I’d paid extra for overnight delivery of my ring, and since I was gonna pay more, I figured I may as well purchase some additional pieces for my mom and my grandma for Mother’s Day. They both like simple blue jewelry, so I purchased one pair of Neptune Topaz earrings on 14K white gold, and one pair of London Blue Topaz earrings on 14K white gold. I eagerly tracked the delivery of this jewelry for the past two days, and could hardly contain myself when late this morning, the UPS website showed “Status: Delivered.” I went downstairs shortly before lunch to pick up my loot.

The first item I opened was my ring. I was so enormously disappointed, and then I was downright offended. The setting itself is beautiful, but it’s the Alexandrite stone. Instead of a rich deep purple, green, or blue (the color of the stone changes depending on the light source), it was a faded pale green. But it wasn’t just the color. There were so many inclusions that the stone looked cloudy from all the cracks inside. Calling those lines “inclusions,” by the way, is an overly generous characterization. The cracks went so high up to the surface of the stone, that by lightly running my nail along the top, I could feel the cracks. That means the stone, if dropped or hit a certain way, would crumble. It doesn’t even look remotely like Alexandrite. I haven’t tested it outdoors in natural light, but I doubt the color would change cuz the clouds inside wouldn’t allow enough light to penetrate in order to reflect a different hue. What it looked like, was that someone dropped the stone on a hard surface, then jumped up and down on it with spiked heels. I will be returning this piece. My dream of owning natural Alexandrite will have to wait. Again.

Now, the earrings on the other hand… I had never seen London Blue Topaz up close, and had never heard of Neptune Topaz. These rocks are absolutely strunning. I was lost in their beautiful color and depth. They’re also way larger stones than I had anticipated at over 2 carats each stone. At least my mom and grandma aren’t gonna be disappointed with their Mother’s Day presents. I’m also a bit jealous.

Neptune Topaz