The stuff he sells is lemon citrine, from what I have read on this forum it is made from lithium-rich quartz and is nothing like unradiated citrine in colour or clarity. There's a comparison of a piece I bought with some Congo citrine from NewEraGems:
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Note how the lemon citrine on the left is grayer in tone around the edges? In addition the yellow tone seems to be the result of the tydall effect rather than adsorption. I suspect that the larger you cut a stone from this material, the more the milky yellow tone will dominate.
Another thing to watch for is this seller and a related store seem to use some sort of lighting setup to enhance the colour of some stones, which is particularly noticeable in their amethyst and prasiolite pieces. If you get a better deal on postage than I do (17.99USD!!), their lemon quartz and amethyst aren't too bad as bargain rough, provided you inspect it for flaws and ignore the purple and golden flash in favour of looking at the unlit sections.
Lemon quartz is definitely very cheap, though natural Zambian citrine isnt exactly expensive either. There are two ladies with a table piled high with rough for 20 cents a gram at the Days Inn show. Both different materials with different treatment status but neither a great economical choice (though between the two I'll take untreated Zambian any day of the week).
I have bought quite a bit of it from him, mainly in order to have on hand for practice and experimentation. Some of it is nice and clear, most has cracks & veils that you have to cut around. He is a standup guy and will refund a portion of shipping charges on multiple items. As mentioned, he does enhance each stone's appearance, with bright background lighting and other methods. Do not expect to find that undiscovered gem here as all his material has been examined and rejected by many trained eyes beforehand. An exception is the material in question, which is nice cheap quartz which cuts and polishes well.
Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:32 am Posts: 1730 Location: Suwanee, GA US
Mizzu wrote:
I have bought quite a bit of it from him, mainly in order to have on hand for practice and experimentation. Some of it is nice and clear, most has cracks & veils that you have to cut around. He is a standup guy and will refund a portion of shipping charges on multiple items. As mentioned, he does enhance each stone's appearance, with bright background lighting and other methods. Do not expect to find that undiscovered gem here as all his material has been examined and rejected by many trained eyes beforehand. An exception is the material in question, which is nice cheap quartz which cuts and polishes well.
Ditto. Still buy stuff from him. You just have to know what you are seeing and how to interpret it. I look at recut material there. Like rutile quartz cabs... facet material. Some of the stuff is not named well. Natural black ethopian opal I suspect is smoked. But his new African black probably is the new black. Just look for hazying and cracks. That means it is not really faceting rough. Tumbling maybe though.
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