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So I have a couple of questions, more about the color-changing stones like alexandrite. I absolutely love alexandrite, it's a gorgeous stone and I love the color changing element. I like them when they are a bit grayer, so in sunlight they look like a deep steely blue. The thing is, of course, they're amazingly rare and really drat expensive. I saw that some other stones do the color changing thing (some sapphires, garnets, etc), but not as dramatically. I also saw that there exists some simulants, and I'm interested in those. I don't care about the "oh it's a real stone!" thing, I care more about the look and durability. As long as the stone is durable and looks like an alexandrite, it should be fine. Are there any other reasons not to go with a "fake" stone? I know they will not be an investment or anything, but then again they will be cheaper (right?), which is important to my wallet. So what should I do? Get a fake, get another type of stone (sapphire or garnet), or just forget about it and get another stone I think is pretty? (tanzanite ohhh...) It'd be for an engagement ring and I would probably want it at around a carat or a little more, to get the whole color effect. Great thread btw, thanks!
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Aug 7, 2010 20:38
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Cait posted:I bought one off eBay for $230 USD, it's about the size of ladybug and it colour changes from green to a rosy purple. I would suggest you to do a bit more research into it. Not saying you definitely got scammed, but alexandrite with any good color change is normally about 10,000$/carat. You probably got a synthetic. The expensive ones are normally green/red color change, not blue/red, and a stone that changes enough to go from green to rosy purple would be worth a lot. You could cut on costs by going for really low clarity (I'm talking barely see-through) or a low color change, but even then 230 for that size... It's probably not real. Here's a pretty comprehensive guide on buying (real) alexandrites http://www.alexandrite.net/chapters/chapter9/index.html . There are other guides online too, just google for "alexandrite buying guide" and there are tons. These stones really are expensive! For that price, you *might* be able to get something with the kind of color change shown below, but that was selling for 400$ and that was for like .80 carats, which I think would be smaller than a ladybug.  I freakin' love alexandrites, so I'm looking into a nice synthetic one, most likely. Which is why I posted like 4 posts above asking what would be best, synthetic, some other color changing stone, or what? And if anyone knows about makers of really nice stones that'd be great too. I know about Chatham, but they are pretty expensive as far as synthetics go, anyone else do really nice alexandrites out there?
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Aug 12, 2010 15:14
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Cait posted:It has a very nice colour change, so even if it's a synthetic, I still got a great colour changing stone. Well if you don't mind it being synthetic, good for you! I always thought natural stones were overrated (and the conditions for mining them are not the greatest either). Getting a natural alexandrite would be ridiculous in my opinion, especially with the gorgeous synthetic ones on the market.
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Aug 13, 2010 02:18
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