I was looking for some alexandrite earrings for a friend.
I found handtrades.com and on their website I found a pair of earrings set in sterling silver.
I still have email where I've corresponded with their company prior to the purchase
In the description of the product (which they've discontinued of course) it says
* Please note that these are natural alexandrite gemstones, notcomposite material. The setting is made from finely crafted pure sterling silver (925 trademark). This is a very unique design. This piece makes a nice addition to your collection of jewelry.
So, I ordered the stones. They did not describe in the product the actual stone size, and as alexandrite aren't cheap (when compared to cubic zirconia, etc) they are considerably cheaper than say diamonds/emeralds/rubies. I anticipated small stones, approximately 1/4 carat or so.
What I received were huge rocks. Almost 10 carats total weight. As I had promised these earrings to someone already, I am unfortunately in the situation where I can not return them [indian giver type situation]
I've had them looked at by TWO different jewelers, and they are nothing more than colored glass.
ALL of the alexandrites on their website now say "composite glass".
I don't actually want my money back at this point, as the person I gave them to likes the earrings and thinks they are pretty. But I want everyone to know that the items that this place sells are involved with LIES.
When they say it's "natural" amethyst, that means it's glass, as glass is natural, isn't it?
Composite material means "Glass"
This is in contradiction to what I actually purchased, and the "is NOT composite material" was why I opted to do so!
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