Tiny flower inside an amethyst

[Lefty]

From the gem designs of Marco Voltilini (who brought us the "Nymphia" design cut by myself in golden citrine on page 8 of "Stones I have cut" thread in the Lapidary topic section) comes "Fiorino 80". While Nymphia is meant to give the stone the appearance of a flower, Fiorino 80 actually has a flower motif inscribed into the bottom of the stone.

Faceted in light-toned Lowmead amethyst, the stone weighs in at 4.35 carats and measures approximately 10.5mm in diameter. Every photo I have taken of it has given the impression that it is a dome with a flower on top - it in fact has a large flat table on top of the stone (like most stones have but wider) and a relatively shallow pavilion with the flower inscribed in the bottom. Many designs that feature a picture in the bottom of the stone show only the picture and lack brilliance - this design has the added feature of having reflecting facets all around the picture, creating a flower motif inside a wreath of brilliance.

It would make a nice, unique little pendant stone, probably best in an enclosed bezel setting to create a matt-black background against which the design can stand out most easily.

I do have a video showing how it looks moving but unfortunately am still too IT clueless to work out how to upload it to youtube.

Asking $130

Cheers everyone

 

[Rockhunter62]

Hey Lefty,

Whats with the red fleck at 5 o'clock?

Cheers

Doug

 

[Lefty]

Gday Doug - I think that's the reflection off my shirt Another photo (that I didn't keep) showed blue flecks.

Getting photos that look exactly the same to the eye is often difficult - the camera just sees what it wants to see. Here's another that I almost used because it shows close to the colour as the eye sees it. I didn't put the photo up because it's slightly blurry and the photo appears to show one of the flower petals out of shape, which it is not....

I just finished another gold citrine - cut from the other half of the same stone, the colour is identical to that of the first. However, while the camera saw the colour of the first one as the same yellow-gold the eye sees, it just wanted to see the second one as having a slightly brownish tone to the yellow. Side by side, the colour of the two is completely identical to the eye - but the camera just saw what it wanted to see, despite much fiddling around.

I think my photography is steadily getting better but not quite there yet.

Cheers

 

[Lefty]

You'll see a similar red fleck in the bottom left-hand corner of this triangle shield I finished the night before last: second photo down in the first post. Both stones are 100% clean but the camera has a mind of it's own.

Cheers

 

[Lefty]

Stone has sold!

Cheers everybody