[Looking4] Faceted oval ametrine

Jewelry Discussion
1

I have client that wants me to make her LSU senior ring using an
oval ametrine. I have done some research, and have found they are not
very available. I am needing a 16x12.

I have two questions.

  1. Is there a reason the ametrine is not cut oval often?
  2. Where can I find someone to cut one the size I need it?

Thanks so much!
Angela Hampton

2 
1) Is there a reason the ametrine is not cut oval often? 2) Where
can I find someone to cut one the size I need it?

Most of ametrines are cut utilizing emerald cut to show off the
color difference. The same material cut oval or round would look much
worse. Ametrine which can be cut oval are quite difficult to find.
You need crystal with zonal color distribution. Such crystals must be
oriented with table orthogonal to optic axis, which is very
detrimental to yield, but does wonders to appearance. What I am
trying to say, is that it is going to take time, and will be quite
expensive.

I can recommend Wayne Emery, who is a member of this forum. I cannot
publish his email due to privacy consideration. His website is
http://www.thelittlecameras.com/ Wayne cut some stones for me and the
quality of his work is exceptional.

Leonid Surpin

3

Dear Angela,

I have purchased oval cabs from time to time and while they are a bit
harder to find, they were not expensive. I don’t remember the dealer-
the last purchase was in Tucson some years ago. I have recently
purchased a custom cut round cab of some size for myself. Ahmed
Sharek from Crescent Gems handled that for me and did a very nice
job. He used to be a regular here on Orchid. If you can’t find him,
e-mail me direct and I’ll look up his contact info.

Brenda Nesheim-Fuller
Mason City, Iowa

4

Hi Brenda,

Thanks for the refferal, I am a Die hard fan of orchid and I go
through the Orchid posts every day. I have already contacted Angela
and am working on the project.

thanks again
Ahmed shareek
Crescent Gems

5

Hi Angela,

Such crystals must be oriented with table orthogonal to optic axis,
which is very detrimental to yield, but does wonders to appearance.
What I am trying to say, is that it is going to take time, and will
be quite expensive.

The above statement by Mr. Surpin is incorrect…

Ametrine is not expensive in the rough and the cutting costs of
standard shapes are similar.

The reason ametrine it is not often cut into ovals or rounds is
because the pavilion facets cause the two colours to mix, resulting
a stone that does not have a clear colour definition and looks muddy
from the top. In the case where one mixes any two opposite
colors–purple and yellow, red and green, orange and blue-- you will
get a sort of muddy brown. An emerald cut has long straight pavilion
facets, thus keeping the colours distinct and separate…

An example where I purposely want to mix the colours is in my latest
blog post. In this case I want the blue and purple to form indigo…–
which it does.

http://meevis.ganoksin.com/blogs/

A good example of a muddy ametrine can be found here at the bottom
of the page. http://www.wsfgems.com/amethyst.html

Cheers, Hans
http://www.meevis.com

6 
Ametrine is not expensive in the rough and the cutting costs of
standard shapes are similar.

I positively affirm my statement. But I am not surprised by the above
comments. Most of the Ametrine rough is either lab grown, or
creatively treated Amethyst. Many gem cutters as well as dealers, do
not have experience with Ametrine. Natural, gem quality crystals,
with sector zonal colour distribution are rare.

Leonid Surpin