Gem: Chrome Kornerupine
Weight: 1.07
Dimensions: 7.45 x 6.7 mm
Clarity: SI under a 10x loupe, but in-hand it's solidly VS
Design and Faceting by: Scott Maier
Origin: Umba valley, Tanzania
Treatments: None, natural gemstone
Comments:
This is one of the coolest, most interesting chrome kornerupines I have cut yet, and that's saying something. The tri-chroism is off the charts here.
Under normal gem-cutting circumstances, I am loath to use a clipped-culet. Deeply purple kornerupine, however, can benefit from reduced depth, as it's a bit of a darker gem. Going even a bit further, I have hand-carved a bubble exactly in the center of the culet. The sphere cleanly comes to within 1/10 of a millimeter of the three edges.
My design is geared towards keeping the edges brilliant, interesting, and colorful. Within this edge brilliance, you can see ALL the colors that this gem can offer: greens, blues, purples, and a near-black contrast that makes it all very interesting. Shocking and electric colors burst out of the depths, and all the while, you can see a strong purple through the center, decorated perfectly with a frosted-texture sphere. The frosted texture helps to diffuse the light, and enrich the color. It glows when it is catching the light.
The rough used to produce this piece is irreplaceable now. The deposit, found in 2019, was exhausted by late 2020, and rough started to become hard to source by early 2021. Though both chrome and vanadium kornerupine remained available through 2022, it became increasingly expensive during that time. As of January 2023, chrome kornerupine of good quality is not replaceable, and vanadium kornerupine is only available at a premium price similar to emerald or tsavorite.