Category: Loose Stones
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2019 Updates to Policies
I realize that I’ve been terrible about updating the page for the past year, and I’m hoping that things will start to turn around shortly. I wanted to post an update that there will be changes made to the following policies that will take place at 12:01am January 1, 2019.…
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Incoming Gemstones
Whoa! Gemstones ahoy! I got a couple of packages from a couple of collectors looking to consign items, and there are some really awesome gems, and a couple of finished jewelry pieces. Some of the stand outs include: 40+ carats of green garnets: tsavorite, demantoid, mint, including melee! 2+ carat…
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Feature: Dan and Cindi Stair
Daniel and Cynthia Stair are the owners and gem cutters at Custom Gemstones and I have known them for many years, after first striking up a conversation when I was looking for my engagement ring stone. I recently reached out to Dan with a whole bunch of questions and he answered every…
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Miscellaneous Announcements & Gems
As per usual, things have been a bit crazy around here. I’ve been able to spend some time working on some custom projects, which has been a nice change of pace from non-stop painting and renovation. Luckily, I think that’s coming to a close (FINALLY!) and things should be wrapping…
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Original Find Mahenge Spinel
I mentioned in last week’s blog post that I had wanted to post an evaluation of this stone in it’s place, and had to scramble to post something else instead. Which ended up being great because it kind of leads into this post, because it also has to do with…
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Personal Shopping: Lavender Sapphire
Well this week has been crazy. We have had some insane weather here in the Pacific Northwest, including snow, rain (enough for Seattle schools to close, if you can imagine that amount of rain), 70+mph winds, freezing fog, and then record high temperatures. Yes, it was in the 50s this…
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Inclusions
Gas bubbles, feathers, crystals, veils, carbon spots, lily pads, silk, jardin, etc. There are maybe more types of inclusions than there are gemstone varieties! I seem to have spent the last week talking about inclusions with various people. I figured that since I’ve been talking about it so much, I…
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Gem Blast: Tanzanite
I love purple-blues, and nothing does purple-blue quite like tanzanite. I’ve seen super saturated vivid purples and blues, but nothing gets to me like the violet/lavender/periwinkle shades between. I don’t think cuts get any better than this, but unfortunately, it makes it incredibly difficult to photograph perfectly cut gemstones. I spent…
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Viva Las Vegas! JCK 2015 Part 2!
Part 2. Or day 2. This is by far the most photo intensive post in this trilogy. Friday Naturally, after not getting to sleep until 3am, we slept in a bit, though that was not the plan. The plan was to get to JCK ASAP and start trawling through gemstones…
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Gem Blast: Emeralds
Emeralds are considered one of the four “precious gemstones” along with ruby, diamond and sapphire (blue, specifically, since, you know, red and pinkish sapphire is typically considered ruby. But whatever.) So that means that they are highly prized, highly synthesized and highly treated. But it’s the birthstone for May so I’ll…
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Gem Blast: Fancy Pinkish Brown Diamond
I remember years ago reading Pricescope.com and watching as a poster went searching for a brownish-pinkish-orangeish diamond – she told the jeweler that she was searching for “bandaid colored”. And that’s exactly what I thought of when I laid eyes on this diamond. This diamond is .58cts, so not exactly…
The Gemstone Project 