Spinel Gemstones & Jewellery Singapore

Spinel Gemstone: History & Brilliance

Spinel is a gemstone mineral, a magnesium aluminium oxide, that often forms in the same deposits as ruby and sapphire and comes in reds, hot pinks, lavenders and greys. For centuries its reds were taken for ruby, and several famous royal “rubies” have since proved to be spinel. Today spinel is valued in its own right for its brilliance, a hardness of 8 on the Mohs scale and colour that is rarely heated.

At GIOIA we hold Burma and Mahenge spinel, chosen in person by Clarence Yee, and design rings and jewellery around them at our boutique in Singapore. Ruby and sapphire are routinely heated to improve their colour and clarity. A fine spinel usually is not, so the colour you see is the colour it grew with.

Spinel Compared with Ruby and Sapphire

Is Spinel the Same as Ruby and Sapphire?

No. Spinel is a different mineral, a magnesium aluminium oxide, while ruby and sapphire are both corundum. The three often grow side by side in the marble and gem gravels of Burma, Tanzania and Sri Lanka, which is why spinel’s reds were sold as ruby and its blues as sapphire for so long. Spinel’s own colour range is wider than most people expect: hot pink through to a quiet, smoky grey, and on into the soft lilac of this Asscher lilac spinel ring, a bezel-set commission with gypsy-set diamond shoulders.

Does Spinel Sparkle Like Diamond?

Spinel is singly refractive, while ruby and sapphire are doubly refractive. Light passes through a spinel along a single path, so its facets return a clean sparkle with no visible doubling, and its colour looks the same from every angle, where ruby and sapphire can shift slightly in tone. Its refractive index, about 1.72, is well below diamond’s 2.42, so spinel does not have diamond’s fire, but it is bright and lively for a coloured stone.

Famous Spinels Once Mistaken for Ruby

Some of the most famous “rubies” in royal collections are spinel. The Black Prince’s Ruby, at the front of the British Imperial State Crown, is a red spinel of about 170 carats. The Timur Ruby in the British Royal Collection, engraved with the names of earlier owners including Mughal emperors, is a spinel of roughly 350 carats. The great red stone at the top of Catherine the Great’s Imperial Crown of Russia is a spinel of about 398 carats. Spinel was only recognised as a separate mineral in the late 18th century, so earlier treasuries had no way to tell it from ruby.

Where Fine Spinel Comes From

• Burma (Mogok and Namya): deep reds and pinks, including the bright, clean red the trade calls Jedi.
• Tanzania (Mahenge): neon hot pink to pinkish red, from the 2007 find.
• Tajikistan (Badakhshan): the historic source of the medieval “balas ruby”.
• Vietnam (Luc Yen): pink, purple and the scarce cobalt blue.
• Sri Lanka: blue, violet and grey stones, often in larger sizes.

Origin shapes the colour range, but as with ruby, the individual stone matters more than the name on the report. The spinels we hold come from Burma and Mahenge.

Rare Varieties: Mahenge & Cobalt Blue

Mahenge Spinel (Vivid Pink/Red)

Spinel is best known for its vivid reds. The deepest of them come from Burma. Since 2007 a second colour has joined them: the neon hot pink to pinkish red of Mahenge in southern Tanzania, where miners found several very large crystals, the largest about 50 kilograms. A fine Mahenge stone, like a Brazilian Paraiba tourmaline, has a glow that is hard to mistake for anything else. We cover it in full on our Mahenge spinel page.

Cobalt Blue Spinel: Why We Choose Sapphire Instead

Cobalt blue spinel takes its electric blue from traces of cobalt. The source the trade prizes most is Luc Yen in northern Vietnam, where fine material is scarce. Newer finds near Mahenge in Tanzania carry more iron and tend to be a darker blue, and Sri Lanka produces some too. Because the name carries a premium, care is needed: GIA has documented natural spinel turned blue by cobalt diffusion, and synthetic cobalt spinel has been made for a century, so only a laboratory report can tell you what you are buying. In our experience a fine cobalt spinel costs as much as a very good blue sapphire, and we would rather put that budget into the sapphire. That is why we do not hold cobalt blue spinel. Our blue sapphire guide explains the alternatives.

Grey and Violet Spinel Commissions

Not all spinel is loud. Grey, violet and lavender spinel has become a popular choice for engagement rings, with people who want colour without a bright stone.

One commission was an emerald-cut bluish grey spinel in white gold with marquise diamonds, picked for a shade as close as possible to the client’s partner’s eyes and set simply so the colour did the work. Another paired a bluish grey spinel with two trillion-cut diamonds and art deco detailing on the shoulders, in rose gold to warm the cool stone. A third, a purplish grey spinel, was designed together with the couple.

In our experience, grey and violet spinel costs well below sapphire for a similar look, which is a large part of its appeal. See our lavender violet spinel ring for a pastel version.

The Value of High-Quality Spinel

Spinel has no easy cleavage, so it resists chipping better than stones with perfect cleavage, such as diamond or topaz. That toughness is part of why it wears well as an everyday ring.

Spinel is also bought as a collectable in its own right. In our experience, fine stones have climbed in price over the last decade as more buyers, not only specialist collectors, have come to know the material.

Customised Jewellery & Engagement Ring

Spinel suits jewellery that is worn every day, and it pairs well with diamonds in white or yellow gold, where the contrast lifts the colour. Photographs only go so far with a stone this bright, so if you are considering customised jewellery in spinel, it is worth seeing a few side by side.

We design spinel into engagement rings, anniversary pieces and everyday jewellery, from soft greyish blues to vivid neon pinks, and we also set it into customised bangles such as our honeycomb and botanical garden designs. If an engagement ring brought you here, our custom engagement ring page shows how we design one, and our coloured gemstone engagement rings show other stones. Visits to our boutique are by appointment.

More spinel from our commissions: a pink spinel ring, a red spinel ring, a Mahenge pink spinel piece, a lavender violet spinel ring, and a cluster spinel ring.

A Colour-Change Spinel & Sapphire Ring

This ring pairs a colour-change spinel with sapphire in one setting. You can see it in full on our colour-change sapphire and spinel ring page.

Frequently Asked Questions