Revealing “The Angel in the Stone”: The Largest Known Square Cushion-Cut Tsavorite

[Arcadian]

Revealing “The Angel in the Stone”: The Largest Known Square Cushion-Cut Tsavorite | Gems & Gemology

A 283.74 ct rough tsavorite from Merelani, Tanzania, yields a square cushion-cut gemstone weighing 116.76 ct.

www.gia.edu

this thing is GIANT y'all! (and there's lots of videos!!)

At the AGTA show, Bridges said the tsavorite (figure 7) could be a once-in-a-lifetime stone. Despite seeing most of the finest tsavorites in the world above 20 carats, he had never seen one comparable to this size in a square cushion cut. The square cushion and round cuts are the rarest shapes for tsavorite because the rough typically lends itself better to other shapes. Square cuts in particular result in the greatest loss of weight in cutting, he said. The tsavorite also has the distinction of being the largest tsavorite, and the largest gemstone of any kind, cut in the United States.

Figure 7. Victor Tuzlukov’s cutting process yielded a 116.76 ct square cushion cut, one of the rarest cuts for tsavorite. Photo by Robert Weldon/GIA, courtesy of Bruce Bridges.

 

[T L]

Here’s a video produced by JTV where Bruce Bridges goes into more detail about this stone, dubbed the “Lion of Metelani.” It’s in the second half of the video.

I think it’s on loan to the Smithsonian if anyone wants to see it in person.

 

[elle_71125]

Damn….

 

[T L]

I meant “Lion of Merelani.” Sorry for the typo.