This stone is simply gorgeous. When Melanie and I are in the stone district here in Bangkok or down in Chanthaburi, we search diligently for stones like this and separate them from the parcel. The Thai sellers always try to raise the price at that point! They point at our selections and say "Miss America"!!! Meaning we only want to buy the most beautiful stones, and leave them with the ugly ones. And we usually do have to pay more for this privilege. But in the end that is what separates us from the crowd of stone dealers. We take the time to search for the best.
This is a stunning 1.60 carat amethyst trillian with
FREE SHIPPING. It is guaranteed to be 100% natural- it is not hydrothermal synthetic amethyst that you see all over eBay. Ask yourself how sellers on eBay can offer amethyst for sale for pennies per carat. It costs more than that to pay the cutter!!! Unless you are doing thousands of carats of synthetic material per day- then you can probably get the cost of cutting down to 3 baht per carat- about 9 cents at today's exchange rate. Another penny or two per carat for the rough synthetic stone and a few cents for profit rounds out the equation.
This stone was mined from the earth in Zambia. I have been dealing with Thai gemstones wholesalers for nearly 8 years now, and I have a consistent, reliable chain of supply. I know my cutters and I know the African rough dealers that sell to them. I know that even if you buy an inexpensive gemstone from me, you still deserve the respect of a proper identification and reliable information on treatment.
Amethyst is sometimes heated to improve color, but this stone is 100% untreated. It was mined from the earth, cut, and polished- that's it.
This stone has superb color that is rich and vivid, and outstanding brilliance. Brilliance is more commonly called "sparkle". This huge amount of sparkle tells you that the pavilion of the stone has been cut at the proper angle to reflect light. This stone is also extremely clean- VVS is the clarity grade. That stands for Very Very Slightly included. It means that the inclusions are not numerous and are very tiny. A VVS stone will be totally clean to the eye, and nearly clean under a 10 power loupe- the standard in gemstone clarity grading.
This stone will start at 5TC with a 1BTC bid increment. As this is a 12 hour auction, it will end today- see time below. Shipping is FREE! Even with free shipping you get registered air mail that you can track online. Wow, Tip Top Gem is really amazing, no? LOL.
Please do not ever hesitate to ask me if you have questions about gemstones or gemology, or about precious metals or jewelry. This has been my life's work and I chose it because it is immensely rewarding and very interesting to me. If I have an answer for you great, and if not, I probably know where to find the answer. Send me a note at
dave@tiptopgem.com anytime.
If you have won an auction that has a shipping charge, feel free to win another one with free shipping so you get both shipped for free. Yes, we combine shipping!
Dimensions on this Zambian amethyst are: 8.60 x 8.51 x 5.38mm deep
