Shape

Size

Color

Clarity

Price

The word spinel is either from the Latin spinella meaning a thorn (referring to its pointed crystal form), or from a Greek word meaning "spark" (referring to the "flame" red color it can be).

Spinel is hard enough (8) and tough enough to be a very durable gemstone.

Spinel occurs in many of the same geological environments as does red corundum (ruby).

Notes:

The 170ct Black Prince's Ruby and the 361ct Timur Ruby are actually spinels.

Spinel can offer the look of the finest ruby at a fraction of the cost.

Spinel is also a mineral group name which includes several oxides with the same crystalline structure. Ghanite, for instance, is a blue spinel where zinc replaces the magnesium.

Lab-grown spinel has long been used as cheap imitators of birthstones, including diamonds. Relatively few people realize that it's a natural and beautiful gemstone in its own right. One need only see a gorgeous flame spinel or a rich blue spinel, cut properly to show off its color, to be inspired and desirous.

Spinels can take on the highly desired "pigeon blood" red held in such high esteem for ruby. And unlike ruby (which is pleochroic and will have the ideal color only when viewed from a particular angle), spinel will exhibit that tremendous color no matter at what angle you view the stone.

Spinel is practically guaranteed to be all natural as no treatments are effective on it.

It may be hard to find vivid colors in natural spinel. The colors of most spinel are grayed or browned out (to varying degrees).

Fine red spinels may actually be much rarer than fine red rubies, and therefore would command a much higher price (if life were fair!).

If you're looking for a fine red or pink gemstone, spinel could easily be the best choice.

Localities:

Primarily Burma and Sri Lanka.

Secondarily Thailand, Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Sweden, Montana, Pakistan, and the ex-Soviet Union.

History and Folklore:

Spinel was recognized as a separate mineral in 1587. Even so, it has received little attention in the ensuing centuries.

George Kunz noted that in the early 1800s, spinel was supposedly useful in detecting people with supernatural powers. Bring a spinel near them, and they would have convulsions in the upper limbs!

Many, many famous rubies are actually spinels. A couple are noted above. Others include the 414ct Imperial Crown Ruby, King Henry VIII's collar, the red stone in Catherine II of Russia's crown (1762), and others in collections around the world in such places as the Louvre in Paris, the Diamond Fund in Moscow, and the Persian Crown Jewels in Iran.

Treatments:

None.

Imitators:

Since spinel does not enjoy a tremendous reputation as a valuable and natural gemstone (though it should!), few people bother imitating it. If they did, all manner of glasses, plastics, and other lab-grown materials could do the trick.

Lab-Grown (synthetic):

Lab-grown spinel has been around for a long time (early 1900s). Interestingly, it was made to imitate other gemstones and not to substitute for natural spinel. Most lab-grown spinel to this day has colors more befitting other gems than spinel, and are thus easily recognizable as "un-natural" spinel.