One of my clients purchased a fine selection of larger sized sapphire rough from Umba, Tanzania. The stones were all nicely shaped and great colors. But in reviewing the stones for cutting, I noticed one that didn’t seem quite right. It seemed to be a water-worn sapphire cobble, but the fracture pattern on one side … Read More
As you may know, the Old European Cut (OEC) design was a 19th century evolution of earlier, simpler designed use for diamonds. Eventually the OEC was superseded by better performing designs, especially by what we now call the Standard Round Brilliant (SRB). While it is completely true that the SRB optically out-performs the venerable OEC, … Read More
Question: I am curious about the process of changing the color to colorless. I had read online that the color can be changed by heating at home, is this so (or just silly internet advice)? I am considering changing its color if so… Answer: Yes, you can heat zircon yourself and without special equipment. Many … Read More
All large sapphires are rare. In today’s market, untreated sapphires of any fine color are very rare indeed. Sizable round, untreated, fine color sapphires? Well, suffice to say that they’re almost impossible to source when you want one. That’s why I invested in this large, untreated yellow sapphire at the AGTA show in Tucson this … Read More
Last month I received a very large spessartite garnet from one of my wholesale brokers — over 18ct! Spessartite this large is rather rare, but because of the cut and obvious inclusions, it just wasn’t selling for him. So, after some discussion, we decided the stone would be best recut to a more salable shape … Read More
I just wrapped up a fun recutting project. A client needed a 6mm square cushion yellow sapphire with fine color, high clarity and untreated (if possible). I was able to find a badly proportioned square at Tucson this year and was reassured by the vendor it’s untreated. I’ll be sending the stone to the AGL … Read More
Last Summer, I was commissioned by Drew of DWDesign in Janesville, WI to cut a danburite asscher for a wedding ring set. Drew requested a portion of the rough from the main stone be cabbed for the man’s ring. It was a little unusual, but I didn’t think much of it at the time. Now … Read More
Merry Christmas! Light Blue Cubic Zirconia. 41.88ct, 18.02×18.10×12.61mm. Synthetic. LC10. Christmas 2014. (CZ983) I had designed this as a snowflake, but found the Star of David at the center during computer modeling it. Seemed like a perfect Christmas project to me!
Recently I was commissioned to facet a very large and unusual sapphire from the El Dorado Bar diggings in Montana, USA. The stone came to me as a 3.17g rough. As it pretty typical for the Montana deposits, the stone was water-worn a crystal section. Unusual for the Montana deposits, the stone has a straw-yellow … Read More
In 2011, I purchased this zircon rough in Tanzania. Zircon from Singeda, Tanzania is often a super-saturated, near-black shade of red. In reflected light, the stone appears near-black, but it is red in transmitted light. I cut the stone in a cut-corner square brilliant of my own design. But this kind of zircon is so … Read More