I have been cutting this material . Which is idocrase , and later found out the variety of vessuvianite is ambosellite . Has a definite colour shift rather than colour change . Citrine like yellow / gold to peridot green , depending on light , may be one or the other or a combination of both . Very interesting material . I've cut a few to 2.6 carats . It had a bad weight return due to many cracks / inclusions . I'm having trouble finding a cut stone on the web to compare the quality and or price . Anybody have any insight on this material ? I can upload some photos if anybody is interested .any insight would be great . Thanks
Sorry , but can't get photo bucket to work . Know no other way to post images . The material is as described and free of inclusions . I'll try upload again tomorrow . Any info Barbra ?
I guess its one of those stones , rare , yet no knows or deals with it much . Still baffled I can't find any cut examples . Guess my research skills must be bad there has to be some out there .
Yep , my research skills are bad . Material is very different to what I have though . I'll take another photo with the shift to green . Very sparkly stone , and I know that the photos of that( stone reference in ebay) are poor , I don't think as clean . Thanks a heap for looking . I guess the stone is more so , ambosellite , although vessuvianite .
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 10:06 pm Posts: 2267 Location: Chapel Hill, NC / Toronto, ON
I have a bunch of this stuff from Kenya, varable color change from green, green-grey, or green-yellow to anywhere from yellow to orange to gold. Oddly enough...I can't seem to find any price comparisons either.
Hardness of 7.5, uncommon material ad far as I can see, color change...was thinking of $100-$150 per carat, more for much larger stones. Thoughts? (Not like I'm gonna be selling any! All mine!)
Vesuvianite is a mixed bag. Upsides: Great name, ties in to something famous, should be marketable Decent optical properties Not too soft or cleavy to cut or set in some jewelry Comes in good colors, including chrome green and magenta-purple.
downsides: still an obscure gem Not 7.5, hardness is ~6.5 Most available material is less marketable hues, including the dreaded "murk green" color range. Yellow-green is much better than murk green but still not the hottest color range.
All that to say, there is an abundance of cheaper Kenyan vesuvianite but I haven't found any that looks as attractive or well-cut as yours. Prices for lesser stones range from ~10-20/ct to ~100 ct online. The lack of better stones may indicate a lack of supply or that they get bought pretty quickly.
That said, there is rough for sale on eBay from time to time. Here's a 30 ct piece with appropriate color shift that sold pretty cheaply, though it's probably not very clean: http://www.ebay.com/itm/30-6-ct-Natural ... 7675.l2557
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
Somewhat related sidebar: Years ago I did a Gem ID for Jason Brim. He bought a hydrogrossular garnet and wanted me to check it out.
I was getting what appeared to be a little (little being an understatement) birefringence on the refractometer and an anisotropic reaction with the polariscope.
A little research made me suspect vesuvianite. He sent it to the GIA: Identified as idocrase (aka vesuvianite).
Vesuvianite vs Ambosellite: What is the difference?
Wow phteven ! You come up with the goods . One looks similar , but I guess that gets me in the ballpark , thanks for your research skills . Barbra , ambosellite is the colour shift / change variety of vessuvianite . I'm also a gemo and have done test to confirm its identity . Have another over 2 carat in a round with many facet that is almost finnished , I think this cut will bring out its merits a bit better . I'll post when Finnish . Thanks for the help , I'll guess I'll just put my price tag on it and see what happens . Hard to get website going when studying , cutting and working to get photos of hundreds of stones I've cut to sell while still learning photography as well . Almost there , just a day at a time . Looking forward to have these things established , would never have thought digging a few stones just a few years ago would have led me to this .
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot post attachments in this forum