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Gemstones, Minerals & Fossils
Gemstones and Minerals
Why do sapphires darken when cut?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lefty" data-source="post: 118926" data-attributes="member: 2976"><p>Had a sapphire I dug a while ago, showed it to a cutter who said that there is some good crystal in it but only enough to facet a very small stone (ie, a Lamberts cutter). So I didn't worry about it. But last night I decided "what the hell - I'll cab the thing".</p><p></p><p>Ended up being about 7mm in circumference, a bit of silk in there. In the rough and early in the cutting process, it was a beautiful shade of blue-green. But once finished and polished up, only stong backlighting would show any colour - had it been put in a setting it would just have looked black.</p><p></p><p>It was blue with a green cross so prone to being dark I guess, but neither the blue nor the green were an overly dark shade. The green cross was actually a nicer colour I thought but I couldn't orient it that way or there would have been virtually nothing left because of the shape.</p><p></p><p>I've noticed that dark garnets and coloured quartz seem to actually lighten a bit when cabbed. What is it with sapphire?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lefty, post: 118926, member: 2976"] Had a sapphire I dug a while ago, showed it to a cutter who said that there is some good crystal in it but only enough to facet a very small stone (ie, a Lamberts cutter). So I didn't worry about it. But last night I decided "what the hell - I'll cab the thing". Ended up being about 7mm in circumference, a bit of silk in there. In the rough and early in the cutting process, it was a beautiful shade of blue-green. But once finished and polished up, only stong backlighting would show any colour - had it been put in a setting it would just have looked black. It was blue with a green cross so prone to being dark I guess, but neither the blue nor the green were an overly dark shade. The green cross was actually a nicer colour I thought but I couldn't orient it that way or there would have been virtually nothing left because of the shape. I've noticed that dark garnets and coloured quartz seem to actually lighten a bit when cabbed. What is it with sapphire? [/QUOTE]
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Gemstones, Minerals & Fossils
Gemstones and Minerals
Why do sapphires darken when cut?
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