#loose gemstones

Beautiful four carats cushion shaped honey Tourmaline from Madagascar displays rich,vivid color.

Eye clean Zircon with tropical sea blue color from Cambodia. The stone weighs 7.59 carats and has exceptional Portuguese cut.

Marvelous 23 carats Ethiopian Welo opal with superb play of color.

Ethiopian Opal has been mined since 2008. The entire region around Wegel Tena consists of a volcano-sedimentary sequence with alternating layers of basalt and rhyolitic ignimbrite. Over the entire region, only one thin seam is mineralized with opal. The opal is extracted by artisanal miners using picks, hammers, and shovels.

The Golden Egg - exquisite egg shaped South Seas pearl from Indonesia.

South Sea pearls are among the largest commercially harvested cultured pearls in the world. They are cultured throughout the South Pacific in coastlines along Australia, Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines, the Cook Islands and Polynesia. These waters are the native habitat of a large oyster known as the gold lipped or silver lipped oysters (Pinctada maxima) which can be nucleated with larger beads than other saltwater oysters such as the Akoya.

Untreated Ceylon Royal Blue Sapphire cushion weighing 3.55-carats.  The stone is exceptionally clean and well  fashioned. 

Tahitian Pearls are distinctive for their magnificent colors and hues in which they occur. In the trade, they are often ascribed with names such as, black, silver, peacock, pistachio, and aubergine. Although rounds are always the most sought after shapes, the baroques can be magnificent and even more lustrous.

Turquoise can be translucent or opaque with a color that usually ranges from light medium blue to greenish blue. The name comes from the French expressions Pierre tour ques or “Turkish stone". The name, which originated in the thirteenth century, reflects the fact that the material probably first arrived in Europe from Turkish sources. The gem turquoise owes its beauty almost entirely to its superb color. It has been used for ornamentation since 3000BC and possibly before.

Early in 2016 some attractive purple garnets from East Africa began to distinguish themselves in the Bangkok market. They were identified as belonging to the pyrope-almandine solid solution series more commonly known as rhodolite garnet. Rhodolites are usually more reddish but many of these stones are actually purple especially in low light. Although the degree of color and the specific shades will always vary, many vendors refer to them as “Grape Garnets”. The vivid purple hue comes from traces of iron and magnesium.

Stunning Tanzanite crystal in vivid blueish violet color.

A variety of Zoisite, tanzanite is the trade name for the transparent blue – violet blue variety. Tanzanite is generally enhanced by heat unless otherwise specified. The unheated crystals can be green, violet, yellowish or, light blue but a brownish root beer color is most common.

Beautiful 8.63 cts greenish yellow natural Zircon from Tanzania.

Zircon is known for its distinctive beauty and occurrence in a broad range of colors. It can be blue, green, colorless, brown, red, orange or yellow. Because of its similarity to diamond, colorless zircons have also been popular for years.

Rutilated quartz is named for the needles of rutile which have crystalized within the mother rock. Rutile is the most common natural form of titanium dioxide (TiO2), and it forms in long needle like crystals. The needles can be oriented quite randomly, or in specific directions related to the crystallography of the host.

Natural Tanzanite crystals. Scientifically called “blue zoisite” , the gemstone was renamed as “Tanzanite” by  Tiffany & Co.  who wanted to capitalize on the rarity and single location of the gem. Fine tanzanites are more affordable than sapphires, and usually better in terms of both color and clarity. However, tanzanites are softer compared to sapphires. Also, tanzanite is trichroic and with sapphire-blue, sage green and purple colors respective to the three vibrational directions, orientation is an important consideration for cutters who need to consider both the yield and the resulting color.

Spring is upon us! A season of bloom, colors, passion and gems!

Untreated 6.54-carat cornflower Sapphire  cushion from  Sri Lanka. This rare, Lotus Gem Lab certified,  top of the line sapphire, is absolutely clean under 10X magnification. The pavilion is deep, but could easily be cut down at the buyer’s discretion. 

Ethiopian Wello opals originate from volcanic activity. All volcanic opal is known as “hydrophane opal”. The term hydrophane comes from the Greek words meaning “water-loving” and describes their ability to absorb water and change from opaque or semi-translucent to translucent or transparent in humid or aqueous environments. Amazingly, some stones will become almost colorless if soaked in water but then retain their original color after a week or two under arid conditions. If you live in a dry or desert like climate these opals will always look great but, if you reside in a rain forest, your stones will look very different.

This gemstone is not usually seen in jewelry, but  collectors do prize it. It  was originally discovered in southern Norway and named “Hambergite” after the Swedish Mineralogist, Axel Hamburg. Hambergite has the lowest known density of any gemstone with such a high birefringence. The most important current source is probably in Anjanabanoana, Madagascar, but recently, some nice material has also been unearthed in Molo, Myanmar, like this eye clean 1.52-carat gem.

Taaffeite is one of the rarest and most desirable of collector’s gemstones, which  often misidentified as spinel. The primary difference between spinel and taaffeite is the double refraction found in the latter and this the property we use to separate the suspect stones for further evaluation to find beautiful rare gems, like this beautiful purple 3.44-carats Taaffeite from Tunduru, Tanzania.

The use of natural alexandrite in jewelry is limited by its rarity as well as its lack of availability in specific sizes and shapes. It is a unique and special gemstone that few jewelers ever even have the opportunity to stock. And because of its obscure and esoteric nature, fine alexandrites can rival or exceed the prices of similar sized diamonds, like this exceptional 1.62-carat certified Brazilian alexandrite.

Sphene is generally considered to be a collector’s gemstone. And with its high refractive index and amazing dispersion, Sphene’s remarkable brilliance exceeds even that of a diamond. Green is the most valuable color and this striking 3.61-carat round from  Afghanistan is an excellent example. Although relatively unknown to the public and largely ignored by jewelry designers, sphene is a favorite among cutters and connoisseurs for its mesmerizing color and fire. 

Taaffeite was first discovered already cut and polished in Ireland in 1945. At the time it was mislabeled as a spinel, but upon further inspection it was determined that the mineral was actually a new and yet to be identified gemstone. It was eventually named after Count Taaffe, the Dublin gemologist that discovered it.