What do you think of this Demantoid?

[tara3056]

Forgive me for starting another demantoid thread, but as this relates to a prospective purchase of a new stone, I didn't want it to get buried in the other design-centric thread.

I'm referring to the round one, not the oval. It's Russian, untreated, 6.6mm round, 1.31cts, and well-priced (but still too much money to spend on something that may be disappointing, because it's a big pain to ship it back overseas!)

Is it just me, or does it not look as nicely colored as some of the other ones I have? I see slightly more yellow in it and also less saturation of color. But perhaps I'm being hyper-critical and I KNOW some of you know how to 'read' stones from pictures better than me.





And here are mine:

 

[minousbijoux]

If the photos are representative and accurate, it doesn't look to be as intensely saturated, nor as clear as your others, which would bother me. It also does look slightly more yellow in hue, but the might be fine, given that some of your stones are slightly different, right?

 

[chatoyancy]

It just looks sleepy. Your demantoids look, clear and sparkly.

 

[T L]

Too included. For some reason, a horsetail inclusion is desired to reflect Russian origin (although I believe now some other locales have horsetails). I believe vendors use this perceived inclusion desirability to sell highly included stones at high prices. The fact of the matter is that you should try to attain stones that are not sleepy, but are clean to the naked eye, and have lots of sparkle. Color is also an important factor with Russian material and the stones should be a more saturated green. Honestly, on first glance, I thought that stone was a waxy pale peridot.

 

[Nosean]

The highly saturated demantoids from Russia - Karkodina - are often heated to remove the yellow-brownish part.

I like the small ones here - the horsetail in the larger round is to much - demantoid has such a high dispersion and RI - an eyeclean larger stone is much more fun.

 

[tara3056]

Thanks everyone for your input. I agree - this one doesn't call to me. I'll be patient and hope my vendor can come up with a better 5-6mm stone.