Gem: Vanadium Kornerupine
Weight 1.03 ct.
Dimensions: 5.95 mm
Clarity: VS / SI area - pics look SI, but looks VS in-hand
Origin: Umba Valley, Tanzania
Treatments: None, Natural gem
Comments:
This is sure to be the cleanest, greenest one carat kornerupine cabochon gem around right now, other than in a private collection. Material this clean would FOR SURE be faceted on average. I decided I wanted to have a very few very high end kornerupine cabochons - so I turned some of my cleanest, greenest material into glorious, saturated, citrus tinted drops of gem dew.
A big thank you to the vanadium impurities putting in overtime, making this gem so green, and another shout out to the crystal structure of kornerupine for being durable enough to not explode with all of those extra vanadium atoms stuffed in where they don't belong.
Kornerupine is rare, and amazing material, and finding it clean is not an easy thing to do. Either by it's nature, or by it's method of extraction, there are just a LOT of fractures. On top of that there are crystal inclusions and planes of floating silk that pretty closely mimic smoke hanging in a windless room.
This cabochon is OVER one carat, has great proportions, and is one of the greenest vanadium kornerupines I have yet come across. It would pair very nicely with the deeply vanadium green kornerupine faceted round gem I also have in my 'colored gems' section.