It is easy to understand how early gem traders confused spinel with ruby and sapphire for over 1000 years.
Blue spinel vs sapphire.
Picture courtesy ruby sapphire.
Spinel pg 2 red spinel pink spinel other colors.
Spinel has been making a name for itself over the last couple of decades and demand for fine stones well exceeds supply.
The bright reds and deep blues are spectacular specimens.
This has to some degree closed the spinel vs.
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.
Blue exemplars are the second rarest spinel gems.
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.
Tourmalines pg 4 paraiba tourmalines.
Tourmaline pg 2 black orange blue green tourmalines.
Tourmalines pg 3 pink red yellow and other colors.
Synthetic spinels are very.
Garnet pg 2 understanding garnets.
Color is an important factor that defines spinel s price red spinel is rarer than other varieties and also more expensive.
Red and blue spinel.
Red is the costliest followed by blue then pink and in last multi colors.
Spinel occurs in a wide variety of colors.
In fact spinel is in great demand among gemologists and gem connoisseurs.
However hundreds of years ago when spinel was found together with sapphire and ruby it was impossible to tell them apart.
Spinel pg 3 synthetic spinel.
Sapphire status and reputation sapphire has always had a royal connection and was frequently worn by royals and the clergy throughout history.
With modern gemological tools we can easily distinguish between blue spinel and blue sapphire.
Blue spinel hues range from violet blue through very slightly greenish blue.
Nevertheless spinel s price even in those cases is still lower than the price of sapphire and ruby.
There is no telling how many spinels have actually been sold as sapphire.
Sapphire ruby.
Sapphire ruby pg 2 ruby.
Price varies from color to color.
There is a big difference in between the price of natural and synthetic spinels.
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.
Other varieties are more common and less sought after.