Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mounting?

[jbkhere]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

Well I've heard back from WF. They remember the ring and the owner but she has a different name now and they can't find the records. But they know she was on PS - so I found it!! Measurements of the diamond originally set was 10.93mm x 7.01mm. SO can anyone give me an idea of a "safe" size range? Or is there really no "range" at all?
They won't set a tanzi. They will set a sapphire. I'm waiting to hear back about garnet or spinel.

 

[chrono]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

The spinels you have posted are both really dark; I doubt you will be pleased with them. The garnet is quite nice. Perhaps the pink/red change is the colour shifting which is common in some stones. I really like the bright and well coloured tanzanite. You did say it will be an occasional RHR stone? I would be very cautious with a ring set tanzanite.

Also, I've heard that WF will no longer set customer provided stones and I know they do not feel comfortable setting garnets anymore, which I've inquired in the past. It would be good to get confirmation if the above is true.

Interesting, any idea why not garnets in particular?

Probably because it is lower on the MOH scale (occasional wear stone). I found it odd because WF set my spessartite. Perhaps something unpleasant occured between now and then that caused them to rethink their policy. A spinel is pretty durable so I expect WF is still willing to set those. This effectively means the zircon is out. Just as a heads up for lurkers who might be interested in the zircon, note that the lab memo states that the primary colour is brown, with an orange secondary.

 

[chrono]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

I agree with the others' evaluation of the spinel...in fact it not only looks too dark (same problem as the first one you posted) but the colour looks "dirty" to me.

The tanzanite looks to be a lovely colour but is anyone else thinking that might be zoning on the point? If it is that would probably rule it out for me. Although this is all a moot point if the sizing (10x is too small for the setting.

And yes, this is how budget creep begins

The garnet will be hardier than the tanzanite, they're really quite tough little stones.

In this particular case, I don't think the darker colour in the tip of the pear is considered zoning. When it comes to pear shapes, it is different from the rest because one end is rounded and the other is pointy. Looking at the pavilion, you can see how the angles are at almost extreme opposites. Because of this (which affects how light travels through the stone), colour tends to be more concentrated in the tip compared to elsewhere. This is true for almost all pear shapes stones of all varieties, even FCDs and "colourless" diamonds.

 

[Starzin]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

Thanks for the clarification Chrono. I was aware of the tendency for tip colour concentration with pears but wasn't sure whether that was what I was seeing or not.

jbk - typically half a centimetre up or down from each of those numbers (length and width). However be careful about "pushing the envelope" on those numbers. Well done on finding the thread with the size in it! At least now you know what size you are looking for.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

Just a note...if this is to be a daily wear ring, I would only do spinel or sapphire, and you will have to really raise your budget to get a nice sapphire and probably spinel as well. Beautiful setting, though!

 

[chrono]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

With the diamond being really close to 11 x 7, I expect it to be the standard 11 x 7 setting. I would try to keep to it as closely as possible. Usually, there is a 0.5 mm leeway in either direction but things get a bit trickier here because:

1. Pears come in different shapes, even within that same shape. There are fat pears, medium and skinny pears. A skinny pear mounted in a setting for a fat pear might allow some of the metal basket underneath to show through. A fat pear might have trouble squeezing into the basket of a skinny pear setting. Still, it's not a huge issue if the setting has 4 prongs and a chevron tip. With only 2 prongs and a chevron prong, the stone may not be held as securely if the outlines are different.

2. The setting was made to suit the stone or vice versa? My gut feel is that the setting was custom made around the stone, correct? If so, then this will be moot point. If that is the case, then you can shop for stones around 10.5 mm to 11.5 mm x 6.5 mm to 7.5 mm. Obviously you'll want to avoid a 11.5 x 7.5 mm stone and a 10.5 mm x 6.5 mm stone, looking for something closer to the actual setting dimensions. FYI, if it was a setting that was not custom to fit the stone, then I would play it really safe and narrow down the range to plus/minus 0.2 mm each way because we are now guessing the range of the setting based on a stone, which is far less accurate.

 

[jbkhere]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

What color would you say this is please?

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?2076451020

 

[Starzin]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

A much more complete explanation than my miserable effort Chrono - thanks again.

 

[FrekeChild]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

What color would you say this is please?

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?2076451020

Mauve.

Or grayish purple with a bit of pink. I rather like it, even though it looks like it might have a little bit of a window going on...

 

[Starzin]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

To my eye, based on that picture, it appears to be a medium/light, slightly dusky pink. However I find it really difficult to judge colour from Multicolour pics because I don't believe they are all that representative of the stone in real life. It could be quite pretty in hand. This picture gives the impression there is also some lavender and some grey, deep purple and bluish flashes/sparkle.

ETA: However the sizing is good, the price is good and it is eye clean. All very positive points! Particularly with a spinel since it has high refraction so it would appear from the colours I see that it would be a very lively stone.

 

[chrono]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

What color would you say this is please?

http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?2076451020

Wow, a pretty decent stone for the price and size. I don't know how accurate MC's photography is though. My guess is pinkish lavender or pinkish light purple as the hue. Light toned spinels tend to be quite dispersive, showing a lot of other colours, so it doesn't come as a surprise if one sees pink and some other shades thrown in here and there. It isn't super saturated but it's not a drab gray either. If it looks anything like the picture, it is a good buy. The window looks to be smallish and probably will not be noticeable once set.

 

[Starzin]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

I was editing as you were posting Chrono. Pleased you're of the same opinion.

 

[chrono]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

Starzin,
We must have crossed posts or something. You were editing your original post while I was writing mine. I hope you won't take it as that I am trying to "one up" you or anything like that. I just so happen to have the time to sit down and write a proper explanation on a laptop instead of trying to swing it on my cell phone.

ETA
We are crossing posts again.

 

[jbkhere]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

Starzin, Chrono & Seeker - looks like our posts passed in the night. So I ended up with a post that looks like I wasn't paying one bit of attention, I'm sorry Thank you all for the insight and help! I'll be reading those posts again several times.

I will be wearing this more than occasionally and so I agree I should look more at spinel or sapphire. Any guess how badly this may highjack the budget? Though I'm also afraid just of the difficulty in finding one in the right size...

WF has just confirmed with me that they will set spinels and "probably" a garnet. I do know that this was a custom ring for an already existing diamond.

And Freke thank you also for the color imput. Everyone's help is so VERY much appreciated!

Will that 7.2 width be too big for the setting do you think?

 

[chrono]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

Spinels are generally not treated, so I won't cover that here. With sapphires, if two have the same colour, then the untreated one will cost more. How much will depend on the colour, size, clarity and etc.

As for pricing, the more saturated the colour (vividness or pop of colour), the more expensive the stone will be. In this case, let's presume all are eye clean and 11x7 mm. Also, some hues tend to be more expensive than others, in particular, red and blue. Pinks aren't really expensive but still could be out of your budget. Your best bet will be something light pink, purplish and such. For sapphires, green and blue green tends to be one of the less expensive colours.

 

[Starzin]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

We are crossing posts again.

No problems at all Chrono!

jkb - I'd say this is one worth contacting Multicolour about and getting it to have a look at - the size is fine. It's a spinel so no problems with WF setting it or it's durability.

 

[Starzin]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

jbk - I've been thinking about this and I'd like to ask what colour you see when you look at the pink spinel.

 

[jbkhere]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

It looks sort of blue-y purpleish to me. I won't tell you how old I am but I have countless times during my lifetime purchased or worn something that I thought was one color only to be told I wasn't even close. So now I don't trust my interpretation at all......

I'd be more OK if I could see the gems IRL myself. I'd still ask for quality opinions but if I like the color - I like the color no matter what anyone else thinks it looks like Online pictures I can't trust myself. And my husband (I love him dearly) would give me a flat one color answer - I wouldn't be able to get much tone or saturation detail from him

Can I get opinions on this sapphire? Seller says he's relisting today. Of course, I have no idea what he's hoping to get for it...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-NATURAL...Gemstones_1&hash=item27c5cb897b#ht_500wt_1156

 

[FrekeChild]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

Looks kind of included, maybe a window? The pic is really bad. How much is he wanting?

 

[jbkhere]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

I don't know he hasn't said. He had a reserve but it wasn't met last listing. I've also asked him for more pictures, fingers crossed....

 

[jbkhere]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

Ebay sapphire is starting at $185. Hopefully I can get some more pictures...

 

[Starzin]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

It looks sort of blue-y purpleish to me. I won't tell you how old I am but I have countless times during my lifetime purchased or worn something that I thought was one color only to be told I wasn't even close. So now I don't trust my interpretation at all......

Yes, I've heard similar comments from others with colour blindness.

Please don't be too swayed by the colour change hype on this stone - I know it seems like the ideal solution to your blue/red/pink dilemma but a good colour change is very difficult to find. Freke's being very polite but I'll be a little more blunt because I know you're working behind the 8-ball here. Unfortunately this is probably the worst gem you've found so far! I strongly doubt whether the "blue" will in fact be blue at all - it looks more like a dirty charcoal. Even the pink has blotches of black and this time it isn't extinction. It is soooo included the poor thing should be too ashamed to be held up in public

I would honestly recommend giving this one a wide berth jbk. You've actually had a red, a blue and a pink which are all decent/excellent stones given your specs. Help us to help you...what don't you like about each of these?

(In the order they were posted)
Red garnet http://mastercutgems.com/index.php?page=viewgem&id=6111

Tanzanite (WF won't set & durability is a bit of a problem) http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?1954954305

And the lovely pink spinel you found http://www.multicolour.com/detail/?2076451020

Is it that you really - in your heart of hearts - want blue?

 

[Starzin]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

It looks sort of blue-y purpleish to me.

Then I think it's the perfect answer! Meets the specs, others see a pretty lavender/pink with blue flashes and you see the blue-ish you're after. No? What puts you off it?

 

[jbkhere]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

You hit it right on the head Starzin. In my heart of hearts - I'm realizing I want blue. Don't get me wrong, I love the others also and would love to own them. As a matter of fact if I'm not able to find a blue spinel or sapphire I may very well get that tanzi. Its a battle my brain and heart are having. I "know" its not a stone for everyday use and that I won't be able to have Whiteflash set it but my heart sure does like it. Is it corney to say I can "feel" that I want blue? I've got emails out to some other cutters (R2R, Prima Gems, Peter Torraca, Vance Gems)
I do appreciate everyone's help and I truly welcome the blunt-ness. I actually wasn't terribly interested in the color change ability it "looks" more like light blue / dark blue to me. (see how much help I need? )
So......I'm on a big hunt for blue it seems. Regardless of budget there doesn't seem to be much available in the size I need in spinel or sapphire. I can hardly even get to "OMG - it costs HOW much?!!" I can hardly find a stone at all. So fingers crossed one of the cutters I've reached out to will have something and I'm going to keep searching and asking (if you don't mind

 

[chrono]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

I would not get that stone unless I am unable to see well beyond 6 inches. The eBay sapphire is very included as stated by the vendor. I am afraid it is so extensive that it will affect the stone's performance. I'm not even going to bring up the colour. I suppose that is why such a large unheated sapphire is very inexpensive.

 

[Starzin]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

You hit it right on the head Starzin. In my heart of hearts - I'm realizing I want blue.

Yes, and now I think I see why I went back to web design tools and there is one to help us see what you see.

I went to http://colorfilter.wickline.org/ and entered the sites for each of the three stones above. This site by the way won't help you at all, in fact for you it will simply double the deficiency. For people with normal colour vision though, it simulates various types of colour blindness so that we see (sort of) what you see (I appreciate every case is different). Tell me if I'm right...

Red garnet is khaki except for the photo lower left which you asked about being pinker because it does show pinker.
Tanzinite is a variety of pretty blues but misses a great deal of the violet we see.
Pink spinel is basically pale greyish blues/navy

Obviously any stone in the pink/red spectrum is going to be a problem. I can fully understand why you want to look at a pretty blue stone instead of a khaki one

ETA:

I "know" its not a stone for everyday use and that I won't be able to have Whiteflash set it but my heart sure does like it. Is it corney to say I can "feel" that I want blue? I've got emails out to some other cutters (R2R, Prima Gems, Peter Torraca, Vance Gems)

It's good that you've got feelers out to all those cutters, you never know. I was wondering about amethyst? I know it isn't a sapphire or spinel but it also isn't necessarily hard/expensive to replace should something happen to it. Check out Gemfix's amethyst page http://www.gemfix.com/amethyst.html. Most of these are a vivid purple to us but running it through the colourfilter changes them to saturated sapphires!

If anyone wants to try this, simply go to the links for the stones and copy the URL then paste it in the space on the colourfilter site - it will replicate an approximation of what jbk is seeing and I think you'll begin to appreciate why she wants blue/violet. Note that the pics don't fully come in and I think it's because of the size but you'll get the idea.

 

[jbkhere]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

WOW! Starzin - that's amazing! I had no idea such a site existed. Though I don't know why I'm surprised. I feel so validated
You know - I wondered a bit about amethyst but never pursued it. I will take another look.

Freke, Chrono & Starzin - thank you so much for your honesty on that Ebay stone. I will indeed stay far far away

Now I'm off to look at amethysts......

 

[jbkhere]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

HOLY COW! You're right! That pear amethyst on gemfix I love! Its too big but I do like the color!!

 

[Starzin]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

Anything to help a coloured stone lover find their perfect match!

Yes there's tools for everything in web design and a whole heap of them come under accessibility - colour blindness being one of those that web developers should cater for. Gemfix is actually to be commended that their site holds up so well under the colour test.

That pear and the one next to it are probably the least sparkly to us but at least we're now playing in the in the same ballpark. We have a way of viewing an approximation of what you see and can also guide you on the other bits (windows, inclusions etc).

 

[jbkhere]

Re: Will I be able to find a stone for my Whiteflash mountin

What is Umba sapphire please? Lisa said she may have a piece of Umba rough.....