I just got a new parcel of stones in from Nigeria. Most of the parcel is some of the Nigerian Paraiba type tourmaline. Here's a picture of a portion of the parcel. Most of these stones I'll heat to bring out a more neon color.



A few new Nigerian Spessartite garnets. Very clean stones with a slight burn orange with a touch of red.



This is a Nigerian stone from a different parcel, cut and before heating. I wanted to post this before picture, since today I'll put it into the oven and we shall see what we get. The stone should burn off the grey mask and produce a brighter light blue color.



And here is the after heating picture. It doesn't show that well in the photo's, but the before heating had a grey mask that is burned off, and the stone is much brighter now, with a slight neon glow.



This cut spessartite is the middle stone from the above rough picture.



This stone is from the new Nigerian Paraiba parcel, but not one of the stones in the above picture. About half the parcel was made up of stones with a very deep blue, but closed C axis. Here's one of them. The heating caused some stress inclusions, but the color a a very deep intense windex blue. The inclusions are less noticeable in person, the pictures always bring them out more.

Tags: Cuprian Tourmaline, Spessartite Garnet

Just finished this one up tonight. It's a honey orange Zircon from Tanzania. What's really nice about this one is that it's all natural and not heated. About 90% of the honey zircons from Tanzania need to be heated but not this one. The stone weighs 5.24 cts and is cut in my "Pineapple cut".

Tags: Zircon

Two new oval stones to be posted today and a diamond checker board crown stone. The first one is a blue sapphire from Lodwar Kenya Africa. This is an all natural, unheated stone. These Lodwar sapphires are a dark blue, but not that inky almost black you see in most mall jewelry stores. A nice size stone, weighing just under 2 cts.


Next is a spessartite garnet from Nigeria. This stone has terrific color which doesn't photograph well. Looks good in any light. The image greatly exagerates the small veils and inclusions, the stone faces up to the eye clean. 2.37 cts,



This last one is a minty green with a touch of blue tourmaline from Mozambique Africa. It's cut in unique pointed round with a diamond checker crown. This cut can be mounted in a standard 4 prong round mounting. The stone is 1.38 cts.

Tags: Spessartite Garnet, Sapphire

May Stimulus Sale

For the rest of the month of May, I am putting together a rather unorthodox sale. All stones with a Gem No between 1 and 600 are starting off at a minimum of 10% off. But it doesn't end here, this is just a starting point. The sale is a "make an offer sale". Sort of like Priceline when buying a travel ticket. Make an offer and I'll either accept it or reject it. If I accept it, I'll email you a Paypal invoice. You still have complete return privileges just like any other stone.

Latest Cut Stones

Two new tourmalines for today. This first one is a Nigerian Paraiba type tourmaline, often called "Pariaba-Africana". The stone has been heated to produce the neon blue color. A nice ring size at 6.62 mm.



The next stone, also from Nigeria is a pink tourmaline, unheated. This stone has a nicer color and look than the photo, especially in natural light. A larger stone (9+ mm) at a great price.



A new Malaya Garnet from Tanzania.

Tags: Pariaba Tourmaline

Two new stones for today.

This one is a pink tourmaline from Nigeria, cut in an octagon shape.


A Malaya garnet from Tanzania.

Tags: Tourmaline