Peridot; green-gold beauty

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Poor peridot; how are the mighty fallen. It is thought that Cleopatra’s famous emeralds were in fact peridots from the Egyptian island of Zabargad – back when gemstones were classified according to colour, so all green stones were emeralds. Now they are common in birthstone and multicolour jewellery and is really common in weaker, pale shades. It is, of course, also the birthstone for August. Fine peridot can be vivid and stunning, with a slightly oily lustre and I think it always pairs fantastically well with gold, which complements the warm, golden tones that are often present in the stone. This warmth may be partly why the stone has traditionally been associated with light, and in fact set in gold, it was said to ward off ‘terrors of the night’. I’ve most often seen it paired with amethyst but I love it with pink tourmaline; when bright and well-matched the colours seem to sort of egg each other on, competing to be the most eye-catching! Below from left to right are Elizabeth Locke’s peridot and pink tourmaline earrings, Piaget’s completely fabulous peridot and pink tourmaline cocktail ring (have you seen the others in this series?!) and Caroline Nelson’s pink tourmaline and peridot earrings, set in 18k gold with diamond accents.

Elizabeth Locke Peridot and Pink Tourmaline earrings, $1895
Piaget Limelight Cocktail ring ‘Sex on the beach’
Caroline Nelson Pink Tourmaline and Peridot earrings, $4000

I’ve spoken about the warmth of peridot with gold, and for this reason, I think it also pairs particularly well with warm yellows and oranges. I love the soft, creamy gold of the south sea pearls below left against the vivid peridots in David Precious Gems’ earrings, and the 18k gold sets them both perfectly. Citrine is also a natural partner; I particularly like the colour zoning on Wilson Brothers’ Citrine and Peridot ring, below right. I’m going to write a piece, or pieces on the joys of inclusions soon, watch this space…

 

David Precious Gems Peridot and South Sea pearl earrings, $5800
Wilson Brothers Citrine and Peridot cocktail ring, $639.99

More unusually, I’ve seen some fantastic combinations with turquoise. This is a combination that I just wouldn’t really have thought of; I’m not sure why not, perhaps some lingering notion of ‘blue and green should never be seen…’. Or perhaps because the idea of opaque blue and transparent green is just not something that leaps to mind. But I really like it. Below (left to right), if you’re not short of a few bob, are Nicholas Varney’s mismatched aquamarine, peridot, diamond, gaspeite and turquoise duo earrings. I adore mismatched earrings, but beautiful as these are; I don’t think they are going to be the place for me to start! Centre is Michael Boyd’s stunning ring in 18k gold with emerald, peridot, gem silica, sapphires and amethyst. And (right) David Precious Gems have a similar design to the pearl and peridot earrings above with these gorgeous peridot and carved turquoise drops.

Nicholas Varney Aquamarine, Peridot, Diamond, Gaspeite And Turquoise Duo Earrings, $67,800
Michael Boyd Emerald, Peridot, gem silica, sapphire and amethyst ring
David Precious Gems Peridot and Turquoise earrings, $4,795

Peridot is commonly used in multi-colour jewellery, and I have to say, I’m not really a fan. Although I suppose, if you twisted my arm, I might consider Bulgari’s Colour Treasures “Ispirazioni Italiane” necklace in pink gold with amethyst, acquamarine, mandarin garnet, peridot, pink tourmaline and pavé diamonds (below). No idea what this costs – it’s not on the website – a case, I think, of if you have to ask….

ColourTreasures-Necklace-BVLGARI-261014-E-1
Bulgari’s Colour Treasures “Ispirazioni Italiane” necklace in pink gold with amethyst, acquamarine, mandarin garnet, peridot, pink tourmaline and pavé diamonds

To shop my collection of peridot rose cuts and cabochons, click here; to shop gemstones, click here. To shop tourmaline cabochons, click here; to shop tourmaline gemstones, click here.

Blowing my own trumpet

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Well, it’s a bit of blowing my own trumpet, but it’s in the name of giving you, my brilliant customers, some extra reassurance. Before the summer, I passed my GIA Gem Identification module, the last part of my Coloured Stones qualification. This was a completely practical, hands-on module, which involved the identification of 500 stones. These came in boxes of 20, posted from the GIA. I had to fill out a worksheet, scan and send back to my tutor in the US and pass each worksheet before moving on to the next one. As you might imagine, this took a little while. One year, to be precise, of late nights, early mornings, scrambled brains and inspiration. I learned so much over this time, not just how to separate different stones, but how to tell a synthetic from a natural, and even what kind of synthetic. This has been especially helpful in giving me confidence to offer precious stones; rubies, sapphires and emeralds. Finally I had to sit an exam, with a proctor approved by the GIA; identify 20 stones. You’ve got 6 hours, and by the way, you’ve got to get them all right to pass. Yes, that’s right; this exam has a 100% passing grade. And I did it! I passed! First time! I am still reeling with joy! So I now have my Coloured Stones qualification and I am starting the last few diamonds modules, after which I will be a fully fledged Graduate Gemologist. Loving my studies!

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Rose quartz for a summer of love!

Joopy Gems rose quartz 5mm rose cut cabochon, $2.25
Joopy Gems rose quartz 6mm rose cut cabochon, $3.50
Joopy Gems rose quartz 6mm rose cut cabochon, $3.50

Back in stock I have rose quartz in 5mm and 6mm rose cut rounds. Rose quartz itakes its name from its very delicate colour; I have these in 3mm up to 10mm and the colour range goes from very pale ‘white not quite’ in the 3mm to a warm, soft pink in the 10mm. The 5mm and 6mm material is somewhere in between.

Joopy Gems 10mm rose cut rose quartz cabochon
Joopy Gems 10mm rose cut rose quartz cabochon, $17.50

It owes its glowing translucence to small inclusions that give it its classic cloudy appearance, and indeed, it comes in a variety of qualities from highly included and fractured – which ironically might give a deeper colour due to the more opaque nature of such stones – to almost transparent. Larger stones of good colour can have an almost golden cast in the right light. Now, as you all know, I prefer to stick to nicer quality so these stones are pale pink and range from translucent to nearly transparent. The colour rose quartz was picked by Pantone as one of its colours of the year, and despite their (to my view) slightly twee pairing with the lilac-blue ‘Serenity’, I think it would work beautifully with white stones – white topaz maybe, or rock crystal – grey moostone, or for a more surprising pairing, with a pop of colour for summer, peach moonstone. Said to promote love and healing, clearly, you can’t go wrong! To shop 5mm rose cut rose quartz, click here; for 6mm rose cut click here, or for 10mm rose cut click here. To shop the entire range, click here.

 

Rose quartz looks very different depending on what you set it in; gold brings out its warm tones; silver gives it a cool, elegant bloom. Below and clockwise from left: I love the feminine and delicate beauty of Belinda Saville’s 5mm rose quartz and rose gold ring, contrasting so amazingly with Charlotte Burkhart’s rose quartz and sterling silver ‘Coven Ring’. She has given the silver a gunmetal finish and this lends the 13mm stone a fantastic fierce appearance. Below right, the elegant simplicity of William White’s rose quartz and sterling silver ring. This is a 10mm stone set in satin finished silver, echoing the beautiful haziness in the stone.

Belinda Saville rose quartz and 14k rose gold ring, $120.86
Charlotte Burkhart rose quartz and sterling silver ‘Coven Ring’, $220
William White rose quartz and sterling silver ring, $125

joopygems.com

New in: rhodolite garnet rose cut freeforms

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I love rhodolite garnet, and its beautiful colour range from pinkish red through to purplish raspberry. Even the redder shades lack the rustiness you sometimes find with almandine, and whilst the prices are reasonable, at its best, the colours can rival red tourmaline. Rhodolite, for those interested, is a mixture of pyrope and almandine garnet and it’s the most valuable of all the red garnets. Despite this, it’s not hard to find clean quality stones at a good price. Here, for the first time, I am offering rhodolite garnet as rose cut freeforms, and I’ve got a good representation of the whole colour range. These stones are rose cut on the top and have a shallow, faceted table on the bottom. To shop, click here. This cut is fantastic for one-off creations, such as the ring below by Symmetry Jewelry; a trio of garnets, this contains rhodolite, spessartite and mandarin garnet set in 18k gold bezels on a sterling silver split shank.

Symmetry rhodolite garnet, spessartite garnet and mandarin garnet 18k gold and sterling silver ring
Symmetry Jewelry garnet, gold and silver ring, $1350

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Good things come in packs of 5

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These labradorite freeforms are so popular that I find myself spending literally hours photographing and listing them. So I thought I would just try and see if I could save myself a little work and you a little money by listing them in sets. 5 randomly selected stones in each set, with a discount applied so that each stone works out as less than if you had bought them separately. These are sold ‘as is’ with no swapping in and out!!! You’ll find the total carat weight and the size range marked on each set, but not individual information. It’s a great way to buy these stones and I promise these come from main stock with no seconds, or rejects and there are no ‘mouldy strawberries’ in the packs to pad them out, promise! To shop all labradorite sets, click here; to browse the labradorite singles, click here. Prices for the sets start from $15.20

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Somewhere over the (extremely tiny) rainbow

Joopy Gems rainbow moonstone 2mm rose cut round, $2.85
Joopy Gems rainbow moonstone 2mm rose cut round, $2.85
Joopy Gems rainbow moonstone 2mm rose cut round, $2.85

Well, it’s a bit of a gamble, this. I’ve had a few requests lately for very tiny stones; 2mm to be precise, for things like baby jewellery and other tiny things. I hummed and haa-ed a bit: will anyone really buy these? – and then I thought, ‘blow it, only one way to find out’. So here we are. I already have 2mm rose cut white diamond in stock, and now I am introducing 2mm rose cut rainbow moonstone. These are really very wee indeed but even so, they have the same beautifully precise cut with the intricate kite-shaped facets. Whew! Plus lovely, clean AAA material with the classic great flash that I always endeavour to deliver. What are you going to do with these? Please buy some and send me pictures!! These are the first of a line of stones in this size, cabochons and rose cuts. I’m going to have amethyst, turquoise, peridot, aquamarine, opal and more!

To shop 2mm rose cut rainbow moonstone, click here. These are $2.85 per stone, and I know what you’re going to say: whew, that’s a bit steep. A great deal of the cost is in the cutting; very small stones are precision work and finding someone who will agree to cut them, and cut them well is no easy matter.

I normally feature someone’s work on these posts, so you can see the stones I’m talking about ‘in action’ as it were. But I couldn’t find anything for these, so…watch this space!

joopygems.com

White topaz 4mm rose cuts

White topaz 4mm rose cut round, $1.70
White topaz 4mm rose cut round, $1.70
White topaz 4mm rose cut round, $1.70

 

I couldn’t think of a fancier title for another popular stone back in stock; crystal clear brilliant white topaz in a 4mm rose cut round. The GIA says that topaz takes such a high polish it’s slightly slippery to the touch, and you can see that clearly in these stones, hard and bright; an excellent, versatile and economical choice for a white stone. This is a useful size; good for grouping or complementing other stones, or for using on its own. These are beautiful, eye clean and perfectly cut with kite-shaped facets that form a rose on top of the stone. You can find them here, at $1.70 per stone.

Below, Cyllene Jewelry’s white topaz and 14k gold earrings illustrate perfectly the simple and elegant beauty of these stones.

Cyllene Jewelry white topaz and 14k gold studs
Cyllene Jewelry white topaz and 14k gold earrings

joopygems.com

Back…but not for long

Joopy Gems rainbow moonstone 4mm rose cut cabochon, AAA grade
Rainbow moonstone 4mm rose cut cabochon, AAA grade, $4.65 per stone
Back in stock, rainbow moonstone 4mm rose cut round, AAA grade. I can’t count the number of customers who have asked me for this and I have now just a few pieces of this. I’m not going to be able to supply this in any quantity in future – only AA grade – as the AAA grade is becoming increasingly scarce, and anyone who has been asking me about it knows that the time taken for me to re-stock has been increasingly long. There’s just not a lot of this clean, clear material left; all gemstones are a finite resource and there won’t be more of this until more is discovered. If that happens. So if this is your thing, grab it!

It’s the layered make-up of the feldspar that makes this such a generally fractured and included stone, but which also gives it its characteristic sheen, or adularescence, as the light refracts off the layers within the stone and returns to the eye as a bright blue, aqua, green or gold sheen. It is this make-up that also means that clean material is rather rare. These stones are on sale in my website for $4.65 per stone; to shop, click here.

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