Blue Spinel Vs Sapphire

Tourmalines pg 4 paraiba tourmalines.

Blue spinel vs sapphire.

Price varies from color to color. With modern gemological tools we can easily distinguish between blue spinel and blue sapphire. Spinel has been making a name for itself over the last couple of decades and demand for fine stones well exceeds supply. There is no telling how many spinels have actually been sold as sapphire.

Red and blue spinel. Blue spinel hues range from violet blue through very slightly greenish blue. Red is the costliest followed by blue then pink and in last multi colors. Common crystal forms are octahedra usually twinned it has an imperfect octahedral cleavage and a conchoidal fracture its hardness is 8 its specific gravity is 3 5 4 1 and it is transparent to opaque with a vitreous to dull luster.

It may be colorless but is usually various shades of pink rose red blue green yellow brown black or. Hi here is just a small video that shows 4 stones cut from synthetic boules of corundum and spinel the one you can see at the beginning of my video synthetics corundum and spinel. Synthetic spinel showing a neon red color under short uv rays. Blue exemplars are the second rarest spinel gems.

Color is an important factor that defines spinel s price red spinel is rarer than other varieties and also more expensive. Synthetic spinels are very. Tourmalines pg 3 pink red yellow and other colors. Spinel pg 3 synthetic spinel.

However hundreds of years ago when spinel was found together with sapphire and ruby it was impossible to tell them apart. There is a big difference in between the price of natural and synthetic spinels. The bright reds and deep blues are spectacular specimens. Spinel occurs in a wide variety of colors.

Spinel crystallizes in the isometric system. Sapphire status and reputation sapphire has always had a royal connection and was frequently worn by royals and the clergy throughout history. Nevertheless spinel s price even in those cases is still lower than the price of sapphire and ruby. Sapphire ruby pg 2 ruby.

Garnet pg 2 understanding garnets. Other varieties are more common and less sought after. Tourmaline pg 2 black orange blue green tourmalines. Picture courtesy ruby sapphire.

It is noteworthy that the world s most famous engagement ring is the iconic blue sapphire ring of princess diana worn now by kate middleton. Sapphire ruby. It is easy to understand how early gem traders confused spinel with ruby and sapphire for over 1000 years. This has to some degree closed the spinel vs.