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oddoneout

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Sep 20, 2007
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I''ve always loved garnets but since spinels seem to be stronger I''ve been starting to get interested in them. Does anyone out there have any nice pieces they could show? I was also wondering about the cost of a spinel (I''m in Ontario, Canada but U.S. would be fine). How easy are red (my favourite) spinels to find?

Thanks
 
I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE spinels! No pics to share at the moment, but soon. :-)

Take a look at www.ajsgems.com they have a really good assortment of many different types of gems, it may give a good idea of price.

www.whitesgems.com has a beautiful spinel available.

www.cherrypicked.com also has some absolutely amazing spinels.

Yep... I dream about spinels... they are just so delicious!... colors for every and any mood!
 
I absolutely love spinels but don''t have a single one in a piece of jewelry right now. I hope you find a keeper and can''t wait to see what you do with it.
 
It depends on how picky you are about reds. There are many types of red spinels with prices all over the place. The truer the red, the more astronomical the prices are. Some like those with orange undertones, others prefer the purple undertones. Many have brownish undertones which are cheaper. Also, size comes into play. The larger and truer red they are, it''s more rare and expensive.

I have 2 sets of red spinels. The first pair is being set as earrings right now. The second set will be as sidestones for my RHR upgrade. Both were purchased from www.acstones.com years ago. I did get one more red spinel from ACS for a pendant but can''t find a picture of it.

ACS 55.jpg
 
2nd set of spinels for my ring sidestones:

ACS 5153.jpg
 
Chrono, those spinels are fabulous!!!! YUM YUM!!
 
Thank you, but Miss Harriet has a much prettier one. I hope she''ll share it with us here.
 
Date: 1/10/2008 9:40:30 AM
Author: Chrono
Thank you, but Miss Harriet has a much prettier one. I hope she''ll share it with us here.
Click to expand...
* ears perked*
emsmilep.gif
 

good spinels are quite pricey. cut as always is extremely important. as always, there is something for every budget......but with spinels, i find extinction to ruin many of them. i absolutely cannot abide seeing black where there should be color.....and that seems to happen with spinels more often than not. but then i''ve not looked at anything that was more than $1800 per carat. i also think stop light red spinel is the hot item for spinels and has been for a few years now and as such is going to command grand prices which is fair if it is a grand stone. i can see the attraction for such a stone!!!!



movie zombie

 
What sort of things should I look for in the spinel (cut wise etc.)? Also all the sites that you all were nice enough to post for me have beautiful examples. I''m not looking for a large stone. I like ones that aren''t that big (less than a carat) and I prefer round cuts (call me old fashioned). Thanks everyone for your help. Right now I''m mostly dreaming but that could change....
 
Chrono,

Your spinels are delicious looking!!!!!
30.gif



Linda
 
Thank you, Linda. I''ve just okayed the CAD design of the earrings today so my spinel earrings should be completed by the end of January. I''ll post pictures of them when the vendor is done.

Oddoneout,
As with all gemstones, I am very particular about cut. I don''t like windowing and extinction. The culet has to be centered, all the facet points must meet, the symmetry and polish must be very good. It must also have a decent crown height. In the rough material itself, I don''t like colour zoning and the stone must be at least eye clean. I don''t like brown undertones and actually prefer a touch of orange undertone rather than purple. A true stop light red is a sight to behold but you''ll have to pay a king''s ransom for that when (and if) you do find it. Rounds are uncommon in spinels. Most tend to be ovals and cushions.
 
Could you please show us some your pictures of those spinels you have Chrono. Pleeeeeease!!
 
Colormyworld,
Believe me, I tried really hard to photograph them but none turned out at all. Joolskie tried too but the lighting was poor and we were still learning how to use the digicam. I wish I can take pictures as nice as you do.
 
Hi Oddoneout,

Garnets and spinels do not play in the same league. So it makes it a little bit tricky to compare them. If you''re looking at red, you are probably looking at red garnet, which, in terms of pricing/quality is very far away from red spinels.

You can literally buy tons of red garnets, including big pieces. You''ll however have a relatively hard time finding a beautiful 5 cts pink/red or spinel.
FYI, the [most likely] nicest spinel find ever was made in August of last year in Tanzania. Until then, spinel - although expensive - was considered as one of the most undervalued gemstones. Although IMHO it is still undervalued, prices have gone up considerably (up to $5,000/$10,000 per carat for top gems above 10 cts...) since the discovery.

Unsurpringly, no one here has given you information about red garnet. People have however posted spinel pictures instead... If you do have the budget, my recommendation is that you should go for a spinel.

ps: Spinel is one of my favourite gems and I had a hard time not answering to your post ;-)

Good luck.
 
Perhaps a picture will help illustrate what I was writting about:

A 2.72cts piece which is slightly on a the pink side (generally speaking, the Tanzanian material tends to become redder above 7 or 8 cts).


Enjoy
1.gif


ref7538.jpg
 
wow! what a spinel! no extinction!

movie zombie
 
Date: 1/16/2008 9:38:25 AM
Author: Swala Gem Traders
Hi Oddoneout,


Garnets and spinels do not play in the same league. So it makes it a little bit tricky to compare them. If you''re looking at red, you are probably looking at red garnet, which, in terms of pricing/quality is very far away from red spinels.
Click to expand...

Hi Swala. You''re quite right that red garnets and red spinels don''t play in the same league. That''s true in terms of color, physical characteristics and price. There should never be a direct comparison between them. When you say garnets are far away from red spinel in "quality" however, I believe more explanation is needed. They occupy a valid niche in the colored gem market and there''s no need to demean them.

You say that "Unsurprisingly, no one here has given you information about red garnet."

Well, here it is.

Most red garnets actually do a very poor job posing as rubies or red spinels. They are garnets and they do a wonderful job of being what they are!

The only red garnets that bear direct comparison to their "red relatives" are chromium-bearing pyropes which usually end up being too dark in sizes over 1 ct. When properly cut they blaze fiery red, but such stones are not readily available. The intermediate pyrope-almandine and pyrope-spessartine garnets offer a rich color palette with subtle differences. And they do it for much lower cost than any other gems in their color class.

High quality garnet of any kind does not come "by the ton." Yes, there are tons of garnets mined and I could probably order a ton of rough with a few keystrokes. But only a very tiny portion of that ton would be high gem quality. The rest would be sandpaper-grade. The fact that some sellers cut sandpaper grade and attempt to sell it as "gem grade" is beyond my control.

This is not an attack on you or your lovely red spinels. Spinel is one of my favorite gems too, for several reasons beyond its natural beauty (no treatment, its great hardness, single refraction so no secondary color, etc.)

It all boils down to budget. Fine red spinels are already 4 to low 5-figure expensive and are headed upward. Red to purple garnets, on the other hand, usually sell in the 2 to 3-figure range and can offer great beauty, color choice, naturalness without treatment and wider options in cutting styles. That distinction needs to be made.


Richard M.
 
No worries Richard, I was not taking it as an attack. Red garnets and spinels both occupy a slot. This slot is just very different. Red garnet is a gem we export a lot (surprising quantities of clean material come out of East Africa…). So I certainly have no problems with red garnet. Furthermore, price and beauty can be totally disconnected. One can prefer a $1 gem over a $10,000.

Eric

In any case, for spinel lovers, a more saturated 12 cts piece:

ref7624.jpg
 
Date: 1/18/2008 11:53:28 AM
Author: Swala
Furthermore, price and beauty can be totally disconnected. One can prefer a $1 gem over a $10,000.
Click to expand...

That''s one of the points I was trying to make (and one I think should be made much more often!), along with the fact that red garnets simply can''t be compared with high-end red spinels. They''re just not the same "creature" even though some red spinels are described as "garnety color," which I think does a disservice to both gems.

Your spinels are beautiful, by the way. I presume they are Mahenge material.

Care to give us a price range for 12 ct. stones?

Richard M.
 
Hi Richard,

Thanks for your post. Yes, Mahenge material, absolutely.
 
Eric/Swala,
I can only dream of your red Mahenges. Sigh.
 
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