This is a beautiful gemstone that is a personal friend. That is why I call him Big Red. He came from Nigeria and has that deposits eye clean nature along with fine crystal. Its medium dark plus tone level is flashy, but not eye candy. It weighs 9.98 carats.
I will give you a hint. This large, 9.98 carat medium dark oval is red. It originated in Nigeria and made a trip to South Africa before showing up in Mars. Never needing to offer itself on the inter net, it came as a personal side order, without even a photograph. Ah the adventures of old. Its red is as good as any of the other stones I have posted about, but its darker tone value keeps it a more personal stone than your average eye candy. Still it has fine crystal and is eye clean. I love this stone and it is know as Big Red to me.
Now I need to tell you a something about Big Red that is personal. I have worked with a jeweler some distance away from my home for a number of years. The best part of our meetings is showing off new stones and even some of the old ones. The day in question was gray with snow on the ground. The jeweler and his brother were having a great time and the brother walked up holding Big Red. He was saying that Big Red would be a great ruby, if of course, it was a ruby. Well when I looked down on Big Red under the bluish light coming from a sky light, he was purple. I have never seen him like that since and it is really too embarrassing to make public,so keep it under you hat. Such are the mysteries of color in tourmaline.
Bruce
Bruce
