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- Dec 26, 2017
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Colorado's Sweet Home Mine is the source of the world's most beautiful rhodochrosite. Unfortunately, rhodochrosite is rarely found suitable to be faceted and is high prized and sought after by mineral collectors. It is priced based on the size and beauty of the crystal specimen as it was pulled out of the mine. This is a photo of one of the best specimens.
Very rarely rhodochrosite is found suitable for faceting, and if so, the material is very soft and has perfect cleavage. It takes a master gem cutter to take the risk and achieve sucess. DW and I were lucky enough to see an incredibly beautiful gem at the first auction preview we ever went to back in May 2018. We had no idea what it was, but it literally almost jumped out at us from the display case. This was actually a Natural History auction, but because faceted rhodochrosite gems are regarded as being too soft for jewelry, they too are bought by mineral collectors for display purposes only. This is a photo of that gem.
DW and I lusted for a rhodochrosite gem after that experience but didn't have any interest in spending a lot of money to put one in the bank or out on display. Then in the last quarter of 2020 I spotted a small but mighty, princess cut 2.02ct beauty at a NH auction. The small size of the stone seemed to us might improve the chances of it being set successfully in a ring, so I was able to be the high bidder. Here's the vendor's photo of the gem.
I talked with Amy at DKJ if she might be willing to try setting this stone given how soft it is with a Moh's hardness of 3.5-4.0. I told her it would be at my risk, but we also agreed it would be a great idea for her master setter to first practice on our much less expensive 10.18ct zincite with its similarly low hardness of 4.0. That zincite setting came out perfect and DW and I set about working with Amy to develop a CAD design that offered good protection to the stone whilst still keeping the rhodochrosite as the center piece. Amy was able to source some very long diamond baguettes for a great price and we were in business!
First DK's beautiful video of the finished ring.
A gallery photo.
A few photos at home.
Needless to say DW will be keeping this ring for very special occasions.
Very rarely rhodochrosite is found suitable for faceting, and if so, the material is very soft and has perfect cleavage. It takes a master gem cutter to take the risk and achieve sucess. DW and I were lucky enough to see an incredibly beautiful gem at the first auction preview we ever went to back in May 2018. We had no idea what it was, but it literally almost jumped out at us from the display case. This was actually a Natural History auction, but because faceted rhodochrosite gems are regarded as being too soft for jewelry, they too are bought by mineral collectors for display purposes only. This is a photo of that gem.
DW and I lusted for a rhodochrosite gem after that experience but didn't have any interest in spending a lot of money to put one in the bank or out on display. Then in the last quarter of 2020 I spotted a small but mighty, princess cut 2.02ct beauty at a NH auction. The small size of the stone seemed to us might improve the chances of it being set successfully in a ring, so I was able to be the high bidder. Here's the vendor's photo of the gem.
I talked with Amy at DKJ if she might be willing to try setting this stone given how soft it is with a Moh's hardness of 3.5-4.0. I told her it would be at my risk, but we also agreed it would be a great idea for her master setter to first practice on our much less expensive 10.18ct zincite with its similarly low hardness of 4.0. That zincite setting came out perfect and DW and I set about working with Amy to develop a CAD design that offered good protection to the stone whilst still keeping the rhodochrosite as the center piece. Amy was able to source some very long diamond baguettes for a great price and we were in business!
First DK's beautiful video of the finished ring.
A gallery photo.
A few photos at home.
Needless to say DW will be keeping this ring for very special occasions.
However, she was able to source from India for a fraction of the price and we decided to risk it. The lead time was about a month including shipping but they came in perfect. Well worth the wait!
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