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Could be Aqua or Topaz, however, in my opinion, if I had a stone that large I probably mount it in gold rather than silver, as Aqua it would be worth over $1000, Topas is my guess, worst case synth or Glass. Not meaning to rain on your parade, just looking objectively.

Hey Varts, Your recent stones look awesome, the green looks so fresh you could almost eat them. The other astonishing thing is you photography, brilliant work, any tips you could share?

Just a word of caution Lefty, if these books are by Glen Vargus (which I thought were the facetor bible when I first started) they teach and show you the old school of faceting, as opposed to Lightfoot and Steele "meet point" faceting techniques, which by all accounts is the accepted amateur...

"Ditto" :)

My first half dozen stone cut were awanite, great stuff to practice on, if yo can get hold of an old black and white it gives a very light purple hue. I've got some left down at the lapidary club here in Launceston, I could send you some if you'd like. :) It is surprisingly brilliant when cut...

Yes mdfes, Black Spinel (black jack) is a beautiful to facet, no cleavages, inclusions etc like most other stones you need to consider when cutting. I'm (as we speak) doing a free form to put into a ring I found metal detecting. (Pics soon). Spinel cuts relatively quickly for such hardness and...

Hi G.P. Did you have any luck getting on to any rough to cut?

Just a note, was at the weld three days ago. The river is well up and flowing fast, Lot's of leech's and the occasional snake on the move. Was hoping the level was down,but last weeks rain must have been heavy in the area. Cheers :)

I'm trying to train my German Shepard to do just that twapster, progress is real slow, any stone that's tossed is fair game to him, if I was wallaby hunting I'd have no worries. :D Silver, I didn't want to mention it in my post, just to see if anyone else suggested it, but unfortunately you...

So at the end of the day, 2cm drop over 120cm what you end up with is a fluid bed? Why not use a bazooka!

I work with sulpher on a regular basis, definitely not that I know the Hydrogen Sulphide smell stays well within my waders Yeah so maybe just the local terrain.

I'm probably nuts,and sure there are a few people out there that would agree! but on occasion when fossicking for gems, I get a distinct "onion weed" smell, well that's the closest smell I can relate it to. Any idea's ? :)

Hey Twapster, I'm not sure if you've checked this site, but I find it helpful when trying to I'd stuff. It even shows you how to do the SG test etc. www.mindat.org Cheers

That's right Lefty, Black Jack does have that chalkboard finish when dry, but in the creeks all wet, damp & usually overcast (Tasmania lol! ) it is difficult to distinguish between some of the look alike stones.

Thanks DG, As you can see, I'm only a novice cutter, and wasn't aware the pavilion angles are the same for Quartz & Corundum, this means in this design the star facets will remain balanced when viewed through the table. I'll have a crack at it after the Fred Van Sant design. Haven't tackled...

Where I prospect there are rocks that look like black jack whilst in the water, I keep them. But when I get home I spread all my finds out on the sorting table to completely dry. It's only then that I can visually spot the difference, as the look alikes usually show up minute "pitting" on the...

Topaz comes to mind straight up, but has the colours of jelly opal, whatever it is, i'd love to facet it!!

Hi, Have a piece of Pink Corundum, approx. 147crt, would like to swap for Blue, ( I have enough pink to last awhile) Ideal for the upcoming "cut for a cause" competition Cheers :)

Twapster, sure looks like Black Spinel (Black Jack) to me. I've got mountains of <5crt. and a dozen or so of 20-30 crt, but I have been told by a fellow prospector that he has "matchbox" sized Black Jack (although I've yet to see them as yet!!) R2C, Nice large Specimens you have there, but from...

Mr Magoo, I have seen the "star David" design, as the pavilion is so deep, I'm not sure whether the angles for Corundum will transpose well, as this design is for RI1.54(quartz etc) and Corundum (Sapphire etc) is RI 1.76, I maybe wrong, can anyone transpose this design for RI 1.76? Sorry about...