Question Of The Day, Wednesday, March 21, 2018

[Mamanyt1953]

OOOOH! For those of you who, like me, had never heard of idocrase, feast your eyes on this lovely olive-ish green beauty!

 

[artiemom]

I do not wear jewelry, but have a lot of rings. Most of them are the topaz or citrine. I do have a large amethyst ring that my parents gave me.

I also have some blue topaz earrings and necklace, and a ring.

I do love opals; again, as others have stated, it is not my birthstone. I did pick out a really unique opal ring, many years ago, as a graduation gift from my parents.. hopefully that is enough to break the 'curse'. I bought it with their money.. or they bought it for me...

However, all the ring sizes are too small... sigh.. between weight gain and some arthritis in the knuckles... well...

Amber ~~~ wow, I forgot about it. I do have an amber pin, from Poland..known for amber.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

OOOOH! For those of you who, like me, had never heard of idocrase, feast your eyes on this lovely olive-ish green beauty! ...

Yes, there are many fun variations in color and quality of idocrase/ vesuvianite -- certain stones can just catch at your heart. But look at this finer beauty!
18168 Idocrase- Rare Gemstones | D&J Rare Gems

 

[Mamanyt1953]

~drools lightly on keyboard~ That is just stunning. I don't wear gems often, but I LOVE THEM, the color, the flash and shine or the gentle sheen and glow...

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Sigh.

I have two cut moonstones I got from that store several years ago that are still in their little paper gem envelopes, tucked away (as are some other stones, yikes). I wish I had some extra money to have a goldsmith/silversmith set them in ring settings! Alas, some of our extra money went to pay for Milly's knee surgeries in the last few years... Milly's knees are much more important than some rings I would only wear occasionally!

 

[Mia6]

Diamonds, lots and lots of huge diamonds!I've got several colored diamonds too, so can get any 'stone' I want because there is most likely a diamond in that color too! I especially adore black diamonds. I have never seen one like an opal though, have to work on that!

What colors do you have? I love the brown ones they came out with a few years ago.

 

[sivyaleah]

Happy happy birthday!

Aside from diamonds, which I love, I will jump on the opal bandwagon. I love their color variations, interesting patterns within the stone and soft appearance.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I used to wear 5 rings at all times. Plus my toe rings, a bracelet or two, 1 necklace and always a pair of hoop earrings. So yeah I like jewelry and gems. I wear my wedding band on a chain now so that tells you how much life has changed. I still wear my toe rings 24/7 though!

My favorites: sapphires, tanzanite, opal, ameythyst. Diamonds. Pink tourmaline is gorgeous too. And moonstones. Onyx! Stop me now... I used to watch QVC for fun! I blame my Grandma for that.

My mother and I used to go to a gem and mineral show every year. It's been a while since we went. Maybe this year. A few times I was able to save up some money and buy myself something. I was able to get a tanzanite stone and pick a setting and have it set.

 

[margecat]

My birthday was this past Friday, and one of my gifts was a lovely pair of really good-quality cubic zircona earrings. Now, I know just enough about jewelry to know that a high quality cubic zirc can be more expensive than a lesser quality diamond, and these are small enough that they look real, and not absurdly silly. Which brings us to today's question.

Do you have a favorite gem stone, either precious or semi-precious?

I actually am not very fond of diamonds, to tell the truth. But I love love love amethysts! I also love moonstones! If you aren't familiar with them, take a peek:

If I could design my ideal ring, it would be a central moonstone flanked by tiny amethysts.

I'm not a fan of diamonds, either, maybe because I can't afford good-quality ones. I'd rather have a good-quality semi-precious stone (such as Amethyst) than an inferior diamond.

I also love amethyst and moonstone. Shop LC (formerly the Liquidation Channel) sells Lusaka amethyst and Uruguayan amethyst, both of which are untreated stones--something you don't see a lot of nowadays (about 94% are treated by heat, irradiation, dying, fissure-filling, etc.). In other words, the amethysts are that color when they are mined (after faceting and polishing, of course). They are a rich, deep grape-jelly purple, and they account for most of my purchases from them. I love that color!

That all being said, Chrome Diopside is my favorite gem ("Russian Diopside" at LC). It's another untreated stone, only mined in Siberia (where my some of my ancestors are from, so I have an excuse to buy it, LOL). I'm a redhead with green eyes, and that shade of green is very good on me.

Pearls are another. My maternal Grandmother was a pearl-stringer back before cultured pearls had been perfected by Mikimoto. It doesn't sound impressive, until you realize that 1. Natural pearls were more expensive than diamonds then, and 2. Doing the knots between each pearl on the strand took a lot of skill. Pearls were knotted so, if the strand broke, you would only lose one pearl. And to think a 15-16-year-old girl was given that task is even more impressive. Mom's family, cousins and all, were jewelers in England for generations.

 

[debbila]

My favorite gemstone is tanzanite. With shades of purple being my favorite color, I love the mixture of purple and blue in tanzanite. Last year I got a " past, present and future " ring, which is three stones in a horizontal row.

Years ago I was given a ring with vertical rows of black and white diamonds. That was the first time I had seen black diamonds. I wear my tanzanite ring more often than it though. All of my rings are white gold which I like best.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Pearls are another. My maternal Grandmother was a pearl-stringer back before cultured pearls had been perfected by Mikimoto. It doesn't sound impressive, until you realize that 1. Natural pearls were more expensive than diamonds then, and 2. Doing the knots between each pearl on the strand took a lot of skill. Pearls were knotted so, if the strand broke, you would only lose one pearl. And to think a 15-16-year-old girl was given that task is even more impressive. Mom's family, cousins and all, were jewelers in England for generations.

I don't wear them often; but I do love pearls because they were my Grandmother's favorite. She saved up money from her first job to buy a strand of cultured pearls and she gave them to me for my 12th birthday. My mother had them re-strung and a stronger clasp added. I wore them for my wedding.

With shades of purple being my favorite color, I love the mixture of purple and blue in tanzanite.

That's what draws me to tanzanite too. I had my ring set in yellow gold since thats what I look best in and wear the most. But I think it shows best in white gold so I kind of regret that. That color looks really good on DD so I've thought that will be her first good stone when she is older (in her teens). But my step-dad believes your first diamond should come from your father; so she will probably get a small ring at 16 like we did. I better start saving.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I used to watch QVC for fun!

And now there are several gem and jewelry networks out there. I occasionally torment myself with them.

All of my rings are white gold which I like best.

I'm a silver gal, myself, but I'm allergic to gold. Even white gold. Most people who are allergic to gold are actually reacting to the small amounts of copper that give it the yellow color. But not me. I even have to list it on my medical records just in case of surgery. Some golds are used in surgical procedures.

 

[margecat]

I don't wear them often; but I do love pearls because they were my Grandmother's favorite. She saved up money from her first job to buy a strand of cultured pearls and she gave them to me for my 12th birthday. My mother had them re-strung and a stronger clasp added. I wore them for my wedding.

That's what draws me to tanzanite too. I had my ring set in yellow gold since thats what I look best in and wear the most. But I think it shows best in white gold so I kind of regret that. That color looks really good on DD so I've thought that will be her first good stone when she is older (in her teens). But my step-dad believes your first diamond should come from your father; so she will probably get a small ring at 16 like we did. I better start saving.

You should wear the pearls more often. They can dry out from not absorbing some of your skin oil. Just don't splash salad dressing, vinegar, and cleaning products on them.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

You should wear the pearls more often. They can dry out from not absorbing some of your skin oil. Just don't splash salad dressing, vinegar, and cleaning products on them.

I did not know that! I'm not sure the strand fits. I'll have to see what I can do.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

And now there are several gem and jewelry networks out there. I occasionally torment myself with them.

I'm a silver gal, myself, but I'm allergic to gold. Even white gold. Most people who are allergic to gold are actually reacting to the small amounts of copper that give it the yellow color. But not me. I even have to list it on my medical records just in case of surgery. Some golds are used in surgical procedures.

Oh boy. It's probably a good thing I don't get to watch TV much. I used to love QVC for background noise too.

I have had some trouble with silver in the past. I've also heard that if you don't clean your jewelry often enough you can start breaking out and think it's jewelry but it's either that or product build up under your ring. My friend coated her white gold wedding band inside with clear nail polish and that worked for a while. She eventually went with a tattoo ring.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

I really like amethysts. Purple is my favorite color. I even have purple shoes and patent purple handbag. But that is for another thread. One of my weaknesses is large, almost gaudy rings. So I have a lot of them and some of them are gemstones. The oldest one is a synthetic ruby solitare in a 10K gold setting. It is a small stone, but beautiful because of the simple setting. I treasure it with all my heart. My daughter worked for her grandmother at Christmas and saved her money to buy presents. She was with her grandmother when they went to a local jewelry store to have a watch repaired. My daughter saw the ring, spent all her money to surprise me. Nobody else got a present that year from her. The stone once fell out, but I found it in the carpet at home. That was about 46 years ago.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

i'd say amber and emeralds. i don't wear jewelry, but i'm fascinated by amber.

 

[aliceneko]

Either aquamarines or amethysts with rubies and diamonds following in the league.

 

[Norachan]

Since reading this thread I've been looking at pictures of gems online. Now I'm getting pop-up ads for diamonds.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Yeah, that'll happen. I get all sorts of strange pop ups with all the weird research I do!