5 Tips on how to buy alexandrite ring

Alexander's Choice Ring by David Wein

The market is flooded with numerous jewellers and shops claiming to sell authentic, genuine and even Russian alexandrite jewellery. But natural alexandrite is extremely rare and it would be next to impossible to find a natural alexandrite piece of  jewelry online or in your  jewellery shop.

Some antique, estate and vintage jewellery sellers, as well as eBay, Amazon and other online jewellery retailers are misleading their customers on purpose or by ignorance  by using the "Verneuil", "Chatham" or "Cultured" designation to describe synthetic alexandrite or synthetic corundum laced with vanadium.

Use of the "Verneuil Alexandrite", "Chatham Alexandrite" or "Cultured Alexandrite" term in the context of a description for sales without including the "lab created" or "synthetic" prefix, is incorrect and deliberately misleading. These stones will show a range of colour changes and are usually very clean and available in large sizes but  they has no resale, investment or emotional value.

It would do you good to be aware of some basic tips on buying alexandrite jewellery before you buy one.

1. When buying alexandrite jewellery,  always ask for a Certificate of Authenticity and a Gem Identification report from a reputed Gem Laboratory. Most reputable stores selling alexandrite will supply a certificate anyway.

2. Each alexandrite is individual and it is impossible  to find two that display exactly the same colour change, unless they are cut from the same crystal. An alexandrite with good clarity may display a less dramatic colour change because the silky inclusions often enhance the change.

3. The traditional view is that the best alexandrite shifts from emerald green to ruby red, but this hardly ever occurs. Most alexandrite's seem to show a good green in daylight or a beautiful red under incandescent light but few stones look good under every kind of light. Good quality alexandrite is teal, emerald, or blue-green under natural daylight or fluorescent lighting that ideally changes to purple-red or red under regular incandescent light.

4. Alexandrite is very rare gemstones and it is next to impossible to find  decent alexandrite weighing over 0.25 cts. Stones less than 0.50 carat can be worth several thousand pounds and over one carat may retail for ten times this amount.

5. It's not a bad idea to  buy  loose certified natural alexandrite gemstone from a reputable  gem dealer and ask your jeweller to set it for you.

Alexandrite and alexandrite jewellery

Natural Alexandrite by Multicolour.com

Alexandrite is an excellent gemstone for an engagement ring, but it can be expensive and really hard to find. Fine stones usually run into thousands of dollars per carat and genuine alexandrite jewelry is almost always custom work. Do not trust Ebay, Overstock or Amazon.  They re-sell mostly lab created and fake alexandrite jewellery.

The ideal alexandrite is one with a medium tone and intense or near vivid color, blue-green in daylight to rich ruby red or purple red under incandescent light or candlelight. Alexandrites that bleed, or those in which one can see the two colors at the same time may be less desirable but since light sources are often mixed anyway, the phenomena is quite common. Grayish and brownish tones are common in many alexandrites and these stones are considered to be less valuable. A fine stone displays a distinct and dramatic color change where both colors are bright and attractive.

Gemstones is vanity, diamonds is sanity, and pearls is reality

Pearl jewellery catches attention because of its uncomplicated and serene elegance. It may seem like an oxymoron, but sometimes the simplest things are the ones that are the most attractive. A look at a simple pearl studs is enough to dispel all doubt.

In fact, for many kinds of pearl jewellery, the basic principle is "the simpler the better." At times a single pearl can even say much more than a dozen pearls all lined up. This is why some consider pearl jewellery to be even more beautiful than diamond, more valuable and timeless.

Audrey Hepburn wore such simple pearl jewellery in "Breakfast at Tiffany's"? , and yet they made her face shine. Pearl jewellery bring glamour to a woman's face, catch the light and trap it in to create a very suffused glow.

Due to its timeless elegance, pearl jewellery never falls out of fashion and can be worn with almost anything.

Gem Stories: Turquoise

Turquoise cabochone

Legend has it that the Indians believed that if Turquoise was affixed to a bow, the arrows shot from it would always hit their mark. It was also believed to bring happiness and good fortune to all. 

The gemstone name comes from the French expressions Pierre tour ques or “Turkish stone". The name, which originated in the thirteenth century, reflects the fact that the material probably first arrived in Europe from Turkish sources. The gem turquoise owes its beauty almost entirely to its superb color, but because turquoise is frequently too chalky or unstable and full of holes and cracks, it is often treated with dye or stabalized with plastic.

Gem stories: Tanzanite

Fine Tanzanite eye clean heart, weighing 7.28 cts from Tanzania

Tanzanite is the trade name given by the gemmologists at Tiffany & Co to the transparent violet-blue variety of Zoisite, the mineral which was described by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1805. Tanzanite is generally enhanced by heat unless otherwise specified. The unheated crystals can be green, violet, yellowish or, light blue but a brownish root beer color is most common. Heating at 380 degrees C will produce the intense top blue sapphire color. Surprisingly, it is the dark brown crystals that produce the most valuable dark blue stones after heating. The treatment is permanent and accepted in the trade.

Gem stories: Taaffeite

Very rare eye clean Taaffeite weighing 2.32cts from Sri Lanka.

Taaffeite is one of the rarest and most desirable of collector's gemstones. Only a very few stones have been found and most of them originally misidentified as spinel. Multicolour.com, discovered some taafeites in it's mine run material from Tunduru, Tanzania.

Cultrured pearls and jewellery note

Orchira Pearl Brooch

Like natural pearls, cultured pearls grow inside of a mollusk, but with human intervention and always sold by their size in millimeters. Pearls come in eight basic shapes: round, semi-round, button, drop, pear, oval, baroque, and circled.   Pearls with the smoothest surfaces are the highest-quality, most sought-after pearls.

Regarding buying pearl jewellery, you need to know the following: almost all pearls used for jewelry are cultured by planting a core or nucleus into pearl oysters.  Abalone from along the Pacific Coast, primarily California, produce both blister and free pearls and their shells are used for inlay in jewelry and other items.

Pearl jewellery is a great gift and safe bet for most people, since it will never look out of fashion and ideal for gifts and for that special and romantic occasions.

Jewellery Marketplace Design

It seems that  Pearlera silently unveiled the first phase of a significant redesign and rebranding of their website. Re-built from the ground up, presentation of jewellery inventory improved drastically:  reviews, social media and many other features are added. In addition to tha  pearl jewelery range, a lot of designer gemstone jewellery and fine jewellery collections now available. Among other distinct features on the website is a jewellery mixer and zoom which allows to inspect every detail on a jewellery piece at various angles.

Pearlera.com soft launch

Scottish Beauty is the new face of Orchira’s summer pearl jewellery range

Emma Blythe, best known as the “Scottish Beauty“, is the new face of Orchira’s summer pearl jewellery range.

Treasure Book with the secret cash voucher

David Wein, known for it's natural alexandrite jewellery collection, have released the new version of their Treasure Book catalogue, which shipped with every online order.  New to this catalogue is the secret cash voucher code hidden inside. Surprise, surprise - for a $250.00 voucher that can be redeemed at their website only.