This bright pink round is cut with a modified step cut crown and the standard round pavilion. Its flash is limited by the significant amount of inclusions, that it has. It is a dot of color at .26 carats.
One advantage of practically running out of rough to cut, is the discovery of stray bits of past accomplishments with the interest and time to cut them. This small round is NOT a standard round brilliant. The stray bit of an intensely pink colored tourmaline from Afghanistan that is called strawberry and is always included, needed something special. Now the only “special” cut I make in the round is a combination of a horizontally split main pavilion and a modified step cut crown. The significantly included strawberry piece was not deep enough for the full treatment, so I just gave it a modified step cut crown. How does that stack up to a standard crown is rather hard to say, because the strawberry has enough inclusions to limit flashing, but I don’t think that the different crowns make that much difference in such a small stone. Besides the cut and inclusions, sweet strawberry does have a great pink even if its lighter medium tone value does not begin to uplift you like the full sized beauties. This hidden treasure in the patch, weighs .26 carats and is a dot of color, despite it difference.
Bruce
