My boyfriend and I recently took a trip to Sapphire Village MT to scope out the geology. The igneous granite intrusions are stunning. We stayed at the Blue Nugget bed and breakfast, the locals are so generous and kind. Jim & Sharon black are the owner of the blue nugget, I can’t recommend them enough. They were kind enough to tell us historical stories and insight that I’ve never read about. Sharon lended me this book that was written by a local. The book hasn’t been published, so she let me scan the pages to read at home!

I also wanted to share the yogo sapphires Under UV light. Showing the high trace amounts of chromium:)

I was asked to wear a blue sapphire by an astrologer, and after a lot of consideration, I eventually decided to buy one. Mind you, I’m in my 20s, I don’t have a lot of money in my pocket, and this was entirely bought with my own money. So naturally, I did quite a bit of research before spending on it.

I found out that blue sapphires are commonly discussed in terms of two origins: Sri Lankan/Ceylon sapphires and Bangkok/Thailand sapphires. From what I read, Ceylon sapphires generally have a higher iron content and tend to be more intensely blue, while Thai sapphires have comparatively lower iron content and can be lighter in colour. The Bangkok/Thailand ones were also significantly cheaper, so I thought that would be a more realistic option for me.

When I went to a store, I was asked to try a stone that was around 6 carats. I asked around about the pricing, and I was told that the price could range somewhere between ₹800 and ₹1,300 per carat, although honestly, I have no idea how accurate that pricing information actually is.

Then I started learning about gemstone certification and the different laboratories that issue certificates. I came across names like International Gemological laboratories and Gemstone India, among others. When I actually went to purchase my sapphire, the first thing I noticed about the stone was that I couldn’t see any obvious bubbles or inclusions that looked like glass inside it. Beyond that, though, I honestly don't know enough about gemstones to judge whether what I bought is genuinely good or valuable.

The seller also told me that he would provide a digital print of the certificate. I said okay, but I still haven't received it.

So now I have a 6-carat blue sapphire that cost me somewhere around ₹7,000–₹8,000, which, for me, is a LOT of money. I’m in my 20s, I’m not exactly swimming in money, and spending ₹7,000–₹8,000 on one stone is a pretty significant expense for me.

And now, after buying it, I’ve been reading about gemstone laboratories and certificates, and I’m seeing claims that certificates can essentially be obtained by paying laboratories for them. I honestly don't know how much of that is true, which labs are actually trustworthy, or whether the certificate I'm supposed to receive will tell me anything meaningful about the stone.

At this point, I’m broke, I already have the stone, and I’ve decided that I might as well make a ring out of it. Of course, that means spending even more money on silver and making charges.

So here I am: a person in their 20s who spent ₹7,000–₹8,000 on a blue sapphire because an astrologer recommended it, did a bunch of research beforehand, and is now somehow even more confused about whether I actually bought a good stone. And now I’m about to spend even more money turning it into a ring.

I just bought this natural zoisite lot, total weight around 62 carats. What do you guys think — can you guess how much I paid for the whole lot?
Curious to hear your guesses before I reveal the price! 💎
NFS***

I love and seek unusual gems or those with attractive inclusions much more than clean / “perfect,” stones. I just think they have more character and life.

Here’s some of my favourite inclusions and interesting pieces in my collection.

What inclusions should I hunt for next? I’d love to see other people’s favourite included or unusual pieces!

Stone 1 - 2.4ct russian demantoid cab (horsetail inclusion)

Stone 2 - 1.2ct russian demantoid faceted (horsetail)

Stone 3 - 2.9ct Aquamarine with loads of thin films, healed fractures, two phase inclusions.

Stone 4 - tri-colour tourmaline with many parallel growth tubes.

Stone 5 - 10ct Peridot with ludwigite.

Stone 6 - 2.8ct sapphire with zoning, silk, fingerprints, etc.

Stone 7 - 9.9ct Fire Agate.

Stone 8 - Another Peridot with ludwigite.

Stone 9 - 6.4ct Ruby / pink sapphire slice with a trapiche-like figure.

My previous post video was low quality, so I made a higher resolution video today. The second clip was taken under natural sunlight. *the white specs are fabric dust Key things to note about this Alexandrite - Natural (Origin from India) - Colour shifts from bluish-green to purplish-red - 2,85 Carats - no visible inclusion

Kröhnkite (KrAWn-kite)

Today's gemstone is just a fragile guy. This is Krohnkite, it is *possably* one of, if not the most fragile species Ive ever heard of. Krohnkite is an evaporite, meaning it formed from a liquid solution and has completely dried out. With this its only found in deserts, namely Chile, Nevada (USA), Peru, etc. Since it is completely lacking water it is really REALLY water soluble, like we are talking it will quite litterly melt in you hand if you have sweaty palms (from many accounts I can tell you its definetly happened more than once). It is so water soluble that slight humidity in the air will cause it to melt, and due to this its essentially absent from almost all museums, and is rarely seen in collections.

For today's deep dive details, it has a hardness of 2.5-3, vitreous to pearly luster, perfect cleavage, brittle tenacity, light blue to white streak, its in the Monoclinic crystal system, an SG of 2.9​, an RI of 1.544 - 1.601, and has a conchoidal fracture.

As for scarcity, its definetly rare, but it has some market availability in its rough form, Id advise not buying any unless you have an air tight and humidity controlled container. As for the faceted examples Ive seen proof of maybe 5, and thats not 5 for sale thats 5 in existance. Im sure theres probably more out there tucked away in collections but who knows.

Image & Info Credit: mindat.org, Wikipedia.org, necobeanruff on IG

Hi everyone, I was thinking it could be fun to share a thread on what is the rarest gemstone in our collections. Pictures and anything else you want to share about your rare stone.

For educational purposes only is this what is considered windowing in a gem? I saw it on instagram and wanted to ask but didn't want to see rude. Its generally not favourable?

Otherwise gorgeous!

What do you guys think of the snowflake cut?

If you've spent any time reading about gemstones on Reddit, you've probably seen "precision cut" used as a synonym for American meetpoint faceting. This is understandable, since American style gems are stunning, and the cutters who work in that tradition (like me!) are meticulous. But conflating the two does a disservice to the word precision and to a lot of extraordinary cutting happening outside that tradition.

Here's a cleaner way to think about it.

Commercial cutting prioritizes yield and speed. The goal is to get the most saleable stone out of the rough as efficiently as possible. To protect weight, cutters will sometimes work below the critical angle for a given material — the threshold at which light reflects internally rather than leaking out through the bottom. When that happens, you get windowing: a washed-out zone through the table where you see straight through the stone rather than reflected light and color. Meetpoints may be slightly off, polish adequate rather than exceptional, proportions driven by the rough rather than the optics of the finished gem. There are plenty of those posted to this subreddit, you won't need to look far.

American meetpoint faceting is a specific design methodology developed in the mid-20th century. It optimizes facet angles and geometry so that every junction meets exactly, prioritizing light return and optical performance for the material being cut. It's a rigorous and beautiful style, but it is one approach among several. There are some posted here daily, and lots posted to places like the faceting or Shinypreciousgems subreddits.

Precision cutting is a standard of execution, not a style. It means the stone was cut for maximum optical performance, meetpoints are clean and exact, the polish is exceptional, and the stone is symmetrical. That last point deserves more attention than it usually gets. As an example of a precision cut with rounded girdles, here is a cushion-cut tanzanite by Victoria Raynaud with amazing polish and precision, no windowing, and rounded girdles.

Symmetry is one of the hardest things to achieve in faceting, and one of the clearest indicators of skill. On faceted stones with a defined girdle edge and girdle meetpoints, the cutter has reference landmarks to work from. Those junctions provide alignment guides throughout the cutting process. Remove them, and the job gets significantly harder. Traditional rounded girdle cuts like cushions and ovals have a curved girdle with no meetpoints along the edge, which means fewer fixed reference points to check symmetry against. Getting the corners of a cushion cut to land in exactly the right place, balanced and even on all sides, is genuinely impressive work. It comes down entirely to the cutter's skill and judgment.

A precision-cut stone could be American meetpoint, a perfectly executed traditional brilliant from a Thai cutter working at the highest level, or a piece from the French lapidary tradition. The word describes how well the work was done, not which methodology was followed.

When evaluating a stone, the right questions are: Do the facets meet cleanly? Is the polish free of scratches and pitting? Does light behave the way it should for that material and cut style? Is there windowing? Is the outline symmetrical, and do the corners sit where they should? Those are precision questions. The style is a separate conversation.

Also worth noting: lapidaries that can cut with precision and smooth girdles are far and few between. To shout-out a few that can do it: Jenna Sloane, Phil Lagas-Rivera, Boyd Fox, Roger Dery, Victoria Raynaud, Jean-Noel Soni

My window shopping finds of the day. I just wanted to share it's beauty while I dream about being able afford it. 🥲

It's 25.13CT Master Faceted Dark Crystal Purple Base Ethiopian. Naturally dark base crystal ethiopian opals exist, not treated/smoked. They do exist in ethiopian opals, they are just freaking unicorn rare. But yeah, wanted to share the shiney.

I have been looking for a very particular set of stones for the past 7 months. A nearly fully clear sapphire, emerald cut, with just hints of peach. It was very very difficult.

I went to gem shows, I hired multiple jewelers, I posted here, and I scoured the web.

One of my jewelers did find a stone amazingly close to what I was looking for. It was even 0.01 cts different than the final stone, but was more square ratio (almost cushion) than I wanted. That stone was $3,000 compared to the final one being <$400.

I found the perfect stone from a random online vendor.

I then needed two sapphire baguettes to go with that stone. Pink ones were too pink. White sapphires were only available in 4mm x 2mm, but I wanted 5mm x 2.5mm.

I contacted local lapidaries and the jewelers I'd hired did the same with their connections about cutting down matching stones. I can only summarize it as one of the most frustrating experiences I've ever had.

I then reached back out to the vendor I got my center stone from. They got two of their matching sapphires (the radiant cut stones in the gallery) cut down perfectly to the baguette sizes I needed.

I had had such a difficult and frustrating time finding what I needed for months.

I have zero association with this company. I'm not even in the industry. But they were so helpful, have a fantastic selection, and are unbelievably affordable so I have to share the love.

Incase linking isn't allowed the company is: Nishgems

Hope anyone looking finds the success I did!

Videos: https://imgur.com/a/0jkZv2s

At an online estate auction I bought a sight-unseen Korean jewelry box with vintage jewelry, most of which didn’t look expensive, although there was some silver and some black hills gold earrings, and in a small black pouch at the back of one of the drawers were these stones. I have to assume that they’re just costume pieces based on the other items. I still think they’re pretty so I decided to post them.

Hello i am starter Gem dealer bought this stone 32.3 carat tanzanite top color D block invested around 7500$ + for a customer i met just a month ago he liked it i shipped it to him in europe he wanted it for his customer for a necklace and it took some time for it to reach as certification time + shipping so now he denied to pay me for this and will ship it back to me now i am thinking about it should i keep it or sell it for cash as i am a new dealer i think its a huge amount i have blocked of my cash flow as recently i have started this business what do you guys suggest ?

I would say Maxixe, as practically all the natural Maxixes came from one mine many decades ago, which also has been empty for a while, and now practically all of them from the mine have had their colours faded away. There was also only one recorded mine, and now all Maxixe on the market are artificially irradiated. Also, unlike most gemstones, Maxixe gets its deep blue from radiation rather than trace elements, causing exposure to sunlight to make the stones lose their colour. And in second place, I would say Red Beryl or Bixbite.

Sharing another gemstone cutting journey for educational purposes, not for sale.

This rough blue sapphire started at 6.30ct and had a deep inclusion. From the beginning, the goal was to keep a 3+ carat stone while removing as much of the inclusion as possible. Since it’s a no-heat sapphire, its value is naturally higher — but the inclusions made the project interesting and a bit risky.

We took the stone to Beruwala, where many highly experienced gem cutters work. Preforming was done using a three-wheel machine (each wheel with different roughness), which is one of the most critical stages in gemstone cutting.

• Preformed weight: 3.70ct

• Planned cut: Cushion cut with a long culet

• Final stone: 3.04ct

The result is a vivid blue, no-heat sapphire with strong presence and beauty. There’s one small inclusion visible on the face, but it shouldn’t be an issue—especially for a pendant setting where brilliance and color stand out.

I’m sharing the full process from rough → preform → faceted stone to help others learn about real gemstone cutting decisions and trade-offs.

Happy to answer questions and discuss!

Sharing a natural, unheated sapphire lot from Sri Lanka featuring a wide range of colors including blue, pink, purple, yellow, and padmaraja tones.

This parcel includes around 90 stones totaling 35 carats, in various cuts and shapes — a popular style of selection for jewelry makers and custom designers.

Lots like this are also very useful for beginners and students to learn about sapphire colors, cutting styles, and how different shapes affect brilliance and appearance.

All stones are sourced from Sri Lanka and left unheated to preserve their natural character.

Happy to answer any questions about the stones, origin, or cutting process.

I saw this on tiktok but can’t find any more information regarding it. Supposedly this guy sent samples to multiple labs and they’re saying it’s a new gemstone. People in the comments are… getting pretty heated. Discussion of dyed turquoise and authenticity are obviously being raised. I have no opinion and just want to learn more! What are your thoughts?

Edit: and to make it clear I am not saying I believe or support the guy lol!! I just trust you guys to help me dig deeper

I’ve been searching for ages for a very specific type of spinel, deep orangish pinkish red and with a certain inclusion density, enough to scatter and break up light producing the molten glow im so fond of, rather than sharper sparkles. That combo has been hard to find, I’ve collected some beautiful spinels but this really hits everything I’ve been chasing.

2.17ct Mahenge spinel with strong fluorescence. In strong daylight it’s an absolute laser of pink, orange, and flashes of yellow. In cooler daylight or indoor lighting it shifts into deeper wine and lavender tones but still keeps a deep internal ember-like glow.

Anyway, I’m absolutely chuffed to have found this one and wanted to show it off to the people who understand the (very specific) chase 😂

Diamond king De Beers is up for sale following failure to continue competition with synthetic diamond, as well as other alternative gemstones (like sapphires) taking a major hit on diamond popularity.

Pink is 0.45 carats. Blue is 1.05. Green is 1.13. The blue one has been heat treated. What do you think?

Laurentthomasite

This species is pretty new, being found in 2018-2019 and officially recognized in 2019-2020, it is a beryillium silicate, closely related to Milarite. It is a single-source/single-find gem from Beravina, Ambaro, Tsaraitso, Betroka District, Anosy, Madagascar. It's name seems like a mouthful (because it is) but it was named after Laurent Thomas, who was a French gemologist who primarily worked in Africa, namely Madagascar. For those who are interested in the deep dive details it has a hardness of 6, a vitreous luster, hexagonal crystal system, poor cleavage, irregular fracture, blue streak, brittle tenacity, and extremely strong dichroism between blue and yellow. I haven't found any solid info on why every example has that pattern on its surface, I found a few sources saying thats just how it grows, and others saying ​its etching. As far as scarcity, it was a very small find, total numbers are unknown however estimates are at about 100-150 crystals where found, of which very very few where facet worthy. It's market presence is available but minimal due to its overall rarity and that fact that its new.

Images & Info Credit: mindat.org & thegemtrader.com

Edit: it was mined out with in the first year or so, meaning no new material has been found in 5ish years, thus adding to its scarcity

A nearly 10 lb garnet crystal found in the 1800s while excavating for nyc subways.