SPINEL
A sparkling lustre, almost bridal, is the versatile Spinel.
A sparkling lustre, almost bridal, is the versatile Spinel.
Spinel is cut in many shapes and sizes. Colours range from orange to intense red or pink, and all shades between purple, blue and violet to bluish green. An incredibly versatile jewel, the Spinel is found is all forms and colours, and hence is a favourite when it comes to being used in jewellery. Spinel is a durable gemstone with a hardness of 8.0 on the Mohs Hardness Scale.
Spinel gemstones enjoy a long and storied history. Some of the most famous historical gems that were originally thought to be rubies turned out to be spinel. A notable example is the Black Prince’s Ruby, a centrepiece of the British Imperial State Crown, which was only recently confirmed to be a spinel. Spinels tend to be more reflective and glittering than rubies, because of their different optical characteristics. Much like rubies and sapphires, they can be found in a wide assortment of colours.
Tanzania
| Mineral Family spinel |
Refractive Index 1.718 |
Mohs Hardness 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Birthstone August |
Chemical composition MgAl2O4 |
Briefringence none |
| Specific gravity 3.60 |
We currently produce small melee cut rounds, ovals and pear shapes till size 6x4 in red and pink spinel.
Considering their value, we only do precision cut and follow strict calibration guidelines of (+/-0.10).
Because of the scarcity of the larger spinels, it still remains a collector’s gem and some Burmese Red spinels and Tanzanian pink spinels can be found in our vault collection.
Spinels comes in a wide range of hues and almost all colours of the rainbow but the reds and the pinks are amongst the most favoured in calibrated setting. The Burmese Red Spinel has an attractive hue as vivid as ruby-like saturated red, some are deeper ‘brick-red’ while others have a mixed secondary hue of orange-red and brownish-red. Pink spinels too occurs in a wide array of colours. It can range from vivid pink to a unique neon-pink and sometimes a reddish-pink hue.
Small calibrated spinel are graded as eye-clean standard.
Our quality check team only accepts minor inclusions on the side that are visible through a 10x magnification.
They are not enhanced or irradiated to bring out its fiery colours, and nearly all spinels left are untreated.
