Posted 8 years ago
rkaiser
(5 items)
Anyone know what kind of gemstone this is? The pictures do not do it justice but it goes from purple to blue to teal green (in direct sunlight) to emerald green (in shady sunlight). I cannot seem to get a picture of the emerald green color. When I try it just comes out red.
I bought it at a pawn shop... It's set in 14k gold. Regardless of what kind of stone it is, I love it!!!
Wow! Probably you have an alexandrite ring! It's a quite rare stone, google it! Great find!
http://www.gemstone.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=127:sapphire&catid=1:gem-by-gem&Itemid=14
Martika, I think you got it :-)
Very nice ring!
You guys really think so???
It's a beautiful stone!!! Thanks for the feedback.
Beautiful ring, but No, it is most likely not Alexandrite. Chances are it is synthetic, or color change sapphire. I had one - and it was HUGE. OMG - I did SO much research, and all said that large stones are VERY rare. It could be also be color-change sapphire.
The ONLY way you are going to find out is if you send it to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in So. California - NO OTHER CERTIFICATION WILL SUFFICE !! GIA is the only internationally recognized certification.
It will only cost you $75.00 +/- if it is NOT what you think it is. If it IS an Authentic Alexandrite, it will cost I think (can't recall EXACTLY) $180.00? +/-. It is TOTALLY worth finding out, because if it IS real, it would be REALLY valuable.
I still have another SUPERBLY cut stone that is also huge. I sold the gold settings when gold was selling for $1800.00/oz. (Or whatever it was when it was selling for HUGE amounts!)
I sent mine to GIA, and was relieved to have a definitive answer. I sold mine and still got a pretty good price. A LOT of these were purchased in the 30s-40s when traveling to Egypt was all the rage. The egyptian symbol for gold is an Owl, by the way.
You get billed by GIA AFTER they do their analysis. They are TOTALLY legit. Others, not so much.
http://www.gia.edu/
I just found a website about how to determine is your stone authentic or fake. Somehow I'm not able to copy the link, but the website is called http://www.khazargems.com and put into research box natural vs created alexandrite. It will give you some advice. Of course your research never will be so accurate as a gemmological institutes', but you might find out the result earlier.
Thanks everyone!! Very good information!!
I support those who say it's probably not alexandrite. If the stone is natural, i.e. you see inclusions and the color is uneven, I suggest looking into color changing garnets. I have a ring with the same color change you've described and so far could not manage to get good photos either, but the research I've done points to color changing garnets. Of course, if your stone is perfect inside, it would most likely be synthetic/lab grown.