Ok I will admit, this is the most confusing, story line I have ever followed. I have been waiting for months, for Colored Stone Magazine, to report their findings of testing of what they call TV Labradorite/Andesine. Anyone who watches JTV, who calls themselves the largest reseller, of loose gemstones has seen their Red Labradorite/Andesine and seen the lies they have said about it. When it first came on the market, they sold it as a completely natural gemstone, both the red and the green. They also claimed they did not know where it came from, and thought maybe the Congo or Tibet. What, does that even make any sense? How do you not know where you are buying something from. I watched, and watched, as their prices went up, up and up, on this very lovely looking material. I had friends who bought tons of the stuff, expecting to make tons of money some day off of this all natural stone. I was not so willing to participate with their ambigous stories. So at the end of 2007, their Red Labradorite/Andesine prices started to drop dramatically, and they were going to have this huge announcement about the stone, soon. Well soon turned into, months as they continued to try to sell off the remainder of their material, at now lower prices. So in January of 2008, comes the big announcement. They sent some great explorer to find out where this material was in fact coming from, guess what it was coming from Mongolia, and was going to be the gemstone of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and oh yeah just a minor note it isnt natural it is heated. There it was their big announcement, and their new lower prices for the material. People continued to gobble it up. Now as written in Colored Stone Magazine, not only is it heated and put to Diffusion treatments, it comes from Mexico, not Mongolia, and the true natural color is a soft yellow color similar to Bytownite, which is a truly natural color gemstone. So did JTV knowingly deceive its buyers? There really is no exact proof of that, but I think yes they did. They made so much money off of this gemstone, and are in fact now selling natural Yellow Labradorite, from Mexico, and deeming it rare, exotic, and all natural which of course it is. It is probably Bytownite, but the family of Feldspar gemstones, are so close in chemical composition, that it does not really matter what you call it. I think JTV, has had some real issues with customers, demanding refunds, both for their Tanzanite which was found to be coated, and their Andesine which was found to be both heated and diffusin treated. If you are a follower of their programs, they have drastically cut their prices, on all things they sell, and I personally would not be surprised, if they did not loose a lot of faithful customers. Did I ever purchase any of their Tanzanite, or Red Labradorite/Andesine? I received Tanzanite in a parcel, if I were to buy a single stone I would buy the lower priced material, or the lighter color, knowing it would not be coated. I did purchase the green variety of the Andesine, because the price was awesome, and was aware of the information that had been released. It really is a lovely stone, and I am pleased with the purchase. I am glad I waited however, and did not purchase at the absurdly high prices they were charging. I have several pieces of Bytownite, not purchased from JTV, and they are lovely. I received two matched pairs of their Yellow Labradorite in parcels I purchased. They really are a lovely yellow color, with a slight undertone of peach. To read the complete story, provided by Colored Stone Magazine, go to http://www.colored-stone.com/stories/sep08/andesine-report-followup.cfm
This is the ring I created with the Green Andesine I purchased from JTV, it does have a slight color shift to it.
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