Tourmaline wedding ring instead of diamond

[Crystal canuck]

Thanks Calla Lily ! Now I have something else to worry about

How can you tell if it's going to go cloudy and what can you do about it if it does ?

[markings]

Originally Posted by Errol

Diamonds are forever :)

Diamonds are forever only because the average person can't sell them at a price which looks remotely reasonable. LOL

The pricing of Diamonds is huge fraud. Except for rare examples of size and color there is no shortage of them. The sales, and thus the value of them is carefully managed to give the impression that they are rare and valuable, where in fact they are plentiful and would be relatively inexpensive.

You are not buying a diamond, you are buying sentiment. Unfortunately woman are more susceptible to consider that a good monetary investment.

[Crystal canuck]

Totally true I think about the price of diamonds being a fraud. Copper tourmaline is more rare than diamonds, and this venture has been quite fun

I had to turn down the orange copper bearing tourmaline Under further inspection and more pictures I discovered there is a small crack. You can actually see it in the picture I posted near the bottom right. Not exactly what I would call VVS clarity ( eye clean with flaws only showing under magnification ) I could live with a small VVS type scratch or flaw, but no way for cracks or chips.

I think I might have found a light purple, copper bearing, huge 9.3 carat, pear shaped tourmaline. It's got a couple very tiny surface scratches, but they are quite tiny and I am confident they would not be noticeable, a real VVS so to speak. It's quite stunning but the price is quite high. I will consider it but keep looking. I must be picky because this is my wife's wedding ring.

On the flip side, my colour changing 5.7 carat tourmaline should be coming any day now. That's the one I'm using for my own ring.

[Crystal canuck]

I think I have finally found the stone for my wife's ring. This time I have confirmed it's 100 % flawless even under magnification. It's a trillion cut orange tourmaline over 7 carats 12mm by 12mm and 8 mm depth. It's deep enough that the traditional disadvantages of a trillion cut is minimized.

O.K so it's not copper bearing, but at least it's the vibrant colour she wanted, 100 % flawless and large and beautiful, so I think it's as close as we're going to get It's kind of expensive but I'm trying to work out a deal right now with the seller from Thailand . It was originally mined in Nigeria.

[Crystal canuck]

It's Official ! I just bought the orange tourmaline for my wife's ring ! Our search is finally over ! I will of course also show you guys the finished product from this trillion cut orange tourmaline and also the 5.7 carat emerald cut color changing tourmaline I am getting for my own ring.

My wife's tourmaline turned out to be a little pricy, but I know she will love it, and it's exactly what she wanted, so it's all worth it.

nothing stands with diamond, you can gift your wife what she likes may a colorful gemstone with unique energies or properties.

[Crystal canuck]

My color change tourmaline arrived in the mail, and it looks amazing. It's even nicer than the video I saw. It changes from yellow to red to green I think it's going to make an excellent man's ring. Perfect size as well, I don't think I could have done better ! The picture of it is located a few posts back in this thread.

My wife's orange tourmaline is scheduled to arrive later today, and I am eager to have a peek at that one too.

[CrystalSong]

Stunning! Well done - She'll love it!

[Crystal canuck]

Thanks Crystalsong ! I think she will really dig it, tourmaline has a special connection with her, and it will certainly be more interesting than the standard type of ring. It looks like we will have to wait one more day as there has been a slight delay in Vancouver customs. I really can't complain however, as it was in Thailand less than 3 days ago . That's pretty darn fast and I really didn't believe the 2 days shipping estimate from halfway around the world, but geez, FedEx is fast !

[Crystal canuck]

My wife's orange tourmaline arrived today ! It's exactly as we hoped, really beautiful and at 7 carats it will make an impressive center stone. It does have the vibrant orange color she wanted and it also displays some nice pink when viewed at the right angle, so I guess she has a color change tourmaline as well, only a more feminine type. It was displayed as a bi-color but the picture showed mostly orange, but now I understand. That was a welcome surprise.

What was very interesting is that we both picked out our own stones, but they are both similar in some way, I guess they both have a similar warm tone to them. We weren't trying to get similar stones but I guess we sort of did. Mine is orange that changes to yellow and green, and hers is orange that changes to a pink. I certainly think we did a good job picking a more masculine color and cut for mine and a more feminine cut and color for hers.

Now we are just thinking of types of ring designs and settings. Originally I was thinking white gold for mine but now I think with the warm tone of the gem a yellow gold might be better. My wife is toying with the idea of rose gold for hers.