ULTRA RARE NEW FIND - TENEBRESENT SILVER TO AQUA BLUE

Lot: Scapolite-30

    

COLOR: Silver, White changes to Pale to Pastel Aqua Blue with UV exposure
CLARITY: Will cut eye-clean to very very slightly included stone(s) (95%+ Top Facet Grade)
ORIGIN: Badakshan, Afghanistan
SIZE: 8.80 Carats (8.80 Carat Average)
WEIGHT: 8.80 Carats (1 Piece) 1.76 Grams
PRICE: $440.00 ($50.00 Per Carat/ $250.00 Per Gram)
DESCRIPTION:

Awesome Ultra Rare NEW FIND of Vibrant Silver to White SELECT Afghan Scapolite Faceting Rough. OK Folks, we've done it again! This is probably some of the rarest stuff on earth. There was a find not too long ago of Scapolite in close proximity to the Hackmanite mines in Badakshan. The really unusual thing about this material is that it is TENEBRESENT! YES FOLKS! The material IS Tenebresent! Under UV Exposure it goes from Silver to Aqua Blue. The intensity of the Blue depends on how long the material is exposed to UV light however, most of what we tested turned a nice Pastel Blue after several minutes under a UV light. Please note that the color rapidly fades with exposure to Incandescent Light though slower with Fluorescent Lighting! The color changing is repeatable and very similar to that of Hackmanite from the region!

There was a recent write-up on this material in Gems & Gemology outlining that there was only a small amount of this material that was uncovered. From my understanding, it is probably less than a kilo. We have secured most of the material that was unearthed and we do NOT expect to get much more as the pocket of Scapolite was an oddity for the area. The largest documented cut stone is around 6 carats as of thus far!

This is one of the best stones in the parcel we purchased that we cobbed almost eye-clean. The stone is 8x11x17 MM. This is one of the best shaped stones we have taken out as of thus far. The stone does have some minor inclusions; however, most of them are located on the periphery and should facet out with normal faceting and/or mask up well. The bottom half of the stone is tapered into what will most likely be chosen as the pavilion while the top just needs a little grinding to form a table; however, what seems to be the logical pavilion has a dimple towards the middle and you will have to spend some time planning ideal orientation for the piece.

We do have some larger stones; however, they will probably cob pieces similar to this in size that are capable of cutting clean or very very slightly included at best. It is important to note that most of the material we secured cobs into relatively thin pieces. It seems to be a property for the locality as everything that comes from the mining area (Hackmanite & Afghanite) have similar features. This piece is considered chunky for the locality and material! We haven't tried to saw the material and that may produce better results but we'll leave that to you to test! Don't miss out on getting at least a little of this material as we are confident that you will NOT see this material with anyone else and it won't be long before it is gone!

COOL FACTS:
  1. COMING SOON!