Star sillimanite

[Moonstone]

I recently bid on this stone and lost. I am a complete amateur (with a very low budget) where gemstones are concerned, but I really like stones with asterism. I chose to bid on this star sillimanite rather than a star ruby or star sapphire because I thought I would have a better chance at getting it cheap than the rubies and sapphires that I like, and because I guess I got sort of infatuated with it (mmm, pretty coffee color). I thought I was going to get it for ~$20, but then the price just started climbing. . . In the end I hit my maximum bid and lost it.

I''ve been searching around for star sillimanites elsewhere on the web, but not finding any. Perhaps I will have to choose a dark star sapphire as a substitute.

Does anyone here know anything about star sillimanite, where to find them, and whether this price on an eBay auction is typical for these stones?

 

[valeria101]

Sillimanite (=fibrolite) is usually cats ee, not star. I think the icture is somewhat "overstated" - if there is a star, then the secondary rays are not as strong as the main... I would expect a cats eye with two weeker rays or something. Cats eye sillimanite is quite lovely, I could never understand why this material doesn't get way higher prices.

Just my 0.2

A bit ago someone posted about sillimanite on this forum, you might want to see the thred here.

I wouldn't know where to locate star fibrolite off the bat, but cats eye pieces were listed by gemwow and multicolour and lapilia last time I looked

Perhaps a pleasing one might turn out in time...

 

[Moonstone]

Yes, it seems there''s a zillion cat''s eye ones, but no stars. . . I did find one site that was selling them, but they had absolutely no pictures and I''m not about to pay for something that I can''t even see a picture of the alleged item.

The cat''s eye ones are nice, but just not as appealing for some reason.