Sphene - Old Mine Cut

[RevolutionGems]

I do indeed have some amythyst and a pretty good amount of rough as well. All the varieties of quartz are nice to cut because they cut easy, are reasonably durable and polish nicely. Plus, they make for really bright stones.

I will see if I can get a few good pics over the next few days. Maybe I should contact the moderator to see if posting a link to a picture gallery would be acceptable...

 

[Pandora II]

I hope you don''t mind Jeff, but I sent copies of your pics to my contact at Tucson and...

He''s now found my rocks!

The material''s from Madagascar, but apparently looks very similar to yours. Seems that a picture is worth a thousand words!

 

[RevolutionGems]

That is teriffic! I hope that they are what you want. I am a little curious what they will look like because most of the Madagascar material is green as opposed to the golden brown that comes out of Pakistan.

You MUST post pics when you get the stones. I really want to see wht they look like.

My contact in Pakistan just sent me a pic of a parcel that was just mined and one of the pieces looks to be around 300+ carats and he says it is pretty clean material. It is a bit pricey but I just may have to cough up the cash for that one...

 

[historychick]

Sphene?!? what kind of settings are good for this stone it''s so bright like liquid gold... can it be put in a tension setting?
Wow

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 2/12/2008 11:13:56 PM
Author: historychick
Sphene?!? what kind of settings are good for this stone it''s so bright like liquid gold... can it be put in a tension setting?
Wow

Don''t even think of tension settings!

Sphene is only a 5 on the mohs and it''s brittle so you need to be super careful with it. It''s not a good idea to even bezel it.

I''m going to prong set mine.

 

[historychick]

what about a pendant or earings? what types of settings would be good for that?

 

[Pandora II]

I'm doing a pendant and earrings with my 3 stones - but I'm waiting for Richard to send me pics (hopefully next week) before I really start setting designing.

I'm thinking of single claw prongs - like the ones Timmy used on his ruby. It will really come down to what Wink thinks when I discuss it with him. Basically I want to minimise any risk to the stone.

I'm pondering the idea of halo-ing the pendant, but with a very big air-gap... and probably not with diamonds, I'm tempted to use something like seed-pearls in so that I have a real contrast between the materials, and the dispersion of the sphene isn't competeing with anything. Decisions, decisions!

 

[MJO]

Jeff,

I love the look of the sphene. I have a few badly cut.

The Madagascar I have is greenish but 30cts eye clean.

Regards,
Maurice

 

[RevolutionGems]

Maurice,
WOW! That is huge!!!

I really like the green material from Madagacar though it doesn''t seem to have quite the pop and dispersion of the Pakistan material.

Anyway, with a stone like that, you should consider having it recut. That is trruly a museum sized stone.

Got a picture by any chance?

 

[MJO]

Hi Jeff,

I don''t. I sent it to someone to look at to see about recutting it. I love sphene and have a few over 5 cts.

Regards,
Maurice

 

[RevolutionGems]

I would love to see a pic when you get it back.

I just ordered another parcel of rough from Pakistan. They are all large pieces. One looks to be well over 300 carats! I can''t wait to see it. I am hoping to get a VERY large stone or two out of it.

I will post some pics when I can.