0.82 ct Violet Spinel - Oval

At 0.82 carats, this spinel from Sri Lanka carries its violet color through an oval cut, measuring 6 x 5.4 x 3.8 mm.

Spinel is the gemstone long mistaken for ruby in old crown jewels; in its own right it grows as a hard, brilliant, untreated red, pink, or blue. Sri Lanka's gem gravels have been worked continuously for more than two thousand years. It is entirely untreated; no heat, no enhancement, the color exactly as the earth made it.

Its exact combination of color, cut, and origin is its own, the kind of center stone you choose on purpose and build a piece around. Hand-selected and photographed by Caveman Gems in good light, shown as honestly as a screen allows.