market pricing before buying anything else. I've never seen a whiskey-colored spinel like what you posted, and anything as blue and big and CLEAN as you posted is most definitely fake.

These immoral eBay sellers are rampant, and eBay does nothing to control the marketplace, leaving naive newbies like you to get fleeced into buying big hunks of glass at prices outrageous ... even for glass.

It's even worse when I see these stones turn up on places like Etsy being hawked by US-based clueless "dealers" who mark up the glass (or whatever substitute) at an even greater markup along with the fake certificates. Or clueless hobbyist jewelers selling the stones as centerpieces in their rings.

TL;DR: If it's too good to be true, it is. On eBay, don't even bother looking at positive ratings. Read the negative ones. That's when you can tell what's really going on, like these left for kohinoorgems10:

• Being familiar with real turquoise, I was curious about this suspicious-looking thing, so I made a low bid and "won". Received a chunk of white stone or plaster, painted blue, with... get this: Dark green sawdust glued in the cracks. Claimed to be natural turquoise, even in product details. I wish I could post a picture of it broken open, and a close-up of the weird glued-on sawdust.
• Glass items. False Certificate. RIp-off. Avoid this seller.
• The listing showed a Trapezoid-shaped Topaz, but the delivered item was a triangle-shaped polymer glass piece. Too bad I can't attach a picture to this review. Buyers beware!
• definitely looks like plastic or resin, it was only two dollars so I should have expected, but came with a card from an unreputable or fake lab.

 

[nutellakitty]

@Topazosjones, I looked at the vendor you've been buying from, kohinoorgems10 on Ebay, and they are one of the immoral vendors selling fake certified stones at too-good-to-be-true prices (a 33-ct natural red spinel for $149 anyone?). I am surprised only lovedogs has jumped in to warn thus far.

Spinel are AWESOME but @Topazosjones, you definitely need to do more homework on their properties and market pricing before buying anything else. I've never seen a whiskey-colored spinel like what you posted, and anything as blue and big and CLEAN as you posted is most definitely fake.

These immoral eBay sellers are rampant, and eBay does nothing to control the marketplace, leaving naive newbies like you to get fleeced into buying big hunks of glass at prices outrageous ... even for glass.

It's even worse when I see these stones turn up on places like Etsy being hawked by US-based clueless "dealers" who mark up the glass (or whatever substitute) at an even greater markup along with the fake certificates. Or clueless hobbyist jewelers selling the stones as centerpieces in their rings.

TL;DR: If it's too good to be true, it is. On eBay, don't even bother looking at positive ratings. Read the negative ones. That's when you can tell what's really going on, like these left for kohinoorgems10:

• Being familiar with real turquoise, I was curious about this suspicious-looking thing, so I made a low bid and "won". Received a chunk of white stone or plaster, painted blue, with... get this: Dark green sawdust glued in the cracks. Claimed to be natural turquoise, even in product details. I wish I could post a picture of it broken open, and a close-up of the weird glued-on sawdust.
• Glass items. False Certificate. RIp-off. Avoid this seller.
• The listing showed a Trapezoid-shaped Topaz, but the delivered item was a triangle-shaped polymer glass piece. Too bad I can't attach a picture to this review. Buyers beware!
• definitely looks like plastic or resin, it was only two dollars so I should have expected, but came with a card from an unreputable or fake lab.

I am glad you pointed out. When I saw this post there are so many ????????? come to my mind.

 

[Topazosjones]

@Topazosjones, I looked at the vendor you've been buying from, kohinoorgems10 on Ebay, and they are one of the immoral vendors selling fake certified stones at too-good-to-be-true prices (a 33-ct natural red spinel for $149 anyone?). I am surprised only lovedogs has jumped in to warn thus far.

Spinel are AWESOME but @Topazosjones, you definitely need to do more homework on their properties and market pricing before buying anything else. I've never seen a whiskey-colored spinel like what you posted, and anything as blue and big and CLEAN as you posted is most definitely fake.

These immoral eBay sellers are rampant, and eBay does nothing to control the marketplace, leaving naive newbies like you to get fleeced into buying big hunks of glass at prices outrageous ... even for glass.

It's even worse when I see these stones turn up on places like Etsy being hawked by US-based clueless "dealers" who mark up the glass (or whatever substitute) at an even greater markup along with the fake certificates. Or clueless hobbyist jewelers selling the stones as centerpieces in their rings.

TL;DR: If it's too good to be true, it is. On eBay, don't even bother looking at positive ratings. Read the negative ones. That's when you can tell what's really going on, like these left for kohinoorgems10:

• Being familiar with real turquoise, I was curious about this suspicious-looking thing, so I made a low bid and "won". Received a chunk of white stone or plaster, painted blue, with... get this: Dark green sawdust glued in the cracks. Claimed to be natural turquoise, even in product details. I wish I could post a picture of it broken open, and a close-up of the weird glued-on sawdust.
• Glass items. False Certificate. RIp-off. Avoid this seller.
• The listing showed a Trapezoid-shaped Topaz, but the delivered item was a triangle-shaped polymer glass piece. Too bad I can't attach a picture to this review. Buyers beware!
• definitely looks like plastic or resin, it was only two dollars so I should have expected, but came with a card from an unreputable or fake lab.

I checked out the cert and it checks out,it's as specified except the fact that it's not dark

 

[lovedogs]

I will say again that the chances of you getting a blue spinel for $18 is extremely unlikely

 

[woweezowee]

I checked out the cert and it checks out,it's as specified except the fact that it's not dark

What do you mean by "checked out the cert"? Do you mean you cross-referenced your certificate with the website listed on the certificate to ensure the number's matched? If so, did you look at the rest of the lab's website? I've seen dummy lab websites used by scammers. A bunch of pages on the lab's site will look half-way legit and then you'll land on a page with "lorem ipsum etc etc." because the person setting up the website forgot to get rid of the website builder template pages and text. Or, it's just a garbage lab. Perhaps if you post the lab info other's can chime in to help you determine.

The bottom line is the seller who sold you the spinel are hawking obvious fakes. I know it's a bit of humble pie to swallow, but it's cheap pie. Some people get ripped off for hundreds or thousands.

Here is a 43-ct. "trapiche ruby" with cert (!!!) and an opening bid of 0.99. Is that Sharpie they used on it?

 

[musicloveranthony]

Here is a 43-ct. "trapiche ruby" with cert (!!!) and an opening bid of 0.99. Is that Sharpie they used on it?

That's one of the most hilarious gem pics I've ever seen. I... wow... lol

 

[woweezowee]

That's one of the most hilarious gem pics I've ever seen. I... wow... lol

Right??!! Looks like a well-drawn kindergartner's sun. This was on the first page of the seller's listings, too. God knows what else they're selling...

 

[Topazosjones]

Got the orange one,heated

 

[Topazosjones]

Here's the blue

 

[Topazosjones]

Also heated

 

[pokerface]

What do you mean by "checked out the cert"? Do you mean you cross-referenced your certificate with the website listed on the certificate to ensure the number's matched? If so, did you look at the rest of the lab's website? I've seen dummy lab websites used by scammers. A bunch of pages on the lab's site will look half-way legit and then you'll land on a page with "lorem ipsum etc etc." because the person setting up the website forgot to get rid of the website builder template pages and text. Or, it's just a garbage lab. Perhaps if you post the lab info other's can chime in to help you determine.

The bottom line is the seller who sold you the spinel are hawking obvious fakes. I know it's a bit of humble pie to swallow, but it's cheap pie. Some people get ripped off for hundreds or thousands.

Here is a 43-ct. "trapiche ruby" with cert (!!!) and an opening bid of 0.99. Is that Sharpie they used on it?

This is truly laugh out loud hilarious. At least the listing is honest: natural with enhancement! But for real, this is a GREAT example of why PS should update its sticky on buying colored stones as I recently suggested. It turns out that a "natural" ruby that has been pumped with lead glass and then colored on with a marker holds none of the value that is traditionally ascribed by the word "natural."

 

[Topazosjones]

This is truly laugh out loud hilarious. At least the listing is honest: natural with enhancement! But for real, this is a GREAT example of why PS should update its sticky on buying colored stones as I recently suggested. It turns out that a "natural" ruby that has been pumped with lead glass and then colored on with a marker holds none of the value that is traditionally ascribed by the word "natural."

Very disheartening,it showed that gems are still,well,worth what you'll be willing to pay,the orange stone is the only one I got that was as described and as well cut as suggested.

 

[pokerface]

Very disheartening,it showed that gems are still,well,worth what you'll be willing to pay,the orange stone is the only one I got that was as described and as well cut as suggested.

The orange stone is no better than any of the others. It is also synthetic, simulated, or highly treated. It's not even necessarily a spinel. My best guess is synthetic orange sapphire. It is not worth more than a couple bucks, which is why it's being sold at such a low price point.

 

[lovedogs]

Again, the stones you got arent natural spinel

 

[Topazosjones]

My boyfriend gifted me a very nice pink purple spinel in yellow gold,his mother bought it in japan

 

[CaseyLouLou]

My boyfriend gifted me a very nice pink purple spinel in yellow gold,his mother bought it in japan

Gorgeous! Love, love the setting and that’s definitely a real spinel.

Sorry you got screwed on the others. You should file a claim on eBay. Genuine blue spinels are extremely rare and don’t look like that.

 

[VividRed]

I think we have another delusional poster who does not accept honest feedback and advice. At least the amounts of money being spent are minimal so the damage (so far) is limited.

But seriously @Topazosjones - you may want to pause your buying frenzy, browse a bit through this forum, and resume once you think you are ready. The things you bought are pretty, however they are not what you think they are. No doubt about that

 

[Topazosjones]

I think we have another delusional poster who does not accept honest feedback and advice. At least the amounts of money being spent are minimal so the damage (so far) is limited.

But seriously @Topazosjones - you may want to pause your buying frenzy, browse a bit through this forum, and resume once you think you are ready. The things you bought are pretty, however they are not what you think they are. No doubt about that

I've spent money from my change jar
I'm sorry that you feel the need to post on others behalf regarding my fun purchases.
A pity to think I'm a subject of discussion at any rate as this is a somewhat open forum,your opinion is your own and any problem associated is your own I assure you.I just come across a lot of vintage stuff,the ring? A gift

 

[Topazosjones]

Gorgeous! Love, love the setting and that’s definitely a real spinel.

Sorry you got screwed on the others. You should file a claim on eBay. Genuine blue spinels are extremely rare and don’t look like that.

Its by far the most thoughtful got I've ever received,I'm into spinels at the moment,and his mother purchased the ring in japan many years ago.Its I'll wear it as much as i can

 

[Topazosjones]

Gorgeous! Love, love the setting and that’s definitely a real spinel.

Sorry you got screwed on the others. You should file a claim on eBay. Genuine blue spinels are extremely rare and don’t look like that.

I gave my friend the blue one,and making an eatring with the purple

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Got the orange one,heated

i really like that
im late to this thread
so long as you didn't overpay i dont see a problem
did it have a window ?


what are your plans for it ?

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

My boyfriend gifted me a very nice pink purple spinel in yellow gold,his mother bought it in japan

that's a stunner

 

[Topazosjones]

i really like that
im late to this thread
so long as you didn't overpay i dont see a problem
did it have a window ?


what are your plans for it ?

I'm planning on making a tribal styled necklace,maybe put it in a silver or gold tiger mouth,I wire wrapped it for the moment,something to go with my animal print style that I've been into lately