GemSelect - Spinel Jewelry
Natural fine spinel is one of the rarest and most beautiful gemstones in the world.
Not long ago, spinel was nearly unheard of. These days, spinel is recognized and prized for hardness, brilliance, and unlike many other gem types, spinel is never treated or enhanced in any way; whereas nearly all ruby and sapphire in the market has been treated one way or another to improve their clarity or color. This makes untreated spinel a tremendous value in the market.
However, if you're looking to acquire spinel jewelry, you are unlikely to find any natural spinel jewelry at your local jewelers retail store. In fact, you'll probably need to buy a loose spinel gemstone from a specialized colored gemstone dealer and then have it set by your jeweler.
Natural spinel occurs in a wide range of colors. The most valuable spinel colors are pure reds, pinks and blues. In addition to these colors, you'll also find orange, yellow, green, and black spinel. Finding spinel in pure colors can be very rare. This is because most spinel gemstones have a grey or brown undertone.
Spinel is often found in the same deposits of sapphire and ruby and if fact, is closely related to corrundum. -- spinel is magnesium aluminum oxide and cordundum is aluminum oxide. One significant difference is that sapphire and ruby are doubly refractive, whereas spinel is one of the few gemstones that are singly refractive.
Spinel has exceptional brilliance, sparkle and durability. Spinel has cubic crystals similar to diamond, but where diamond has perfect cleavage, spinel has indistinct cleavage, which enhances its durability.
Because of natural spinel's excellent qualities, both compositionally and visually, it is perfect for use in all kinds of everyday jewelry designs. Its remarkable brilliance and fire contrast well, especially with diamond accents set into gold designs.
View our collection of Spinel Gemstones at GemSelect and start designing your own one-of-a-kind jewelry!