Sometimes the things you love are hard to explain…
I have been enamored with the gemstone spinel since the first time I saw it about a decade ago. Gray spinel got me first. The AGTA gem show in Las Vegas in 2018 was the first time I bought one. I treated myself to the most beautiful stone I had ever seen. It was a sweet sparkly light purplish-gray cushion cut spinel from Vietnam. They don’t have to be big stones to capture my heart.
“Beguiling” is the only way I can describe the way I feel about the luster, brilliance and depth of color of spinels- they just get me every time.
Spinel seems to be one of the most misunderstood gemstones in history. It has been used in royal jewelry for millennia, but it was mostly confused for ruby or sapphire. Just one example is an approximate 170 carat red spinel set in Great Britain's Imperial State Crown just above the Cullinan diamond! What a place of honor! Except for most of its existence it wasn’t called a spinel. This historic gemstone was likely mined in Afghanistan and passed down through generations of Moorish and Spanish royalty before the “Black Prince”- Edward Prince of Wales- received it as payment for war in 1367. So for hundreds of years it was known as the “Black Prince Ruby”...whoops!
When I was at the Tucson Gem Show in 2023 I picked up every gray spinel parcel I saw. It was like my hand just couldn’t stop. Then I got frustrated at myself- what was I doing?! I know that colored gemstones are our store’s best sellers, but I constantly gravitate towards these alluring gray stones…I said to my friend Shannon- “No more- only colored gemstones from now on!”...So onto the next vendor…and my eye is immediately drawn to this bright pink parcel of round cut stones. Perfect, I think! Pink- that’s not gray! So I pick them up, turn over the box and low and behold…they are spinels! That was the instant I thought, well that’s it! I don't have any choice but to lean into this spinel obsession.
No matter what the color- blue, gray, purple, red, pink- the spinel version is my favorite. I know, I know- sapphire comes in all these colors too…but they just don't compare to my eye- I will pick the spinel every time. Not only do they come in amazing colors, they are also a very hard stone. They rate an 8 on the Mohs Hardness scale making them ideal for everyday wear. Diamonds are a 10, sapphire and ruby are 9, so spinels are in good company at the top of the Mohs scale.
If you have never seen a spinel in person you need to change that ASAP! If you are in WNC or the Asheville area come by the gallery in the Grove Arcade and see what we have in store! I have a few other pieces in the works, but if you get spinel fever too I would love to help you source the perfect stone and create a one of a kind piece of spinel jewelry just for you!