Waiting for my Mahenge spinel

[king_ma75]

I have been looking for sizable Mahenge spinel with nice neon and pink color for a while, but it is soooo difficult to find good ones at reasonable price. This one looks to be quite nice and I have reserved and waiting for it to come. Let me know what you think about it as I am still new to spinel......

It is 3.16 carat, clarity VS. Measurement is 7.3 x 12.1

 

[king_ma75]

The second picture looks quite dumb, but the one in hand looks quite nice. How can one stone have so different performance......

 

[athenaworth]

How exciting! How are you going to set it?

 

[king_ma75]

How exciting! How are you going to set it?

Yes it is quite exciting! Now waiting for the GIA certificate to be done before shipping, hopefully can get it within the next two weeks.

About setting, haven't thought in details yet. Chrono's ring as below is gorgeous but I am not sure whether my stone (soon to be ^^)'s color can show well in this setting. Also Chrono's stone is much bigger, almost 5ct I remember......

(not sure if I can post other's picture here)

 

[king_ma75]

How exciting! How are you going to set it?

Just noticed that you got a very beautiful Mahenge from Prima recently also, wow your color is fantastic!

 

[Niel]

cant wait to see this when its done. I have a soft spot for pears.

 

[chrono]

Looking forward to your review of your new pear spinel. Any idea if it fluorescences?

 

[king_ma75]

Looking forward to your review of your new pear spinel. Any idea if it fluorescences?

I am told that it has reasonable fluorescences. But unclear how strong it is.

The very fresh GIA certificate says the color is orangy pink. Emm this is a bit out of my expectation as I was told it is pink plus some red, so strawberry pink color. Any idea why is that?

"Its a nice fluorescent- neon pink colored stone and
there are no traces of purple.If anything there is a little bit of red
mixed in with the pink making it a strawberry pink.The luster of the stone
is amazing,which has a lot to do with the great cutting and polishing of
the stone."

 

[king_ma75]

And here it is the GIA certificate.

 

[chrono]

Have you seen the spinel in person? If GIA describes it as orangy pink, I would be inclined to trust their description over the vendor's. Nothing wrong at all with an orangy pink spinel but if you are looking for pinkish red, I understand the surprise.

 

[king_ma75]

Have you seen the spinel in person? If GIA describes it as orangy pink, I would be inclined to trust their description over the vendor's. Nothing wrong at all with an orangy pink spinel but if you are looking for pinkish red, I understand the surprise.

Yes you are right to the spot Chrono! I have seen a few pictures but not the spinel in person. Exactly that I am more fanscinated by the pinkish red color and avoided one or two stones with orange hue. So a bit frustrated to see the GIA description. However the vendor is Prima and it does have very good reputation on PS......I guess I should wait for the stone to arrive, which is probably early next week, and make a decision then......

 

[chrono]

I would wait for the stone to arrive. I have purchased Mahenge spinels and tsavorites from Prima and although I had good experiences with them, being very clear about your requirements is a must. Even when I stressed that I did not want any spinels with an orange modifier, he still shipped a few that were clearly orange to me. Fortunately, I had the assistance of a PSer who handpicked one without any orange modifier at the gem show and had it reserved on my behalf, which was shipped to me with several other spinels recommended by Prima. I ended up returning all except the one that the PSer selected for me personally. The same with the tsavorite / mint garnet. The initial suggestions were nice but did not have the strength of saturation I was looking for until I emailed Prima pictures of top quality green garnets they have sold in the past. Once that was clear, I was shown a higher level of quality green garnets.

They are honest and good vendors but communication of desired colour can be challenging.

ETA
Another thought occured to me and this has happened to me in the past. There is the possibility that GIA made an error. Gasp! Yes, it happens. This is rare though and in my case, it was with AGL. Everything in the brief was correct except the measurements, which is an easy catch. As mentioned prior, I would wait to receive the spinel and make the decision then.

 

[T L]

Have you seen the spinel in person? If GIA describes it as orangy pink, I would be inclined to trust their description over the vendor's. Nothing wrong at all with an orangy pink spinel but if you are looking for pinkish red, I understand the surprise.

Yes you are right to the spot Chrono! I have seen a few pictures but not the spinel in person. Exactly that I am more fanscinated by the pinkish red color and avoided one or two stones with orange hue. So a bit frustrated to see the GIA description. However the vendor is Prima and it does have very good reputation on PS......I guess I should wait for the stone to arrive, which is probably early next week, and make a decision then......

Check it out in various lighting too, like fluorescent, natural, etc. . .

I have an AIGS rated orangy red spinel pear, and it fluoresces like you wouldn't believe.

 

[katharath]

I'm so curious to see what you think when you get it - from the pics I would not have thought orange on this one. I think the color looks beautiful. I own quite a few small gems sourced by Jaimeen at Prima, so I only have good things to say about him...I hope you like the mahenge in person!

 

[T L]

Jaimeen states in his listings that he photographs these stones in daylight lighting, 5000K. GIA may be using another lighting to grade, in which the gem probably looks more orange. These stones tend to shift to a more orange color in artificial light sources.

In any case, looking forward to what you think.

 

[king_ma75]

Check it out in various lighting too, like fluorescent, natural, etc. . .

I have an AIGS rated orangy red spinel pear, and it fluoresces like you wouldn't believe.

Oh TL, from your description I am so interested to see how the pear looks like. Any pictures or any threads about it?

 

[king_ma75]

Thank you all for your advices, really appreciate that! I also can't resist to raise my question to Prima and here is the answer from Jaimeen:

"Yes, I have had this come up a few times now. They always mention orange-pink when they certify Mahenge Spinels and I don't understand why. I spoke to a friend who works at the GIA and her explanation was that maybe they are comparing this pink to a Sapphire pink or Tourmaline Pink which is a completely different shade of pink and that's why they use the word orange. If you asked me I would say that this stone has less than 5% orange to my eyes, about 65-70% pink and 30-35% red. Of course, if you put it directly under incandescent light (yellow light) then you see more red-orange but in daylight I barely see any. "

So it sounds to be a GIA specific issue on Mahenge spinel. Not sure if any of you have Mahenge spinel being certified by GIA, and wonder what was put there. Could be an interesting finding to see where the GIA standard is. I know for GRS their standard for ruby has been critized a lot......

I will receive the stone in a few days hopefully and will definitely post more pictures and let you know how I think with my own eyes.

 

[king_ma75]

I would wait for the stone to arrive. I have purchased Mahenge spinels and tsavorites from Prima and although I had good experiences with them, being very clear about your requirements is a must. Even when I stressed that I did not want any spinels with an orange modifier, he still shipped a few that were clearly orange to me. Fortunately, I had the assistance of a PSer who handpicked one without any orange modifier at the gem show and had it reserved on my behalf, which was shipped to me with several other spinels recommended by Prima. I ended up returning all except the one that the PSer selected for me personally. The same with the tsavorite / mint garnet. The initial suggestions were nice but did not have the strength of saturation I was looking for until I emailed Prima pictures of top quality green garnets they have sold in the past. Once that was clear, I was shown a higher level of quality green garnets.

They are honest and good vendors but communication of desired colour can be challenging.

ETA
Another thought occured to me and this has happened to me in the past. There is the possibility that GIA made an error. Gasp! Yes, it happens. This is rare though and in my case, it was with AGL. Everything in the brief was correct except the measurements, which is an easy catch. As mentioned prior, I would wait to receive the spinel and make the decision then.

Hoho exactly, spinels with orange modifier is not my type. I sent a few top quality pinkish red pictures to Prima and the first response is that this color is in high demand and they don't have any stock available right now. Later I inquired specifically for this pear stone and they told me this one is one of the nicer ones they have. I know this pear's color is not top quality but something I can accept based on the picture......

 

[chrono]

Interesting explanation. I do think it is fair to compare a pink spinel to a pink sapphire and pink tourmaline. After all, colour grading on all gem types are based on the same colour scale and I don't see why there should be a pink scale for spinel, a different pink scale for sapphire and another pink scale for tourmaline which doesn't make any sense. I am more concerned that Jaimeen said the stone is quite shifty, becoming red-orange under incandescent lighting.

 

[T L]

Check it out in various lighting too, like fluorescent, natural, etc. . .

I have an AIGS rated orangy red spinel pear, and it fluoresces like you wouldn't believe.

Oh TL, from your description I am so interested to see how the pear looks like. Any pictures or any threads about it?

Yours is cleaner than mine, which has a sleepy appearance.

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/happy-belated-christmas-how-bout-some-red-and-green-spinel-tsavorite.133757/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/happy-belated-christmas-how-bout-some-red-and-green-spinel-tsavorite.133757/[/URL]

 

[king_ma75]

Yours is cleaner than mine, which has a sleepy appearance.

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/happy-belated-christmas-how-bout-some-red-and-green-spinel-tsavorite.133757/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/happy-belated-christmas-how-bout-some-red-and-green-spinel-tsavorite.133757/[/URL]

Oh your stone is very beautiful! So nice color, and very saturated.

 

[king_ma75]

Here it is! I took some pictures in the room under different lights. However haven't been able to see it in daylight yet which I will do tomorrow. Overall under incandescent white light the color is quite nice, pink + red. Under incandescent yellow light it does show some orange modifier. But under another incandescent yellow light the orange hue is almost non-exist.

I still have a few questions and would really appreciate your comments:

- I don't have a UV pen and I am travelling right now, how can I test the fluorescent effect? The reflection in light pink color is the luster instead of the fluorescent right?
- The saturation is less than ideal I feel.
- The cut at the bottom is brilliant cut, not step cut. I have heard one guy said he doesn't want anything with this type of cut, does this make any sense?

Pictures following......

 

[king_ma75]

Pictures under yellow light, different source of light and the stone shows different color, one without orange and the other with orange.

 

[king_ma75]

Try to test under limited light and the stone still sparkles a bit but getting dark. Can this be an alternative way to test the fluorescent......

 

[T L]

Some gems fluoresce under sunlight. The stone I showed you in the link above does, and there's a photo in that link that shows how it fluoresces in the sun. You will know it fluoresces if it glows red. It's best to test with a UV light. In my experience, I have found some Mahenge spinels only fluoresce with extremely powerful UV lights, or they fluoresce quite easily with a small UV pen light, or sunlight. I tested another one that did not fluoresce in sunlight or with my small UV pen light at all. Someone else tried a very power UV light on it, and then it fluoresced. It looked more like a rhodolite garnet in person.

 

[OTL]

Yep, that's orangy pink, and I don't think I can accept that window.
I'd rather buy a 2ct mahenge spinel for that money, rather than a 3ct windowed one. But that's just me.

 

[king_ma75]

Yep, that's orangy pink, and I don't think I can accept that window.
I'd rather buy a 2ct mahenge spinel for that money, rather than a 3ct windowed one. But that's just me.

I see, that is why I feel the stone's saturation is not good enough.

 

[chrono]

The large window coupled with the not so good saturation would make me reconsider its purchase. You should be able to see the effect of fluorescence under sunlight or with a UV source. The spinel will look redder and more saturated if it fluorescences under a UV light source.

 

[king_ma75]

The large window coupled with the not so good saturation would make me reconsider its purchase. You should be able to see the effect of fluorescence under sunlight or with a UV source. The spinel will look redder and more saturated if it fluorescences under a UV light source.

The window does look quite big and my fault that I didn't specifically ask that question when ordering. I am inclined to return it......Do you generally contact the vendor to ask them arrange for shipmeng / insurance and you reimburse them? Or you contact the shipping company directly? I need to do international shipping so a bit headache, particularly on the insurance part.

 

[chrono]

Windowing was suspect in two out of the first three pictures. I would email Prima to let them know you are returning the spinel and ask them for their shipping method recommendation, given that it is an overseas purchase. Typically, the buyer arranges the shipping and insurance for returns.