Vendor pictures and owner pictures of PS stones

[voce]

Thank you! Gary had informed me that the color combination is very rare in sapphires and that he was lucky if he saw only one sapphire with this parti-color of blue and purple that can be seen in all lighting on his buying trips to Sri Lanka. I don't know much about what is common or not (obviously haven't seen as many sapphires as Gary), but I love it regardless which is all that matters.

I'm very excited about figuring out how to set this for an engagement ring!

Ooh, are you getting engaged or just got engaged? If so, congratulations. I'd love if you'd start a thread to discuss ideas for setting it!

 

[etherealhav0c]

Ooh, are you getting engaged or just got engaged? If so, congratulations. I'd love if you'd start a thread to discuss ideas for setting it!

We are getting engaged! Thank you! I knew that I didn't want a diamond center stone so my partner and I thought it'd make sense to choose the center stone and design the ring together then leave the proposal as a surprise (although who knows what that'll look like in light of this pandemic and being at home all the time).

And that's a great idea! Will do that now...

 

[scouty]

We are getting engaged! Thank you! I knew that I didn't want a diamond center stone so my partner and I thought it'd make sense to choose the center stone and design the ring together then leave the proposal as a surprise (although who knows what that'll look like in light of this pandemic and being at home all the time).

And that's a great idea! Will do that now...

How exciting! What a beautiful and unique stone. I also love hydrangeas! Can't wait to follow your setting journey. Congrats!

 

[Cina_s]

Pakistan Peridot cut by Jeff White

Yes, if possible, are there more photos of this? Peridot is my birthstone, and I never find anything I like in it. This is beautiful!

 

[paragon1234]

I bought a 6mm umbalite garnet from Jeff Davies on eBay. It was an auction where I got it quite cheaply. I wanted see how his darker stones look in real life after previous posts about how his stones look in real life Vs his photos. So for your edification I took some photos.

This is his image:


These are mine:
Indoors in shade

Back of stone

Indoors in sunlight

Indoors sunlight with camera flash on. This is the closest to his photo. He is clearly using very bright lighting.

Hand shot indoors shade. As you can see, my blue sapphire is almost black, but this is not.

Indoors flash

 

[paragon1234]

Following on from the garnet, which I was reasonably happy with because I knew it would be a lot darker than depicted, I decided to buy this mint tourmaline from Jeff Davies. It's still showing as available on his Etsy page but I think he just hasn't updated it.

In overcast daylight it looks like his photo and I have no complaints.

My plan is to set it into JuliaB's French cut classique moissanite ring.

Vendor pic:


Mine indoors:



Outside on an overcast day:


The JuliaB setting I want:

 

[peppermintpatty]

Thought I’d throw this on here after making a post about it already.

Bought a 4.37 carat particolored Montana sapphire from Jeff Hapeman of Earths Treasury.

his pic:



stills from the 3 videos he sent me:

“outsidelight”


Indoor LED light:


Indoor Incandescent Light:


My pics:

indoor


Outdoor(overcast day)


indoors but only natural light from windows on a sunny day


all-in-all I’m happy with the color, but very rarely are the conditions he presents what you see in the stone. I also just may be terrible at photography. Maybe there is one, but someone should post a tutorial on how to take pictures of stones!

Hope this helps another buyer! Jeff was very easy to work with and very responsive! Would recommend him to anyone. Definitely seems like his prices are a little inflated, but I was okay with it due to the unique coloring he offers!

I couldn't agree more! My stones are beautiful. Then I take a photo and they are typically dark. They don't sparkle, and for crying out loud what do you do when they are small? How do you take a picture of it out of the box? Then I have finger prints on them. I definitely need a tutorial!!!

 

[emeraldhummingbird]

I ended up getting an amethyst from Jeff Davies after all. Here is his vendor pic:




Dan M set the stone. This is his pic:




And this is mine:



The cut is beautiful and surprisingly sparkly! I wasn't really expecting it to be.
The colour is a touch darker than Jeff's photo and the pink is not as obvious with your eyes. It's a light to medium purple.
I am actually very happy with it, but when buying from him again would expect 1-2 shades darker than his photos.

 

[voce]

when buying from him again would expect 1-2 shades darker than his photos.

Glad you are happy with the amethyst, but I think that 1-2 shades darker is an understatement. All the stones I've seen here are 40-50% darker tone than his pictures, if you are looking on a scale where 0% tone is white and 100% tone is black. I'd say his pictures of the amethyst look 30%-40%, and your picture looks 70%-80%, and Daniel M's picture looks like 85% tone. Although the difference could be that I'm looking at PS through a different monitor than I usually do.

 

[JackTrick]

Grossular mint garnet from Jeff White!



Once again, I state that photographing green gemstones is virtually impossible. The color in Jeff's photo is very true to life, but my phone refused.

IRL, the color was perfect. My photo has it a lot more yellow green.


Finally managed a closer approximation, but the tone is a bit off. Slightly richer in color in real life and a bit more blueish to the green.


I'm absolutely thrilled! Just as clean, well-cut and beautiful green (with slight blue greens) as I was looking for.

 

[LIGemzGal]

That's a nicely cut stone.

 

[LD]

I don’t like to criticise gemstone vendors but I don’t like feeling I’ve been conned either. So imagine my surprise and upset when this horror showed up.

 

[minousbijoux]

I don’t like to criticise gemstone vendors but I don’t like feeling I’ve been conned either. So imagine my surprise and upset when this horror showed up.

Aw, c'mon now, @LD , they look just alike! Seriously, that is shocking. Does it ever even come close to its glamor shot?

 

[emeraldhummingbird]

I don’t like to criticise gemstone vendors but I don’t like feeling I’ve been conned either. So imagine my surprise and upset when this horror showed up.

Hrrrrrmmmm..... just how many floodlights were on that stone?!

Are you able to return it? I too would have been expecting something very different based on the vendor photo.

 

[LD]

Aw, c'mon now, @LD , they look just alike! Seriously, that is shocking. Does it ever even come close to its glamor shot?

Nope - never! It's not often I'm completely had over but this was one of those times. I'm still puzzled how they managed to make this manky stone look so good!

Hrrrrrmmmm..... just how many floodlights were on that stone?!

Are you able to return it? I too would have been expecting something very different based on the vendor photo.

Honestly, I was so disgusted I nearly put it in the bin. Yes I should return it. I told the seller how disappointed I was and he just said I was looking at it in the wrong light lol I took it into direct sunlight and it didn't look any better.

 

[Musia]

@LD Here is a thread, https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/anyone-ever-buy-from-ig-seller-leenagemslk.250513/ and none of the stones looks like the vendor's picture IRL. I believe one of PS's recently bought a pad from them. I am very intrigued to know how much she likes the stone. She didn't mention who the vendor was but today I checked Instagram and recognized one of the pictures. Hope it is going to work for her.

 

[LD]

@LD Here is a thread, https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/anyone-ever-buy-from-ig-seller-leenagemslk.250513/ and none of the stones looks like the vendor's picture IRL. I believe one of PS's recently bought a pad from them. I am very intrigued to know how much she likes the stone. She didn't mention who the vendor was but today I checked Instagram and recognized one of the pictures. Hope it is going to work for her.

you’re not going to believe this but I ran a check in their name here before buying and that thread never came up. In fact I only found positive threads! I’m just going to write their name again here so hopefully it pops up in future searches.

Leenagemslk

 

[emeraldhummingbird]

Glad you are happy with the amethyst, but I think that 1-2 shades darker is an understatement. All the stones I've seen here are 40-50% darker tone than his pictures, if you are looking on a scale where 0% tone is white and 100% tone is black. I'd say his pictures of the amethyst look 30%-40%, and your picture looks 70%-80%, and Daniel M's picture looks like 85% tone. Although the difference could be that I'm looking at PS through a different monitor than I usually do.

You're probably right. I meticulously studied the photos in this thread before buying so I perhaps mentally calibrated for the level of brightness I was expecting. The one positive thing the vendor photo doesn't capture though is the sparkle, so that was a very nice surprise

 

[ecf8503]

1.54ct color change steely blue to purple Montana sapphire from Earths Treasury

 

[ecf8503]

2.14ct Mahenge spinel from Gemfix in 18K/plat modified Spring Gulch style from CvB

 

[ecf8503]

1.82ct Mozambique blue spinel in platinum / 18k in the Esti style from CvB

 

[icy_jade]

Beautiful rings @ecf8503 !

 

[Ionysis]

So having resisted the huge 8ct violet star sapphire I really wanted I had to make it up to myself. So I bought this teeny weeny cute one. It’s VS clarity and a really sharp star but it’s a baby one. Might have it put in a little cluster for one of my daughters.

 

[MillieLou]

This is my 2ct unheated light blue sapphire from Deliqa Gems in Australia. The left picture was taken outdoors in the Aussie sunshine. The right is on my hand indoors on a rainy October day in the UK, under nasty cheap office lighting. I'm happy with the representation

 

[Polyhex]

After reading about the issues with Jeff Davies' darker stones, I was curious and so I bought these citrines from an eBay auction from him.

The problem is not exactly that the stones are darker, it's that this particular otherwise beautiful precision cut is NOT appropriate for the citrine. I believe it's intended for gems with higher refractive index. Because of the cut, the citrines have terrible tilt windows, the worst I have seen so far. Moving them even a fraction of an angle, and the stone descends into dark mush. I know that citrine is prone to tilt windows because of the low RI, but I have other citrines that are cut more appropriately and they don't develop the tilt window until they are REALLY tilted. It's really unfortunate, I can't use the stones for anything.

Jeff's photos:





My photos showing terrible tilt window:



My photos carefully calibrated to hit the stone perfect center. Still a darker but the tilt window is the really bad problem.


For comparison, here is a well cut citrine head on and tilted in same lighting conditions:

 

[Polyhex]

I will now add some GOOD vendor vs. reality photo examples. I have particularly had good luck with close-to-source IG vendors and cellphone photos.

Leenagemslk on IG
Vendor photo of yellow sapphire


My photo of yellow sapphire


HarisGems on IG
Vendor photo of blue tourmaline - tropical daylight


Vendor photo of blue tourmaline - bad indoor lighting


My photos of blue tourmaline


My photo in low outdoor light


My photo indoor lighting


Finestonepk on IG - lagoon tourmaline

Vendor photo


My photos

 

[emeraldhummingbird]

After reading about the issues with Jeff Davies' darker stones, I was curious and so I bought these citrines from an eBay auction from him.

The problem is not exactly that the stones are darker, it's that this particular otherwise beautiful precision cut is NOT appropriate for the citrine. I believe it's intended for gems with higher refractive index. Because of the cut, the citrines have terrible tilt windows, the worst I have seen so far. Moving them even a fraction of an angle, and the stone descends into dark mush. I know that citrine is prone to tilt windows because of the low RI, but I have other citrines that are cut more appropriately and they don't develop the tilt window until they are REALLY tilted. It's really unfortunate, I can't use the stones for anything.

Jeff's photos:





My photos showing terrible tilt window:



My photos carefully calibrated to hit the stone perfect center. Still a darker but the tilt window is the really bad problem.


For comparison, here is a well cut citrine head on and tilted in same lighting conditions:

I see what you mean about the tilt windows, but the brightness and also colour of the vendor photo is extremely misleading. From the photo I would have expected an orange stone, but what you received looked closer to brown and amber?!

 

[Polyhex]

I see what you mean about the tilt windows, but the brightness and also colour of the vendor photo is extremely misleading. From the photo I would have expected an orange stone, but what you received looked closer to brown and amber?!

Yes, the stone is significantly darker and browner, which is a problem. But the problem I find truly egregious is the cut, it's so bad that if I get the stone into perfect alignment for one eye, my other eye will see the tilt window that throws the stone into brown mush. The two stones look like the right-most photo 99.9 percent of the time. If it was reversed and they looked like the middle photo most of the time, I'd at least be able to set them even if they didn't look like the vendor photo. It's a beautifully executed cut that is 100% inappropriate for citrine.

 

[CSpan]

Cheap Jeff Davies Umbalite. Wanted to see the cut mire than anything.


Not quite. Granted the lighting isn't optimal but this is the only photo I took where you could any color at all. Versus a dark shaded blob

 

[CSpan]

Richard Homer Tourmaline
These are from a video, I was too slow to catch the side.



Proof that I am a terrible photographer. This stone is tricky, it actually looks like his photos, more purple in sunlight, more pinky orange indoors but my phone just makes crap up as it goes along.