This is a beautiful gemstone. It has a medium plus tone level, green that is only slightly dichroic. Its scatter is minor and is hard to see in the flash, face up. It is from Afghanistan and weighs 11 carats.
Viva La Afghanistan and its tourmaline. This hunk of an emerald cut is pure tourmaline heaven. Now it is slightly included and I can see those pesky disturbances in the force, deep in this flashing well of green, but it just makes the stone look real to me. If it was ever set in a pendant, I bet you could see it flash from halfway across the room while getting close enough to see the scatter, would demand real intimacy.
I love this stone. I probably said that about sea foam, one of the most famous variates of tourmaline that comes out of Afghanistan and I have some Barion cuts from a batch of green that are truly great, but I think that this is my favorite Afghanistan green. The emerald cut is rather squat and I gave it the full four rows of steps on the pavilion and three rows of step facets on the crown. This makes such a deep gemstone that the brightly flashing well seems to extend as deeply as you want to look. The gemstone is only mildly dichroic and the slightly richer and yellower c axis is actually on the sides of the emerald cut rather than the ends. I think that this actually results in a better balance in tone, but would be completely impractical with most tourmaline crystals. The rough that was made into this 11.00 carats blazer, must have been a really fantastic crystal. Now the one gemological property I have not broached is its tone level. Well it probably is a medium plus, but to put it simply. it is ideal for this large a gemstone. And my yellowish light really set it blazing.
Bruce
