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 Post subject: Re: Luc Yen cobalt blue spinel.
PostPosted: Thu Jul 20, 2017 11:48 pm 
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No, I have no experience.

Hauyne is softer and brittle - you need a very good goldsmith and if you buy small ones for a halo - maybe you need 12 - you should buy some more.

We get them much cheaper here in Germany. If you need some send me an E-Mail.

I bought the two larger ones in St Marie - 0,13 ct with a lighter and brighter blue ( the small round is the top color) and a 0,20 ct with a fine paraiba like color - both eyeclean. I like them very much.

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 Post subject: Re: Luc Yen cobalt blue spinel.
PostPosted: Fri Jul 21, 2017 5:44 am 
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Thank you, Marlow!

I will definitely email you when I need some stones. :)


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 Post subject: Re: Luc Yen cobalt blue spinel.
PostPosted: Fri Jul 21, 2017 12:20 pm 
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Excellent!!

Course you always need some stones.... :D

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 Post subject: Re: Luc Yen cobalt blue spinel.
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 2:02 am 
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I found someone...well, he treats stones on a regular basis, and is a well known cutter, who has offered to treat some of these spinels for me. He uses Hxtal regularly and has a real vacuum chamber too.(he heats stones as well..fyi)
The issue I am concerned about, is the smooth and clean euhedral crystal faces present on many of the spinel crystals. Often times, the fractures are subsurface in nature, which prohibits the bonding agent from penetrating and working properly.

Will Hxtal be able to work itself into a fracture that is surface reaching, then be able to suck itself into other fractures that may be connected to the original surface reaching one?
What I am trying to say....Hypothetically....if all the fractures inside a stone are under the surface, except for one f that allows Hxtal into the stone, will the fractures inside the stone fill in, as long as they are all connected to the surface reaching fracture?

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 Post subject: Re: Luc Yen cobalt blue spinel.
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 2:52 am 
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I would say yes, but it will most likely be a slow process.
Never tried anything with Hxtal, only a couple of times with cedarwood oil. With oil, several rounds are sometimes necessary to obtain the desired result.

Maybe someone with more knowledge about oiling/resin filling will offer you more precise hindsight.


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 Post subject: Re: Luc Yen cobalt blue spinel.
PostPosted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 1:03 pm 
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=D> I ordered some small cut stones yesterday. I need some spectra done on one of the cut stones ,and if possible, on a piece of rough I can send along too

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 Post subject: Re: Luc Yen cobalt blue spinel.
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 6:50 am 
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The lot you posted on PS - they look very uniform and I answered that you should test all of them... they are very fine.
Which size are they...

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 Post subject: Re: Luc Yen cobalt blue spinel.
PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 2:05 am 
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I got a lot of 3 in the mail on Tuesday, Marlow.
First off, I had contacted the board member who used to do all my spectra in the past, but he is out of commission until a few months from now. I have someone else who will do it for me in the next week or two, but until then...

Secondly, I had second thoughts after a competing dealer of that material, commented on the consistency of the stones in the video being suspect. I worried that it looked like that too. I had never bought from him and didn't know what to expect.
He told me to check his references if I was worried about sending him money and/or getting fake stones, after I questioned him about Co syn. stones. I went ahead and posted a query on my FB page asking for any references, and got plenty of good things about the guy from people I have known and trusted since I started rocks & gems. I even had the guy I get my pieces of rough from, give me the rundown of where the stones came from, who had them, who cut them, where the rough came from that they were cut from, etc. I was able to trace them back and confirm everything. It's a small world, ya know, how certain things come around full circle. :wink: :wink: :wink:
That still isn't proof something is what it is, but from what I can see when I use my scope to view the stones they look real.

Contrary to what the video showed, many were wonky cut and not of the same hue, tone, and saturation. One of the three I got is dark and doesn't light up well. Reminds me some of my 3/4ct. sri lanka cobalt spinel that I got from Greg on here years ago. It has flashes of good blue when it catches the the facets just right, with light.
The other two are spectacular. Not a perfect matching pair in color, but fairly close. One is cleaner than the other and has a more icy neon blue color. They look amazing in the sunlight or under my Ott light.
They truly look neon...like an internal battery is making them glow from the inside, like they say over on PS.
It's like I imagine the best Paraiba looked like, if not better, from back in the late 1980's and early 90's. I have never seen color like these in any Paraiba tourmaline, or the like, since I started foolin' with stones.
They are around .10-.12cts each. I was told by the guy who had the stones cut from rough, that it was around 8 stones a carat on the rough return from cutting.

I only got 3 of the 16, Marlow, and he sold 8 others since Tuesday, so only 5 are left.
I can tell you though, for as small as they are, they sure do make a big impression with that electric hauyne blue they have.
Just sitting here, slightly in the dark, in and amongst some clutter, are the two good colored Co spinel gems in their gem case. As I look at them, they seem like two glowing blue eyes, right now. I haven't snapped any pics of them yet, except for these couple below. Just used my P/S camera I have next to me.

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Last edited by Jason Barrett on Thu Nov 30, 2017 2:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Luc Yen cobalt blue spinel.
PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 2:08 am 
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Here are some good pieces I got a month ago, that I snapped a few pics of earlier tonight
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Here they are sitting in a baggie on my desk.
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 Post subject: Re: Luc Yen cobalt blue spinel.
PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 11:08 am 
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This small piece of rough is so expensive, it comes with a G.I.A report. Ever the best cutter' will be lucky to get 25 points out of it. Comes out to 20K/ct. for a quarter carater. Pretty crazy.


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 Post subject: Re: Luc Yen cobalt blue spinel.
PostPosted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 1:42 am 
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Hi Jason,

wow, they are really pretty! Glowing color in this light condition.

I think it is important that the lot is not uniform in color course the neon or hauyne colored ones are extremely rare and the top neon like the two in the bow are much rarer - I bought many small stones some years ago and got some ( rough and cut ) from Dr. Schmetzer after he traveled to Luy Yen. Some were darker and shift ( violet ) but the best color doesn't shift.

A larger variation of colors we saw in Inhorgenta ( Nomads ) and bought lighter colors. It is a fascinating material....

Hauyne shows a simililar color - we have some extra fine stones around 0,27 ct with top cutting ( eletric blue to fine sapphire blue) and due to the lower RI they look "softer".

On the left Hauyne and right 3 Luc Yen Cobalts...

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 Post subject: Re: Luc Yen cobalt blue spinel.
PostPosted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 1:29 pm 
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Fantastic stones, Marlow! Hauyne still has the best color blue, that I have seen. The tiny pieces I used to get from "seriously-gemented", were out of this world. They were itty bitty, but boy, did they have a vivid blue.


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 Post subject: Re: Luc Yen cobalt blue spinel.
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 10:45 am 
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Hopefully someone on the forum snatched the .51 matched pair from the Gem Trader. I tried to reserve them as soon as they came up but someone beat me. Story of my life -a day late( actually a few minutes). Somebody got a great deal. :D

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 Post subject: Re: Luc Yen cobalt blue spinel.
PostPosted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 4:17 pm 
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Just finished a pendent of blue spinel, referred to as cobalt color of blue spinel, clean stones, 0ver 21cts in 14kt yellow gold, @ 2" tall. The GIA cert on the bottom stone describes as dark blue, no treatment. Gold work by John- 8)


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 Post subject: Re: Luc Yen cobalt blue spinel.
PostPosted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 1:53 am 
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I get confused by the use of "cobalt blue" for just about every blue spinel being sold on ebay, regardless of it's actual blue hue.
When I see "Cobalt blue spinel gemstone", I would like to think that it would look something like this in color....
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Great post, Marlow! I love the side by side, with the two best blues out there, since BB king!
Sometimes I think the softer look of Hauyne adds to its vibrancy and saturation of color. It gives the stone more of a glow, in my opinion.

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