Single, hexagonal crystals of Chatham emerald

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hello,
I have a commission to make a repro of a Roman necklace that
features hexagonal emerald crystals (drilled down the long axis)
as beads. I haven’t been able to find any natural crystals that
had a nicely defined hexagonal shape and looked like they would
withstand the drilling. I’m thinking maybe Chatham crystals
would work. I saw some in a catalog and they looked pretty nice,
but I can’t recall where I saw them. They wouldn’t need to be
really gemmy, in fact I would prefer them to fairly included to
give the look of natural emerald crystals. Any ideas? Thanks in
advance.

Regards,
Elizabeth Elizabeth C.
Wilkinson Los Alamos, NM

e-mail: @wilkinso

2

Elizabeth,

Check Lapidary Journal. There are usually adverts for Chathams
there.

Mike

3

Elizabeth:

I think you are going to find that Chatham is premium syn.
emerald and doesn’t even wholesale below 80/ct cut, or about
$30/ct rough, if you can find it. sounds prohibitive to me for
what you describe. You might try some of the Russian companies
for their hydrothermal emerald, which, I’m told, goes as low as
$6/ct in the rough. You might also explore other synthetics of
simlar color, but they probably won’t be included. Could be as
low as five to ten cents a carat in the rough, tho’. HTH

Roy (Jess)