A company online is offering a ring with a $5000 reserve that they say in the title contains a 1.46 ct natural alexandrite stone. There is nothing else mentioned in the listing to support the claim. No mention at all about color change. I have asked for photos at least taken in sunlight and incandescent lighting but they have yet to provide anything. I have asked for information about the jeweler who they claim is guaranteeing and they say they can't tell me. They claim to have purchased and sold many alexandrite stones from the jeweler which is another thing that makes me suspicious. They have another ring currently for sale that has 3 stones in it that they call natural alexandrite. Again no mention of color change.
They do offer to have it appraised for me if I pay them $100. And they do say they give me 3 days after I have paid for it and received it to report a discrepancy.
Of course not. I would never consider buying something like this online in the first place and only came across this by accident, noticing the word alexandrite. I just asked them questions to see if they would provide any additional information.
What bothers me though is that there are people out there that will and this looks like a fraud to me. It's hard to just sit back and let it happen. The last listing for the ring got up to $1025 before it ended without meeting the reserve. Then there is the other one with 3 stones they call natural alexandrite running now with a reserve just under $1k. They said that they have sold a lot of these from this jeweler.
I just wondered what others thought about what thy are doing.
Last edited by Aardvark on Fri May 18, 2018 5:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The linked ring looks like a fairly typical Sri Lankan alexandrite, with the much weaker and less valuable reddish-brown to yellow-green color change. That's not to say it is, but it certainly could be.
I agree with Stephen (funny how often that happens around here). Some of the colors on stones that have GIA reports stating Alexandrite cause me discomfort these days.
Another thing that makes one say Hmmmm.....
This disclaimer from the site.
All gems are tested and identified with the Pistachio and Azure Gemlogis testers. They have not been professionally appraised or evaluated. Distinguishing between natural and lab created stones is beyond the capability of our machines.
I see can defining Alexandrite in two ways. Alexandrite is a variety of Chrysoberyl. GIA defines many varieties of gem minerals based on color. So, requiring Alexandrite to be a subset of 2 colors would be consistent. However, it seems to me that GIA is giving priority to the phenomenal nature of color change alone to define the species. There are a number of colors of Moonstone, that are accepted as Moonstone based on phenomena. There are many other examples. So, there is consistency in this view also.
Personally, I tend to go with Gubelin's lab. Alexandrite should display both attributes. A Chrysoberyl exhibiting the phenomenon of color change, where the color change results in two colors, each within a defined range of primary hue.
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