This Blue Spinel: Get it or Forget it?

[blithesome71]

Hi peeps, I need your thoughts regarding this Blue spinel. What do you think of the color? According to the seller, the vendor photo is accurate. Here it is...

Dimension: 7.9 mm x 4.8 mm depth, VVS

 

[blithesome71]

Also, is it similar to the color of this another blue spinel (this one is 9mm round from a different seller)

 

[blithesome71]

I''m planning to get it but I want to know your recommendations first before I make any purchase. Also, is the 4.8 mm depth proportional to 7.9 mm?... Your feedbacks are highly encouraged.

many thanks.

 

[chrono]

I prefer the picture of the first spinel. Both are a wee bit dark but the first shows less gray. Excellent cutting on the first one too. I can't tell with the second due to the glare off the table, but it looks fine from what I can tell. Depth appears reasonable too.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

I would be afraid that the first one might be too dark. Judging from the reflection on the tweezers, there is a prety strong light shining there.

 

[blithesome71]

Thank you Chrono! You''re the first poster in this thread... Thanks for your thoughts esp. on the first spinel. I agree, it''s kinda dark but I think not overly dark as I can see some light in the vendor pic.

 

[T L]

Date: 11/26/2009 9:14:38 PM
Author:blithesome71
Hi peeps, I need your thoughts regarding this Blue spinel. What do you think of the color? According to the seller, the vendor photo is accurate. Here it is...

Dimension: 7.9 mm x 4.8 mm depth, VVS

I believe both will be too dark because:
1) Spinels that photograph dark, in my experience, tend to be darker in person
2) The tweezers look a bit light in the first picture, so the photo is probably lighter than normal
3) The second picture looks like the white balance has been altered to make it look brighter than it truly is.

My gut feeling is that both will be very dark in color and very extinct.

 

[blithesome71]

Hi LD, thanks for chiming in & pointing that out (the tweezer''s reflections) I wasn''t paying attention to it that''s why I didn''t notice it

do you think it''s possible that there''s a strong light in there to make the vendor pic look more convincing & decent?...

 

[blithesome71]

TL, nice points. Ok, I''m now having my second-thought on these spinels.

 

[T L]

Date: 11/26/2009 10:06:01 PM
Author: blithesome71
TL, nice points. Ok, I''m now having my second-thought on these spinels.

From first glance, it also appears to have a lot of grey in it, which masks the blue color. Unless you like grey or greyish stones, I would stay away from it. Most blue spinels have a lot of grey, and the ones that do not, are rare and pricey.

 

[oddoneout]

I don''t know much about gems but I like the colour.

 

[Stone Hunter]

I too think that the first stone is well cut but will be darker than in the vendor''s photo. Looks like a strong light was used. But the second one will be dark too and the cut doesn''t look as good from what I can see in the photo. Good Luck picking!!

 

[LD]

Ditto everybody else I''m afraid. The first one (whilst beautiful in cut) is dark and probably even darker when taken out of the strong lighting used for the photograph. Imagine if you set this it will be very dark indeed. The second one has too much grey and so doesn''t have the richness of the first one. If you want to go with no.2 can you request more photos?

Trying to find a beautiful blue spinel isn''t easy and you may have to wait awhile but happy looking!

 

[movie zombie]

too dark.

i just sent a mogok red spinel back to a vendor because while there really was some wonderful color the stone was overly dark...too much so for me. had the stone been totally the red it would have been thousands of dollars. i will one day regret sending the stone back though because given what i''ve seen for sale for more $, this stone was actually quite good.

mz

ps so it depends on your use for the stone. if you''re just collecting you may be happy with flashes of blue....if you''re planning to set it i think you''ll become disenchanted with all the "dark".

 

[LtlFirecracker]

I agree with the others, the first one appears to be too dark.

 

[gemgirl]

Date: 11/26/2009 9:14:38 PM
Author:blithesome71
Hi peeps, I need your thoughts regarding this Blue spinel. What do you think of the color? According to the seller, the vendor photo is accurate. Here it is...

Dimension: 7.9 mm x 4.8 mm depth, VVS

Who are each of these from?

 

[blithesome71]

Thank you guys for all your responses and advice.

I really appreciate each of your thoughts regarding these blue spinels.


gemgirl: the first photo is from ebay, the second one is from Gemart Services

 

[gemgirl]

Thanks for sharing. I asked because I like the color. eBay scares me for gemstones though.

 

[chrono]

Blithe,
Are you passing on them or are you still interested? The rest brought up good points about strong ligthing on stone 1 by looking at the reflection of the tweezers and also the stark whiteness of the cotton padding on stone 2. Might be good to pass on both.

 

[blithesome71]

Chrono:

Hmmm, I personally like the color & cut of the 1st spinel (though i agree it''s kinda dark)... The price is low so I think I''m giving it a try as a one of my ebay fun stone

I''m also a lil curious because this is from a new seller and he/she hasn''t got any feedback yet (yup, zero) so there.... Gemartservices.com has got some nicely cut gems (most are already sold though)

 

[T L]

Date: 11/29/2009 8:11:32 PM
Author: blithesome71
Chrono:

Hmmm, I personally like the color & cut of the 1st spinel (though i agree it''s kinda dark)... The price is low so I think I''m giving it a try as a one of my ebay fun stone

I''m also a lil curious because this is from a new seller and he/she hasn''t got any feedback yet (yup, zero) so there.... Gemartservices.com has got some nicely cut gems (most are already sold though)

I''m always very leary of new sellers on ebay since they might have been around for a while, but start up new stores due to problems in the past with feedback/fraud. There are a ton of inexpensive dark blue spinels on ebay. I suggest you start with Srilankamall. They have dark blue stones, and they''re real (the ones I''ve purchased from them all have the negative inclusions characteristic to spinels), and they have 100% positive feedback. The pictures might not be as nice as the one above, but it will give you an idea of what to expect when you do get a dark blue spinel. Returns are to the US (if you live in the US, it''s easy), and I did return a stone to them once with absolutely no problem.

 

[blithesome71]

I agree with you TL, srilankamall has got nice packaging & container too

I already bought a mauve spinel from them. Got a sleepy & slightly grayish color but I love it. I''m just intrigue with this blue spinel & the seller. I also like its size (almost 8mm) The bidding will end tomorrow so if I''ll be outbid, it''s fine *but still wish me luck if I win* hehe.

Off topic: What do you think about this Mali garnet? I checked the seller from toolhaus and they''ve got only one neutral since they joined ebay in 2008.

Here''s the pic (6.5mm x depth 4.5mm)

 

[T L]

Date: 11/29/2009 8:29:41 PM
Author: blithesome71
I agree with you TL, srilankamall has got nice packaging & container too

I already bought a mauve spinel from them. Got a sleepy & slightly grayish color but I love it. I''m just intrigue with this blue spinel & the seller. I also like its size (almost 8mm) The bidding will end tomorrow so if I''ll be outbid, it''s fine *but still wish me luck if I win* hehe.

Off topic: What do you think about this Mali garnet? I checked the seller from toolhaus and they''ve got only one neutral since they joined ebay in 2008.

Here''s the pic (6.5mm x depth 4.5mm)

Mali garnets are often photoshopped to mask any brown color. Therefore, I can''t tell you much about it, except that the photo looks enhanced. With Mali''s, you do have to be aware of color shifts to brown. Nice cutting on it though, but without knowing who the seller is, I can''t provide you that much info. I understand why you would want to keep the seller private though. If it''s inexpensive, it might be worth getting. It''s good to know you checked the feedback with toolhaus.org.

One more trick in ebaying is to look at the money people are spending on a seller''s stones. If that seller is only selling stones for very little, and no one buys any of their more expensive stones, it''s probably because they only sell junk. There are some ebay sellers that have auctions that end for hundreds of dollars, and they are probably the ones with the better material. It''s always risky though on ebay, unless you know the seller really well.

 

[blithesome71]

Cool! thanks so much TL for that tip. It''s really helpful for some of us who purchase some gems from ebay. Hmmm, speaking of thousands of $$$ on ended auctions, there''s this Paraiba tourmaline seller and lately his/her auction ended at around $1000+ for a 9ct Paraiba tourmaline w/ cert. I''m not sure but I think this is the link Paraiba Tourmaline

...I think it''ll look yummier once it''s recut hehe

 

[T L]

Date: 11/29/2009 9:26:25 PM
Author: blithesome71
Cool! thanks so much TL for that tip. It's really helpful for some of us who purchase some gems from ebay. Hmmm, speaking of thousands of $$$ on ended auctions, there's this Paraiba tourmaline seller and lately his/her auction ended at around $1000+ for a 9ct Paraiba tourmaline w/ cert. I'm not sure but I think this is the link Paraiba Tourmaline

...I think it'll look yummier once it's recut hehe

I know some people that trust that particular seller, but I do not. That just goes to show you that even if auctions end rather high, well. . .

Did you see the feedback on that seller?

 

[blithesome71]

Date: 11/29/2009 9:30:08 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover

Date: 11/29/2009 9:26:25 PM
Author: blithesome71
Cool! thanks so much TL for that tip. It''s really helpful for some of us who purchase some gems from ebay. Hmmm, speaking of thousands of $$$ on ended auctions, there''s this Paraiba tourmaline seller and lately his/her auction ended at around $1000+ for a 9ct Paraiba tourmaline w/ cert. I''m not sure but I think this is the link Paraiba Tourmaline

...I think it''ll look yummier once it''s recut hehe

I know some people that trust that particular seller, but I do not. That just goes to show you that even if auctions end rather high, well. . .

Did you see the feedback on that seller?

The seller has a total of 63 Negative/Neutral feedbacks

I thought Paraiba/Cuprian''s are rare esp. in large sizes? Hmmm.... TL, change topic, I have received my green zircon from GemLine last week. I really like its cut. However, it''s got that slight grayish mask & the color is pistachio green. Do you think its acceptable esp. in Green Zircon? ''cos nice green zircons are hard to find due to their metamict state & haze (mine has got that linear striations inside similar to kyanite''s inclusion) I have no digicam so it may take some time befoe I can post tons of RL photos...

 

[T L]

Date: 11/29/2009 9:46:10 PM
Author: blithesome71

Date: 11/29/2009 9:30:08 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover

Date: 11/29/2009 9:26:25 PM
Author: blithesome71
Cool! thanks so much TL for that tip. It''s really helpful for some of us who purchase some gems from ebay. Hmmm, speaking of thousands of $$$ on ended auctions, there''s this Paraiba tourmaline seller and lately his/her auction ended at around $1000+ for a 9ct Paraiba tourmaline w/ cert. I''m not sure but I think this is the link Paraiba Tourmaline

...I think it''ll look yummier once it''s recut hehe

I know some people that trust that particular seller, but I do not. That just goes to show you that even if auctions end rather high, well. . .

Did you see the feedback on that seller?

The seller has a total of 63 Negative/Neutral feedbacks

I thought Paraiba/Cuprian''s are rare esp. in large sizes? Hmmm.... TL, change topic, I have received my green zircon from GemLine last week. I really like its cut. However, it''s got that slight grayish mask & the color is pistachio green. Do you think its acceptable esp. in Green Zircon? ''cos nice green zircons are hard to find due to their metamict state & haze (mine has got that linear striations inside similar to kyanite''s inclusion) I have no digicam so it may take some time befoe I can post tons of RL photos...

I''m not a fan of green zircon because they do have grey and/or brown masks. If you''re not 100% happy with it, return it. It''s not worth keeping stones that you''re not thrilled with.

I suspect that the color on the gems-bank picture has been enhanced, or the lighting made to give it deeper color. It could also be highly clarity enhanced. Llarge cuprians exist, but they''re typically washed out.

Oh, and as for my ebay tip, also make sure that the seller has very good feedback as well.

That being said, I tend to stray away from colored stones on ebay that have typically heavy treatment or are highly synthesized, unless I can see natural inclusions in the photograph or it has a reputable lab certificate. I just made a risky ebay purchase of two stones, but it was from a more reputable seller with good feedback who sells lots of high priced stones. I know others that have been very happy with his merchandise, so we''ll see how I did. I''m a bit worried myself. Both stones had inclusions. We''ll see.

 

[blithesome71]

I''m keeping my green zircon, it''s one of my most desired gems (dunno why) & I''m in love with it despite its slight gray mask... Let''s keep our fingers crossed on our risky ebay purchases

. Please post some pics once you received your items. I''ll post mine too once I get a hold of a digicam again. Thanks for sharing some tips & buying experiences with ebay and your thoughts on those posted gems in this thread.

 

[T L]

Date: 11/29/2009 10:07:54 PM
Author: blithesome71
I''m keeping my green zircon, it''s one of my most desired gems (dunno why) & I''m in love with it despite its slight gray mask... Let''s keep our fingers crossed on our risky ebay purchases

. Please post some pics once you received your items. I''ll post mine too once I get a hold of a digicam again. Thanks for sharing some tips & buying experiences with ebay and your thoughts on those posted gems in this thread.

Blithesome,
You''re very welcome, and I will take pics when I get them. If they''re very good though, I might keep the ebay seller to myself.

I''m evil that way.

 

[blithesome71]

Date: 11/29/2009 10:10:50 PM
Author: tourmaline_lover

Date: 11/29/2009 10:07:54 PM
Author: blithesome71
I''m keeping my green zircon, it''s one of my most desired gems (dunno why) & I''m in love with it despite its slight gray mask... Let''s keep our fingers crossed on our risky ebay purchases

. Please post some pics once you received your items. I''ll post mine too once I get a hold of a digicam again. Thanks for sharing some tips & buying experiences with ebay and your thoughts on those posted gems in this thread.

Blithesome,
You''re very welcome, and I will take pics when I get them. If they''re very good though, I might keep the ebay seller to myself.

I''m evil that way.

Lol, don''t forget to post the vendor pic too... So I can make a resarch on ebay and find that seller

hehe. tyvm TL. later