Which one of these stones would you buy?

[Jereni]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a pink stone with warm tones...mauvy or orangey-redish. I like both of these but am having trouble deciding which to purchase and take a look at. Both are from trusted PS vendors.

Stone 1: Tourmaline (Nigeria)
2.42 cts, 8.4mm
No treatment
Eye clean
~$200


Stone 2: Garnet (Malaya)
2.7 cts, 9mm
No treatment
Eye clean
~$400


The tone of the tourmaline appeals to me slightly more, but it also has this ring of dark area....which makes the stone look kind of interesting too, at least to me.

The garnet is gorgeous (and garnets are my favorite stone), but I already own a few, and this one is twice as much as the tourmaline. Still within budget, but I am curious as to thoughts on whether that is well priced.

Thanks for looking, appreciate any advice - even if it is: 'don't buy either!'

 

[innerkitten]

Yeah I like the color of the tourmaline a little more based on the two photos. But like you I am a big fan of garnets and malayas can be very sparkly, which is fun. Does the malaya shift color at all? Wish we could see them both the same size.

 

[chrono]

Both tourmalines and Malaia garnets shift under indoor and outdoor lighting. Ask the vendors about this shift to help you decide which stone is best for you. Also, sometimes you might like the colour in theory but due to your skin tone, it might blend in too much with your finger and looks as though it is barely there. Just something to think about.

 

[Jereni]

Thanks very much for the responses. I do agree about the color and skin tone - I'd need to take a good look at either one of them, on my hand, in multiple types of lighting. The good news is that my skin is extremely pale, I'm a redhead, and its possible that it would contrast just fine.

Does anybody have any thoughts on the dark areas in the tourmaline? Does that look problematic?

 

[LD]

Have you seen a Malaya Garnet in real life? Good ones shift quite a lot BUT I've found whilst I love the pink/warm tones, they can tend to go a really unattractive brown with no pink. If you are happy with something so brown then you'll probably like them but generally speaking brown is a tone that the majority of us (not sure why) tend to shy away from (except brown diamonds)!!!

 

[chrono]

To follow up on LD's post, tourmalines tend to shift indoors too although not as dramatically as Malaya garnets. Some get pinker, redder, more orange or browner.

 

[Jereni]

Again, good points.... Given that the garnet may shift and is twice more $$$, I was thinking tourmaline - but then I again I own two tourmalines, and one of them is pink, so getting another pink one is starting to seem silly. I think I will wait on these for now, and focus on setting the other tourmaline, lol.

Thanks for the advice, all!