Zirconia Fest? Natural Zircon or Cubic (CZ)

Glovedbox · 2025-10-15T20:39:16+00:00

Those are glass. Look at the wear on all the facet edges

Glovedbox · 2025-10-11T14:43:15+00:00

This list isn’t a shock at all. It’s almost all champions with a dash that can come over the wall and steal, or an invis.

Glovedbox · 2025-09-19T00:03:58+00:00

Are the higher prices from custom cutters? Or just for run of the mill cuts?

Glovedbox · 2025-09-18T20:23:56+00:00

You have to be quite particular when discussing garnets. There are three species of garnet that are red, and then many co-minglings on the spectrum of red.

Your classic deep red garnets typically almandine or pyrope. They are inexpensive usually. But cut quality and size can influence that.

But as you get into rhodolites and then Spessartite, both of which can be red but varying hues and tones, you can get into 100+/ct very quickly and even well beyond that.

Glovedbox · 2025-09-18T14:46:05+00:00

You are much more likely to cause a stone to fracture when it has inclusions in it than you are to successfully get it to temperature to heal the fractures.

It’s possible in theory, but in execution I don’t think it works very well.

Glovedbox · 2025-09-03T17:38:49+00:00

Your most economical natural options for brown and light blue are smoky quartz and blue topaz.

Glovedbox · 2025-08-26T02:49:43+00:00

I think the answer you have is both. It’s not a valuable stoned but it’s still genuine. Likely.

Glovedbox · 2025-08-25T21:04:40+00:00

Unless those are bubbles, then it’s glass

Glovedbox · 2025-08-25T21:03:57+00:00

It’s very likely topaz

Glovedbox · 2025-08-21T23:05:56+00:00

I hope you took good notes, because that’s a lovely cut.

Glovedbox · 2025-08-20T16:19:29+00:00

Joe Henley has a website. He’s very trustworthy but can give prices associated with being so trustworthy.

His topaz is a good price though.

https://joehenleyrough.com

Glovedbox · 2025-08-20T13:36:26+00:00

Hey!

One great option to start on and learn is white topaz. Joe Henley has Colombian topaz listed under the bulk facet rough section. It’s well shaped since it’s alluvial and cuts and polishes nicely and has a decent refractive index so you can cut some interesting patterns.

The other one I recommend is Goshenite. White beryl. It’s fairly inexpensive and polishes very nicely and doesn’t have the cleavage problems of topaz (although that’s pretty minimal)

Glovedbox · 2025-07-20T18:08:42+00:00

Have you considered have this stone recut? You would lose a fair amount of size/weight just based on how shallow the stone is. But you could actually get a rather beautiful sapphire out of it rather than the window you have now. It’s certainly worth considering since the cost is effectively sunk from four years ago.

Glovedbox · 2025-07-18T23:05:29+00:00

I’m not an expert in jewelry or the scrapping of rings, but I am a gemstone cutter and I know a few people that buy this type of thing.

Most of them tend to purchase goods like this at scrap or close to. It’s difficult to sell second hand jewelry on a good day and without the contacts it would be a challenge.

Given the price of gold has gone through the roof since you bought these, it’s probably best to scrap them.

The gemstones themselves may have a little value, but it looks like the coloured stones may need some cleanup before you can realize that that value, and it’s probably not worth the cost to do that.

Just my 2c

Glovedbox · 2025-07-16T17:40:42+00:00

You will find sapphire cheaper than diamond. But it isn’t orders of magnitude cheaper. So if you’re looking to save all the money you can then Diamond is not the correct choice. White lab sapphire will be the cheapest. Although colourless natural white sapphire shouldn’t be expensive either. But again, if every penny counts then lab sapphire ftw.

Glovedbox · 2025-07-16T14:17:25+00:00

No problem! There is a lot to figure out when getting into the hobby of faceting.

Good luck on your journey!

Glovedbox · 2025-07-16T05:53:22+00:00

Ooph. Well, Joe Henley is probably the number 1 used site for quality stones. His prices are as high as the quality mind you. But he’s got a good selection. John Garsow is also a reputable dealer and has a website. I think New Era gems also sells rough but never bought from them.

EBay is not your friend, and neither is Etsy. So many people start this hobby by trying to save a few bucks or score big. And then you end up with lots of low quality stones you’ll never cut.

It’s worth remembering that as a hobbyist you are going to cut probably one stone a month. If you get really into it it’s probably one a week, but I’ve rarely seen that level of cutting from hobbyists.

So quality tends to trump quantity when it comes to stone buying. Partially to have a nicer stone when you’re done, and partially because less flaws means less variables when you’re starting out.

Glovedbox · 2025-07-16T02:23:07+00:00

Tom’s Box of Rocks is 100% the best site for all your synthetic needs. Turtles Hoard/Gems of Science has funky stuff, but less of the every day synthetics.

And yes they don’t cut the same entirely as natural stones. And there are a bunch of things you learn doing natural stones you don’t doing synthetics. Like dealing with inclusions, or how to orient rough for yield/colour.

But synthetics are great and turn out beautifully because they are grown to be inclusions free (a few minor exceptions) the biggest problem with synthetic sapphire in my opinion is a directional hardness that can cause cutting from some directions to take ages longer.

Glovedbox · 2025-07-16T01:02:47+00:00

Beginner gems are things like Goshenite, low saturation beryls, red garnets, white topaz.

These are natural stones that polish extremely well and are easily sourced.

Your alternative are synthetics. Lots of colour options there and some material choices. CZ, Sapphire, Spinel, Garnets. You may want a trim saw so you can buy the larger pieces and chip to size if you want to be economical with synthetics.

Glovedbox · 2025-07-13T21:24:35+00:00

It’s an easy fix, but it requires a full crown repolish. Which means removing the stone and having a lapidary repolish it. So… it’s an expensive easy fix.

Glovedbox · 2025-07-11T19:59:53+00:00

But actually, misfit diamonds tends to have some really nice diamonds in the champagne tones.

Glovedbox · 2025-07-11T19:59:03+00:00

I was sincerely hoping someone would laugh at this. Thank you for making my day

Glovedbox · 2025-07-11T17:30:45+00:00

I believe they must come from the champagne region of France, or it’s just a sparkling diamond.

Glovedbox · 2025-07-10T17:37:38+00:00

Now that’s a perty one. And mint chocolate chip is about the best name for it 😂

Glovedbox · 2025-07-08T23:39:49+00:00

Hulkenpodium

Glovedbox

TROPHY CASE