This seasons Trend Trackers attending the annual gem shows at Tucsan, Arizona this February saw red in a variety of shades as the top colour generating the greatest attention, and it wasn`t necessarily the ruby that garnered the most excitement. In Tucsan, the market was abuzz over Spinel.
Unknown until the 1800s, Spinel was often confused with other gemstones, and in fact some of the largest and most famous ” rubies ” in the world such as the ” Black Prince`s Ruby ” in the English crown jewells are really spinels, as are almost all large red gems in history… In the past three years, Spinel’s popularity has grown and the recent find of exceptionally large crystals in Tanzania has helped to escalate sales. Larger stones are considered extremely rare, and colours from this find are very vivid and bright.
Also hailed a Tucson showstopper was copper-bearing tourmaline from Mozambique in colours like soft blue that resembled Sri Lankan sapphire, lavender, bright green, and pink.
Next to Spinel, Garnet in all its colour varieties also charmed buyers at the show. A dealer from Germany who specializes in garnet reported the gem’s red varieties as a market favourite, and an affordable non-treated alternative to ruby.
The colour of Spinel can vary immensely, from rich red, orange, pink, pale pink, blue and purple, to green, yellow and clear white. Colour change Spinel is most interesting, as it appears to look very different in natural light than in artificial light.
The health and healing properties of Spinel are connected with vitality, energy renewal, rejuvenation and stamina. The different colours of Spinel relate to the whole Chakra spectrum, and interestingly, Spinel facilitates the rise of Kundalini, (an inner spiritual and sexual energy which resides at the base of the spine) through the Chakra`s, which are located in a line, and aligned with the spinal column.