Thoughts on red spinel

[VividRed]

To me, the presence of the brown modifier is not really in question. I stress the word modifier, because red is obviously the primary. It does not look orange/brown, but it has a noticeable orange/brown modifier.

Similarly, a fine Burmese red ruby with a slight purple modifier does not look purple, but supercharged red with some depth added to it.

Pure open red is a totally different animal and on a price level almost an order of magnitude higher.

There is no doubt that the cut causes extinction, but the color is not what the vendor states, in my opinion.

 

[fredflintstone]

These photos definitely show more brown, more than the other photo you reposted, but I see brown in that one too. Maybe it is the monitors, but that is what I see. By the way, it’s very rare to see a pure red stone, almost all red stones have a secondary hue of pink or orange. I added a more pure red gem so one can see the difference.

Sorry, but they don't. You are just seeing dark areas of red caused by shadowing and the tone is a darker shade of red, which both are at work here. But not brown.

A stone will always face up more vivid straight on than looked at through the side. Or the face photographed at an angle in most cases.

Not only are pure red stones rare, they do not exist. There is always a small modifier of orange or purple, or both. around 10% to 15%. Look to the #3 slightly brownish stone in the red column. Not even a remote likeness to any of the three vendor pictures.

Look to the vivid red stone #6 in the GIA chart I showed. You would probably want to call the bottom half of the stone brownish too. It's not. It is extinction/shadowing.


I've color graded to many stones to count (not a boast but just the truth) and when you grade a stone you grade it face up, not the sides, bottom, or at an angle, but don't take my word for it.

The proof is front of you.

 

[dk168]

I can see a hint of brown and a small window, and the extinction bothers me.

So I would pass.

Personal preferences and all that.

DK

 

[T L]

I go by gemewizard which also shows not only different levels of saturation but tone as well. The darker the tone, the more the color (primary hue) is less vivid or tamped down by a brown or grey modifier. I don’t have a subscription to that software, but their red chart is used here to show the most vivid of red color, which is denoted “pigeon blood” for the website I downloaded this from. The further to the right, the more vivid the saturation. Therefore the most “pure red” stone on this chart is the fourth row, column six. Saturation falls off the chart for darker tones (and lighter tones as well). .

 

[fredflintstone]

I go by gewizard which also shows not only different levels of saturation but tone as well. The darker the tone, the more the color (primary hue) is less vivid or tamped down by a brown or grey modifier. I don’t have a subscription to that software, but their red chart is used here to show the most vivid of red color, which is denoted “pigeon blood” for the website I downloaded this from. The further to the right, the more vivid the saturation. Therefore the most “pure red” stone on this chart is the fourth row, column six. Saturation falls off the chart for darker tones (and lighter tones as well). .

Same principal as the GIA Gemset in some ways, just not as comprehensive as all we are seeing here is just different saturations of red and of course the lighter the pink (red) the more gray.

 

[T L]

Same principal as the GIA Gemset in some ways, just not as comprehensive.

It is based off the GIA gem set from my understanding.

 

[fredflintstone]

It is based off the GIA gem set from my understanding.

It is based off the GIA gem set from my understanding.

It may be based off the GIA Gemset (I really don’t know), but its red chart does not include orange modifiers nor the degree of orange or brown. Just "Pigeon Blood" which many experts in the trade find subjective at best or not at all a true term. Also, "A" "AA" "AAA" all vague and subjective.

 

[T L]

It may be based off the GIA Gemset (I really don’t know), but its red chart does not include orange modifiers nor the degree of orange or brown. Just "Pigeon Blood" which many experts in the trade find subjective at best or not at all a true term. Also, "A" "AA" "AAA" all vague and subjective.

Yes, I know. It was taken off a website that used it and put in their own metaphors/grading. I also couldn’t find a free version of the orange red chart. The charts on the software do not have those descriptors. Here’s a better explanation of the chsrt, even though it’s not the hue in question, the idea is the same on how to read the chart.