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The rough for this standard round brilliant was bought before copper was discovered to be in gem grade tourmaline in Mozambique. It has a good number of inclusions and not very good crystal. Still I was in search of rough with different colors, that would not necessarily make exceptional gems. I did get some really superior gems in the process, but this one does not have the neon look. Despite its problems, it is a bit different and still has a reasonable amount of flash in a medium toned body. It weighs 4.57 carats. It is an attractive stone without concerns about copper.
Bruce
About Bruce Fry
I was born in Summit, NJ in 1947 and graduated from Summit High School in 1966. I graduated from the Colorado School of Mines in 1970 and after spending another year in graduate school, I left to see the world of Brazil. After spending some more time discovering myself, I ended up working for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for 32 years as an Air Quality Engineer in the Department of Environmental Protection. I retired in 2007 and took up faceting gemstones again after a long hiatus that reached back to my twenties. I had started cutting cabochons when I was 13 and bought my first faceting machine when I was 15, but ran out of money and time until I retired.
My great love in gemology is tourmaline and the collection presented here represents my effort to get as much beauty and variety in the colors of tourmaline as I can. I was particularly lucky in being able to get unheated cuprian tourmaline before copper was discovered in gem grade tourmaline from Mozambique.
