This standard brilliant round weighs 3.22 carats. It does not show dichroism and is a fine uniform green that is eye clean or better.
I know that I shouldn’t bias my love of a color on cut, but with green I truly long for nice ones that are not emerald cuts. There are several reasons for cutting green tourmaline rough into emerald cuts.
1, The crystals tend to have a large ratio between their width and length.
2, Many crystals have closed ends, optically dense c axis.
3, The suppliers prepare the rough by clipping off the terminus (at least it was traditional in Africa) and then clip the crystals into lengths that maximize the size of the pieces of rough, which usually precludes the efficient cutting of rounds.
I have had the best luck in cutting greens that are not emerald cuts with highly worn alluvial material. The heavily frosted pebbles usually have a cross section that can be made into rounds or at least ovals. I usually try and get a round first, but if the pebble is too flattened, I produce an oval. I adjust the oval’s ratio to make the most of the pebble’s thickness and the widest part of its girth. I really have not found too many alluvial pebbles with closed ends from my suppliers.
The gemstone that started all this and that I just looked at under a yellowish light is a great plain Jane. (yellowish light always helps greens look great) It has a great medium tone, medium hue, medium saturation and is clean without any indications of dichroism. It is too large at 3.22 carats to be a droplet of color, but its heart lies there. I will have to check, but I don’t think that I have one as nice that is droplet ready. That would be a disappointment.
Bruce
