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Mid May Posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-05-17T21:14:05-04:00

This posting is a little late, as I normally have them up on Sunday nights. Seems lately I have been spending more time cutting grass than stones.

Just 3 new stones, all pretty inexpensive.

This first one is an Umba Sapphire.

Next is a Chrysoberyl from Tanzania cut in a SRB diamond cut.

This last stone is the first Fantasy type cut I have done on the new machine. This one is a Sunset Tourmaline from Kenya.

Return From Tanzania

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-05-06T22:01:46-04:00

I just returned this week from Arusha Tanzania, after attending a gem show there. If you look HERE I have a trip report along with quite a few photo's.

One of these I cut before the trip, and the other three I finished up this week from some new material. I really liked these Zircons from Mozambique, the color is quite unique and they don't need any heating. No you are not drunk, zircon can double the facets. This effect seems more noticeable in a photo than in person.

This next one is a piece of Tanzanite I just bought in Arusha.

Here's a nice darker Aquamarine from Mozambique Africa. This one is concave cut on the pavilion.

This last stone is a free form shield cut from a piece of unheated natural Tanzanite.

Last April Posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-04-22T16:42:57-04:00

Last April Posting - Umbalite Garnet, Montana Sapphire

This will be the last posting for April. In protest to the baby seal slaughter that is going on right now in Canada, there will be no sales for the remainder of the month that get shipped to Canada. While I really appreciate my customers in Canada, I'm sure you understand. You can help by writing to your politicians and letting them know you don't want you TAX dollars funding this blood any longer.

Tell the Canadian government to end the seal hunt now!

This will be my last blog posting this year about the seal… I promise. Next up will be more puppy mill postings. Maybe I'll cut an auction off another puppy mill stone to benefit the fight against the mills.

On to the new stones for this week. The first one up is a fully concave cut Garnet from Umba Tanzania.

The last stone tonight is a Montana Sapphire.

Canadian Seal Slaughter

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-04-17T21:57:11-04:00

Can you believe this? The Canadian government is encouraging the slaughter of Canada's seals, and baby seals, at that?

It's true. Earlier this month, the Canadian government set the seal hunt quota to 400,000 seals in order to push the sale of seal products. Tell the Canadian government to end the seal hunt now!

The Canadian government's logic is extremely backwards. They should be working to end this incredibly inhumane tradition that allows the clubbing young seals, nearly all of which are less than 3 months old, to death.

Worse, the seal hunt couldn't survive economically on its own; the Canadian government is using taxpayer money to subsidize the industry!

Let the Canadian government know that you want it to put an end to this horrible practice.

New Ultra Tec Cuts

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-04-15T17:25:47-04:00

The new Ultra Tec machines arrived this week, so I was busy unpacking them and getting the cutting room all set up. I upgraded to these machines to do more concave and fantasy style cutting.

I have a few new stones this week, with a couple coming off the new machines.

Here's the first stone off the new Ultra Tec Fantasy machine. This one is a piece of Tanzanian Sunstone, sometimes called confetti sunstone as it has the looks of pieces of confetti floating around inside it.

This next Afghan Tourmaline was also cut on the new machine. The stone starts out on a congenital flat faceting machine by Ultra Tec, then gets moved to the Fantasy Machine for the concave facets to be added. Here's a photo of the stone with it's pavilion being polished. The polish in this case is applied to an 8 mm diameter maple cutting tool. You can see the angle used for the facet is 41.74 degrees. The machine is off for the photo, but if it were running the maple polishing tool would be rotating and also reciprocating back in forth. This is a very high precision piece of equipment.

After all the concave facets are cut and polished, the entire mast with the stone is moved back to the flat faceting machine and a flat facets are added around the girdle. This picture below shows the stone getting these facets placed using a 1200 sintered lap. After this lap, the facets will be polished with 100,000 grit diamond powder. The stone is then transferred and the crown is cut.

For this cut, all the crown facets are done on the flat faceting machine.
If all this looks like too much fun to you, and you would like to do it too, email me, as I am now a dealer for Ultra Tec and get you started cutting your own stones.

Here's the finished stone - a 2.02 ct. Afghanistan Tourmaline.

On the Fac-ette Gem Master machine I did cut these two before the Ultra Tec came in. This first one is a Rubellite Tourmaline from Nigeria.

This last stone is a Purple Spinel from Tanzania.

April Fools Posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-04-01T21:03:52-04:00

A few new stones to start off the month tonight.

This first one is a very nice Pink Tourmaline from Pala California. These are very seldom seen anymore. The color is nicer than the material coming from Africa, as it's a stronger purer pink.

This next one is a very pastel pink Topaz from Pakistan.

The last stone for tonight is an Umbalite Garnet cut in a cushion shape.

One last stone, this 3.34 ct Ruby from Lake Baringo Kenya, all natural, no heat or treatments. Offered on a special April 1st price of only $50

Final Posting for March

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-03-25T20:02:01-04:00

It's hard to believe that March is almost over. It's been more like May weather here in PA, so I have been a bit busy working in the yard, but did get a few stones cut this week, along with working on a few custom cut stones for customers.

Here are the new ones this week. This first one is a small Chrome Green Tourmaline from Tanzania.

Next is another Tanzanian stone, this one a Spessartite Garnet.

Last stone hot off the machine is a Mint Garnet.

I finished this stone up today for a customer. It's a recut of one of the Sri Lankan stones I bought in Tucson. This one is 3.2 cts.

Ides of March

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-03-18T21:09:59-04:00

A few new stones tonight. I'm going to cut back on custom request so I can get more stones up each Sunday on the website. Lately I have had a lot of custom requests that once I cut the stone I never hear back from the person, or they tell me they have already purchased something else. So for then few weeks I'm going to focus on stones for the website.

I should have some new equipment coming in before the end of the month to do some fantasy type cutting on. I'm replacing what I cut my concave cuts with this new machine as it has many more options to it to do more creative cutting.

So on to the new stones for tonight.

This first one is a Tsavorite Garnet from Kenya. A very intense chrome green color with no yellow, and a touch of blue.

Next is a Pink Tourmaline from Nigeria. This is cut in a cushion that is similar to my Jua round design.

This last stone is a light purple/mauve Spinel from Tanzania.

Here's a Montana Sapphire that I cut on commission for someone. This one is not available, but I thought it may be interesting to post.

Mini Posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-03-11T20:37:52-04:00

Not much new for the website this week. I was busy cutting some stones for special request. This upcoming week I'm going to focus on new stones for the website, so hopefully next Sunday there will be more than just one stone.

This one tonight is a stone I bought in Arusha. It's a Sapphire from Umba Tanzania, that is all natural, no heat or other treatments. The color on this is a light blue with some lavender and gray. The color is best in daylight, and does loose some saturation in incandescent light. Cut in my Jua Round design.

March Update

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-03-05T20:27:34-05:00

It seems like it's been a long time since I had a new posting. I have been busy with some other projects and cutting stones to fill some requests. I did fit in a few round stones for today. None too big or expensive.

First is a nice blue Montana Sapphire. You seldom see them with such a pure blue, no gray or green.

I bought a parcel of these Spessartite Garnets a few years ago from Nigeria, and haven't cut any in quite some time. Here's a pretty round stone.

This last one is a pastel Pink Tourmaline from Afghanistan. The color of these Afghan stones is nicer than most of the Nigerian stones, and it holds color in any light.

Garnet Varieties

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-02-19T18:08:30-05:00

This week I have a variety of different garnets, a new tourmaline and a re-vamped Zircon.

After the discussion on Pricescope about Imperial Garnet, I thought I'd cut one. This is from some material I bought about 5 or 6 years ago. Comparing the refractive index of this stone to some other Malaya I had here, this one is a bit different at 1.756 compared to the more orange stones that have a RI of 1.784. I would think the more orange color is due to a greater amount of spessartite in them, which has a higher RI than other garnet.

This next garnet is a Mali Garnet. I had high hopes for this stone until I got into it, and discovered a few inclusions I couldn't see in the rough. Consequently I listed the price of the stone at below what I paid for the rough. The inclusions in person are not as apparent as they are in the photo which does greatly magnify the stone.

Keeping on the garnet role, I had a very nice Merelani Mint Garnet that I picked up this year in Tucson. This one was a nice fit for the Jua Round design. No yellow in person, just mint green with a touch of blue.

Getting sick of rounds, I wanted to do something different, in both stone, and cut. This little Blue Tourmaline had a natural 5 sided look to the rough, so it was perfect for this design with a frosted star.

Remember that Zircon from last week? Well no one asked about it, so I heated it. As expected turned into a nice yellow. Here's an after heating and a before picture.

A Rubellite Tourmaline from Nigeria, no heat or treatment. The color is a hot red, that holds beautiful in any light. Weighs 3.13 cts, 8.75 mm. Typical inclusions for rubellite.

Earth Tones

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-02-12T18:58:37-05:00

Just two new stones up for sale tonight, both kind of earth tones.

This first one is a Malaya Garnet from Kenya. I really like this color of Malaya. This one weighs 3.32 ct.

Next stone is an Orange Zircon from Tanzania. Normally I heat these to produce a yellow stone, and I may heat this one, but thought I'd offers it un-heated for those who desire un-heated stones.

This last stone is not for sale, as it is going out to a client, but I wanted to show one of the Sri Lanka sapphires after a re-cut. This is cut in my favorite Jua Round design. If for some reason it does come back, then I'll list it on the site for sale. I prefer to re-cut the entire stone, this way I get perfect proportions and polish on every facet. I do loose more weight, but I think it's worth it, rather than just trying to close a window.

Tucson 2012 Trip

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-02-07T21:35:24-05:00

Tucson 2012

For those of you interested in the Tucson show, I created a page HERE, with some pictures from this years trip, a short video walking around in the morning, and some pictures of some of the rough I was able to buy this year.

CLICK HERE for the Tucson 2012 page

Super Sunday Posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-02-05T15:10:53-05:00

Super Bowl Sunday Posting

I'm putting this one up early this week due to the football game.

GO PATRIOTS !!!

Got back from Tucson this week, and was eager to get cutting again. A few of these are from new material, some are from some stones from previous buying trips. I'll be making a posting later this week with some pictures from Tucson 2012 and a little video. I'll also post some new rough pictures.

On to tonights new stones. This first one is an Afghan Tourmaline that is a minty green/blue color. Nice size stone at 2.81 cts.

This next one is a Winza Sapphire, that is all natural, no heat or other treatments. These stones from Winza are interesting as they have both blue and red in them. This round design is similar to my Jua round, but with 8 less facets. I'm calling this one the Venetian Round.

A more orange color Malaya garnet, cut in my Star 80 design.

A new stone I picked up last week in Tucson. This one is a London Blue Topaz in the Jua Round

Last stone is a Rubellite Tourmaline from Nigeria.

Last Posting before Tucson

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-01-22T21:32:43-05:00

This should be the last posting I make before leaving for Tucson next Friday. Hopefully I'll come back with lot of new and interesting stones.

I got 4 new stones cut this week, mostly worked on some garnets, and one spinel. Just some quick descriptions, NFL playoffs again!

Green Grossularite Garnet

Yellow Grossularite Garnet

Pink Spinel. This one is from Mahange, but not that neon pink/red color. A bit of a color changer turning more lilac in daylight.

Last stone is a Color Change Garnet from Umba Tanzania. Here's 3 pictures. The first is with my normal SOLUX bulb lighting set up. The next two are actually the same photo, but I adjusted to color to look how I see the stone in both incandescent and florescent light. A very unique stone.

NFL Playoffs

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-01-15T21:11:19-05:00

This is a quick posting as I have a NFL playoff game I want to watch on the DVR.

Four new stone tonight, here's the pictures, and very brief descriptions. Click on the link or picture for details.

Spessartite Garnet from Tanzania

Rubellite Tourmaline from Nigeria

Blue Tourmaline from Nigeria

Aquamarine from Mozambique

Jua Rounds

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-01-08T22:11:41-05:00

Over the years I have been working on perfecting a round design. I always found that the SRB (Standard Round Brilliant) design with 58 facets was good, but still had a lot of extinction and not that much life. My Jua round is the results of many trials and refinements, and I think it works really well, producing a stone with a lot of brilliance and scintillation. These two new stones this week are both cut in this design, with the angles slightly modified for each stones refractive index. The garnet, having a higher refractive index than the tanzanite has slightly shallower angles on the pavilion.

This first stone is one I bought a few years ago in Tanzania. It is a Color Change Garnet, but one with out a real strong color change, but much brighter than most with a strong change. In incandescent light the stone has a cherry red color and very strong saturation.

This next stone is a natural blue, un-heated Tanzanite. I find the natural blue stones cut very pretty stones, and a nice addition to a collection.

New Years Stones

gene@precisiongem.com — 2012-01-03T19:24:27-05:00

Here's the first new posting for the new year. With a little time off from my engineering job, I was able to get a few stones cut over the long weekend.

This first one should go fast, so act quick. This is a green/blue mint Tourmaline from Afghanistan cut in my Jua Round design.

I purchased two of these Red Zircons last year, so it was time to cut one. The design for this one is the design used for the USFG's 2000 Advanced single stone competition cut. A little extra work than most stones, but nothing too difficult.

A quirky multi colored Sapphire from Montana

I have been slowly working through a parcel of these Umbalite Garnets. A little smaller than the last round I cut, but most of these like this one are cutting a bit over 2 cts.

Christmas Posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-12-26T19:30:00-05:00

It was a busy week with the holiday, and a puppy mill rally we attend every Christmas Eve in Lansdale, put on by North Penn Puppy Mill Watch .
I was giving out free gemstones to any gem lovers supporting the rally in attendance at the protest Dec 24th.

DON'T SHOP AT STORES THAT SELL PUPPIES OR KITTENS

If no one buys, the millers will stop breeding. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Help spread the word that one of the easiest ways to end this despicable industry is simply not to buy their products. Don't buy your food at these stores and don't buy your supplies there, either. ONLY SHOP AT STORES THAT DO NOT SELL COMPANION ANIMALS and send a strong message to pet shops selling puppies and kittens: if you continue to exploit animals for profit, we'll do our best to see that you have NO profits whatsoever.

Got a few stones cut however, and here they are:

Pink Tourmaline from Afghanistan

Umbalite Garnet

Tsavorite Garnet from Kenya

Peridot from Kenya cut in a specialty cut with a frosted flower design.

December Posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-12-12T20:29:42-05:00

I was digging through my rough looking for a stone, and came across a bag of Spinel I had forgotten about, and also the Chatham Sapphire. Now for those who have not heard of Chatham, they grow the finest created sapphire crystals. Years ago at the Tucson shows, they would sell some rough crystals. They stopped this a few years ago, but I did buy this one some time back.

First up are the spinels however. Here are two red stones from Morogoro Tanzania. These are not the hot red/pink stones from the Mahenge find that are so sought after, but pretty stones in their own way.

This next Spinel is a larger stone also from Morogoro Tanzania. The color is a violet with some blue in it. It's a deep tone and very clean stone, just short of loupe clean. The stone weighs 3.17 ct.

Here's is the Chatham Padparadscha Sapphire. This one is 2.60 ct. and cut in my Jua round design. You might want to check out the Chatham website and see what they sell these stones for!

One last stone tonight, this time a Montana Sapphire that was found in the Missouri River. A very large sapphire for a Montana.

Decembers First Posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-12-04T12:39:55-05:00

A few new stones this week. I wanted to cut a some types of stones that I had not cut in awhile.

This first stone is rather unique. It's a Blue Tourmaline from Somalia Africa. Now I had not seen any tourmaline from this location before. The stone was the typical longer tourmaline crystal, so I saw cut it into two pieces and came up with this trillion for the first stone.

This Mint Tourmaline was a nice larger nodular shape crystal from Afghanistan, and it made a very nice round stone. The color is a blue mint with a touch of green.

Half way around the world in Plush Oregon was the this stone. It's an Oregon Sunstone with some very slight copper sheller that can only be seen with a loupe.

Last up is a Champaign Zircon from Tanzania. This stone has not been heated.

Mid November

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-11-20T18:19:41-05:00

I missed last weeks posting, we were back in Buffalo for a Puppy Mill protest at a pet store that sells dogs. 99.9% of all puppies for sale in a pet store come from a puppy mill. The only way to shut down the mills and stop this cruelty is to stop shopping at any pet store that sells dogs.

A few new stones tonight. This first one is a Montana Sapphire from the Missouri River

Next is something that I haven't cut before. It's a Demantoid Garnet from Namibia Africa. The African stones are not the same deep tsavorite green color of the Russian stones. The color in the photo is off on this a bit, in person its a stronger green with a warmer tone.

Next is a natural un-heated Tanzanite. I like these unheated stones as they show the 3 colors of tanzanite stronger than the heated ones, and though lighter in tone are very pretty.

Last up is a Loliondo Spessartite Garnet

Novembers First Posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-11-06T18:48:13-05:00

I have three new stones tonight, all from the same side of the color wheel. As always, click on the link or picture to be taken to the page where the stone can be purchased and to view more details about.

This first one is a Ruby from Malawi Africa. These are seldom mined due to numerous land mines buried in the mining area left over from years of civil war. The stones from Malawi do have very nice color and crystal, and all with out any heating or treatments.

Next up is a Sapphire from Madagascar that is natural, with no heat. The color on this is a vivid pink/purple

This last stone is a very pretty Umbalite Garnet from Tanzania. I really like these stones, and buy them when ever I can get good color like this one.

Three New Stones

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-10-30T19:55:51-04:00

I have three new stones tonight. This first one is a Tourmaline from Afghanistan. This is a cut I haven't done before, its a take off of a princess cut on the pavilion but with cut corners. This stone is much nicer in person than the photo with a nice green/blue color that Afghanistan Tourmaline is known for.

While in Arusha Tanzania back in 2009 I was offered this small parcel of very unique looking garnets. The color is a pink with lilac, and was something I had not seen before in garnets. I bought the parcel and have cut a few over the past 2 years. They have proven to be pretty popular, so here's another one.

The last stone for the night is a pretty large Montana Sapphire from the Missouri River. This one is over 2 cts.

Garnets

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-10-23T20:10:39-04:00

I cut a few of the lesser known garnets this week. This first one is a Malaya Garnet from Tanzania. Malaya garnet is often miss used to describe off color garnets typically from Nigeria. These Nigerian stones are very dark and area reddish brown color, they are also very inexpensive to buy in the rough. The true Malaya garnets from Tanzania and Kenya are a much different stone, and very attractive. This one is one of the more pink colored stones. The color on Malaya garnets does shift with the lighting going more yellowish flesh color in daylight.

This next stone is a Mali Garnet, from Mali Africa. These are seldom very large, a 1 ct stones is considered a good size. Mali Garnets have more dispersion than a diamond. The photo doesn't do this stone justice at all, in person it's very lively.

Rocktoberfest

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-10-20T21:08:48-04:00

I missed the Sunday night posting, but I was planning to every now and then have one at a different time anyway. So here's the first mid week posting in a long time.

All the stones are rounds, and each one a little unique in it's own way.

This first one is a Chrome Green Tourmaline from Tanzania that is 3.37 ct. That's a pretty large size for Chrome Tourmaline.

Next I have a couple of Sapphires. This first blue stone is from Madagascar, and is a very pretty color, but it does have a few black inclusions in it.

The second sapphire is one from Winza Tanzania. You don't see much coming from Winza any more, but a few years ago when I bought this stone they were producing very nice and interesting sapphires. This stone has both red and blue sapphire in it, which mixes to produce purple, but with close examination you will see some very dark blue area's in it.

This last stone I just finished up tonight is a Rubellite Tourmaline from Nigeria. This is the last of that very nice parcel I bought a year ago.

Twitter Updates

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-10-18T20:15:56-04:00

A lot of the Windows users have been having problems signing up for my RSS feed, so I have created a Twitter account so you can be notified of new updates by Twitter. The RSS feeds will still continue as usual.

Click on the icon below, or on the right of each blog page to follow my Twitter postings for each new stone listing.

Colors of Venice

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-10-09T21:07:55-04:00

The stones this week have some of the colors I saw in Venice. Here's a shot I took looking down the Grand Canal last month.

4 new stones tonight, mostly in the blue's and greens, and one pink.
This first stone is a Montana Sapphire from the Missouri River.

Next is a Tanzanite

I do have a just a few more small pieces of the Mahenge Spinel left, so I thought it was time to cut one. The design is a new round I came up with for smaller stones. I think it worked very well.

This last stone is a Nigerian Paraiba Type Tourmaline. Now I have not sent any of this material out to be tested, as its rather expensive, so I am just selling the cut stones at a normal tourmaline price. This one is done in an opposed bar cut.

Finally Back !

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-10-02T18:11:22-04:00

It seems like it's been months since the last stone posting. First I was busy with the Sound for the Hounds event to raise awareness of the puppy mills, and then I was away in France on business, followed by a week and a half in Germany, Austria and Italy. I had a few stones cut before I left but didn't want to post them yet, and just finished up two more today.

Here's a picture I shot in Germany of Ludwig the seconds castle Neuschwanstein last week.

Now onto the stones!

First up is an Aquamarine cut in a princess cut. This one is from Mozambique and has not been heated and is loop clean. (just a reflection in the bottom left corner)

This next stone is my last from an older parcel of Nigerian Spessartite Garnet. The new material that is being mined isn't even close to this color. We may never see this color again from Nigeria.

Here's a Tanzanite that is a natural blue, unheated stone.

One of my favorite stones are Tsavorite Garnets. This one is just perfect color and a round which is rare for tsavorite as the rough is seldom shaped well for rounds.

I thought for fall, a Sunset Tourmaline would be nice.

Sound for the Hounds

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-09-12T00:58:34-04:00

There was no cutting this week, and no new stones to post tonight.

I just got back from the Sound for the Hounds Puppy Mill Awareness Concert, and do have a few pictures from the event to post. First I'd like to thank those customers of mine that make a donation to this event. Thanks to you, we were able to put this event on, and bring the much needed word out to so many people Saturday. We had a very large turnout, the music was fantastic, lots of good food, vendors and rescue groups.

Here's a few pictures from the day, and a link to a photo page where there are more.

Click HERE for more pictures.

King Errisson performing at Sound for the Hounds. You can't see it in this picture but he has a very large Citrine in one of my frosted star designs that I cut on that heavy gold chain.

Some Puppy Mill dogs suffering in the heat… they must have lost at least 10 lbs that day.

First September Posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-09-04T17:36:49-04:00

I didn't get a posting up last week, as we have been very busy with the last minute preparations for the Sound for the Hounds event on Sept. 10th. I did manage to get a few stones cut for special request, and a few new ones for the website.

I had this big Red Zircon sitting around for the past 5 years, and I was in the mood for a zircon.

This next one is something I don't cut much of, but maybe should. It's a London Blue Topaz. These blue Topaz stones always look so nice once cut.

Here's a natural, unheated Sapphire from Lodwari Kenya. A little dark, but a very nice blue flash.

Sunday Night Posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-08-21T20:08:26-04:00

Most of my cutting this week was on commissioned stones, but going through my inventory I did find a few older stones that were not up on the website since I switched over to the Mac.

This first new stone is one from Mahenge Tanzania. It's a from a parcel of rough I bought back in 2009 while in Arusha Tanzania. I don't cut many princess cuts, as often rough is not well suited for them, but over the summer at an art show I saw several jewelry artist using a lot of princess cuts in bezels and thought they looked very attractive. This Spinel was a good candidate of the cut. The stone is loop clean.

Another Spinel, this time a lighter baby pink color from Tajikistan.

I have marked the price of this Sri Lanka Sapphire down to $2900 figuring with September right around the corner, and sapphire the birthstone for September it may now work into someones budget.

Here's a Montana Sapphire that I cut due to someone asking for one. I haven't heard back yet from the person, so it's sort of available. If you are interested go ahead and purchase it. I'll give the other person until Monday night to reply. If they decide they want it I'll just refund your Paypal, if not, it yours. The cut on this is my new round design I have been perfecting the past few months. I'm calling this design the "Jua Round". Jua is the Swahili word for sun. The design performs much brighter than the standard round, hence the name for sun.

These next few stones I cut a few years back, but got overlooked when I switched the website from Windows to the Mac. Older stones get marked low so there a real good buy on these. Both are Tourmaline.

Second August posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-08-14T21:12:37-04:00

A few new stones tonight. I got on a round kick this week, so there are a few rounds. These are my new round design, that I have yet to come up with a name for, but it makes for a very bright stone with a lot of flash. Much more than the standard round brilliant.

This first one is a large stone 6.54 cts. It's from a relatively new find of Malaya garnet in Kenya.

Heading a little south in Africa, comes this Green Grossular Garnet. Now the picture is horrid on this. There is no brown or yellow or mixed colors you see, it's all green. Too dark to be a mint, and too light for a tsavorite, both of which are basically trade names for Green Grossular Garnets. I cut this one is a classic Princess cut as it suited the rough, and I needed to stop cutting rounds.

This next stone is the last of the Lindi Garnets I have.

One more round, this time a Montana Sapphire.

And this last one that I just finished about 10 minutes ago is a Rhodolite from Tanga Tanzania. Very nice color in any light.

August first Posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-08-07T19:09:19-04:00

This is the first posting for August, and only a few new stones, as I have been very busy with volunteer work with United Against Puppy Mills on the upcoming event in New Jersey next month. I hope to see a few of my customers in the NYC area there. The event is called Sound for the Hounds, check out the website for details. There will be live music all day with some Jazz from Cindy Bradley, King Errisson, and also TDC, the ultimate Neil Diamond tribute band.

Now the new stones - First up is a spessartite from Loliondo Tanzania. This find is all but dried up now, but I do have some stones I bought several years ago including this one from a 2009 trip to Tanzania. All these spessartite have some "sugar" type bubbles in them, but this is one of the cleaner ones.

Here's a ruby from Lake Baringo Kenya. I bought this from my friend in Kenya Okeno, he traveled with the miner from Kenya by bus to see me in Arusha, and I ended up buying 3 small Lake Baringo stones from them, then paying for a hotel and bus for them to get back home the next day. This stone, while not the largest, had the best color. There is no pink, the stone is just red, and very clean. These Lake Baringo stones are all natural, no heat or other treatments.

Another ruby from Africa, this time Malawi. Beautiful color, but there are eye visible inclusions, so it's priced very low for a natural unheated stones. A very hot, neon red color.

Here's a news cast from our local Harrisburg channel concerning the puppy mill crisis in PA. Have a look at this, and you will understand why so much of our time devoted to helping these dogs. We could use some donation help for the event. Click HERE to make a small Paypal donation. Thanks!

Last Posting for July

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-07-30T22:05:43-04:00

Buying gemstones online can be difficult, as you can't see the stone in person, nor ask as many questions in person as you can if you were face to face with the customer. Very few people call me to ask questions on the phone, so I was thinking maybe other forms of communication may be more convenant since you are shopping from your computer. Since I see more and more people accessing my site with a Mac and I use a Mac, and will start leaving iChat on when I am working, so if you want to chat about stones use your iChat and look to see if I'm available to chat. You can also call from your Mac using FaceTime.

My iChat name is: Precisiongem
My FaceTime is: gene@precisiongem.com

This will be my last posting for July. I have been holding all stones until Sunday night. This will be my new standard time for posting. I should have these Sunday night postings done sometime between 8 pm and 10 pm Eastern Standard time.

A few years ago I bought a parcel of about 10 Sapphires from Umba Tanzania. Here's one that's a light blue color. No heat or other treatments.

While looking through my rough, I came upon this bag of Peridot from Pakistan. Pakistan does produce the best colors in peridot. I figured while cutting the round sapphire, to cut the same design in one of the peridots, and here it is.

I cut the Brazilian Amethyst a while ago, I just never got around to photographing it.

Sometimes when working out a new design, I'll proof cut it in a lab created stone. These have been around for a while so I figured it's time to post them too. The lab created stones are physically and chemically the same as the natural stones, just grown in a lab. They can give you a very nice large look, for a very small price.

Two Rubies, and one Emerald. The Emerald material is from Chatham, which is known in the trade as the best lab grown crystals.

Afghan Tourmaline

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-07-24T19:41:21-04:00

Keeping with the Sunday night postings, I have two new Tourmalines this week, both stones from Afghanistan.

This first stone is a bi-color Blue Tourmaline , that goes from blue to lighter mint color. The color spilt gradual going from one end to the other. A very pretty stone, looks very much like a Paraiba type tourmaline.

Next stone is another Tourmaline from Afghanistan, this one is a mint green color. I cut this in an acorn type design that is a deep round. This one didn't photograph well, the stone is loop clean with very good crystal.

Sunday Night posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-07-17T21:13:42-04:00

I'm trying to make a Sunday night posting each week between 8:00 pm and 10:00 pm eastern standard time.

Three new stones this week, and the first one is a Blue Sapphire from Sri Lanka (Ceylon). I bought this stone in Tucson from the Sri Lankan dealers as a cut stone, with the purpose of doing a recut on it. Rather than just some slight touch up, I prefer to do a complete recut. The stone has been heat treated only, and if you desire I will send it to the AGL for a cert.

Next is a natural blue Tanzanite. No heat. These natural blue stones do show more of the 3 colors than do heated stones but lack the deep blue color in most cases.

This last stone is a Rhodolite Garnet from Tanzania, cut in an opposed bar cut.

Sunday Posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-07-10T17:43:37-04:00

I'm thinking of posting the new stones Sunday nights, so I'll give it a try this week and see how it works for everyone. Seems people are having a hard time working with the RSS feed. One thing you may want to try is a service called Blogtrottr. See: www.blogtrottr.com
What this does is send you an email to what ever email address you tell when ever a RSS feed you subscribe to is updated. I tried it out, and it works well. It's free too!!

On to the new stones...

I had 2 more of the Rubellite Tourmaline left, so decided to cut the biggest of the bunch. The color on this one is just perfect, stays a beautiful red in any light. The stone is 3.12 ct.

These Winza Sapphires are a lot of fun to work with, as they are strange stones. This one is a mix of pink and blue, which gives a nice reddish purple color.

For some reason, I like to cut Zircons. I have a few of these stones from Tanzania that are a copper red color, so felt like cutting one.

If non of these new stones catch your eye, but you would like to give a small donation to help the fight against puppy mills, click on this link to the Sound for the Hounds website, and with Paypal you can quickly make a donation to help out. These dogs have suffered long enough with everyones support we can put an end this horrific business.

July 4th Summer Sale

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-07-04T14:32:05-04:00

I have a few new stones I cut over the weekend

First up is a Purple Sapphire from Tanzania. This one is 1.24 ct, and has not been heated or treated.

This next stone is a pretty Tourmaline from Afghanistan. There are some eye visible inclusions, but in person it's much cleaner looking than the photo, as the photos then to really bring out any inclusion, especially since they magnify the stone. This one is over 5 cts, so it's a nice size for either a pendant or ring.

This last stone is a Nigerian Spessartite garnet. I don't know why, but the photo shows the stone much more red than it is in person. This one is 3.6 cts. and I got a good buy on these roughs, so it's priced low.

Cutting grass and stones

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-06-26T19:17:53-04:00

Seems I have been spending more time cutting grass than stones lately, but I do have a few new stones to go up tonight. I try to mix some new stones in for the website along with commissioned stones. These first two were cut for the site, the next two were requested by clients.

First up is a Merelani Mint Garnet from Tanzania. These have become quite popular, and it's easy to see why. They are also difficult to come by, as the amount being mined in gem quality is not very much.

This next stone is a natural Sapphire from Lodwar Kenya. It's dark, but it's also not expensive, nor heated or treated in any way.

This is the last of the larger Lindi Garnets I have. I concave cut this one, as it makes these garnets look like fire balls.

The last stone here is a Peridot from Arizona. I do have about 6 more pieces of this material.

Stones from Tanzania

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-06-21T22:03:26-04:00

Two new stones from Tanzania tonight. This first is a Yellow Grossularite Garnet cut in a classic cushion design.

This Spinel is from an area of Tanzania called Ruaha. It's an interesting color that has some shift or change to it depending on the lighting.

Firt stones for June

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-06-05T23:29:15-04:00

A couple of new stones to start off June.

First, let's not forget the dogs baking out in the sun in the puppy mill cages. This past week was pretty hot here in PA, with highs in the 90's and many of these dogs have no shade, just lay on the wire of the cages FOR THEIR ENTIRE LIFE! (except when they are freezing in the winter)
A donation to help with our awareness event this fall would be greatly appreciated. See www.soundforthehounds.com

Now for the stones.

First up is a rare stone, very seldom in larger sizes, and normally kind on ugly color. This find from a few years ago in Tanzania produces fantastic colors but small size. This Kornerupine is just under 1 ct and a nice color.

Next is an Amethyst from Zambia. Zambia produces some of the nicest colors, but production has been low lately.

I have a few more of these Spinels from Mahenge left, and haven't cut one in a while so here we go.

I really like these opposed bar cuts in Green Tourmaline. This one is a green/blue color from Mozambique

Sound for the Hounds

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-05-29T22:08:59-04:00

This blog posting is to inform my friends and customers of a puppy mill awareness event we are organizing in Brookdale Park, NJ called Sound for the Hounds. There will be live music featuring my good friend King Errisson of the Neil Diamond band, Cindy Bradley, TDC, and others. These wonderful people have donated their time and talent to help bring awareness to the problem of puppy mills, and how to stop them.

I'll be cutting a stone to auction off to help pay for the event (an event like this isn't cheap), so watch the blog page for details on the stone. In the mean time head over to the Sound for the Hound website, have a look around, if you are in the area maybe you could stop by. We have a donation page, where you can use Paypal to make a donation for the cause. Anything will help. Please tell anyone you know who is looking for a puppy, not to buy from a pet store, since 99.9% of pet store puppies come from puppy mills.

We are also auctioning off this NO PUPPY MILLS t-shirt that Neil Diamond and his band signed. Neil wrote; "I'm a believer - Neil Diamond" in the top left shoulder of the shirt.

Final May Posting

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-05-27T22:37:48-04:00

I wanted to get one more stone posted before the end of the month. I started cutting this one last night, and just finished up tonight. This is a Spinel from Mahenge Morogoro Tanzania. The cut is my juiced up round design with 2 extra tiers of facets. This makes for a very bright stone without extinction. The stone is 5.96 mm, so 6 mm for all practical purposes, and a very easy size to find a mounting for. Don't forget to sign up for the RSS feed. It's on the right hand column of this page. This way you will be notified whenever I post new stones. I always post the new stones here on the blog, with links back to the page where the details are. Just click on the images to go to that page.

Concave

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-05-25T21:28:07-04:00

I had not cut a concave stone in several months, and had been thinking about doing one on this Lindi Garnet rough I bought in Tucson this year. I bought 2 stones, the two largest stones available. These are a rare garnet from Lindi Tanzania, that is a mix of spessartite and pyrope garnet, with a refractive index of 1.78 it has more spessartite than pyrope. The stones are seldom found large enough to cut 1 ct stones that are clean, and this one is loupe clean and 3.33 cts. The concave cutting really brings out the color in this.

I got on a little sapphire roll, as I was looking though the rough for something else. This first one is a pretty pink with lavender, and the next a blue from Madagascar. Both are untreated or heated.

Gem Mix

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-05-18T20:18:57-04:00

I have quite a mix of stones tonight. This first one is a Tanzanite from Tanzania of course. This stone is 1.20 cts and cut in my standard square cushion design.

This next one is an Oregon Sunstone. I haven't cut one of these in about a year, so I was motived to get one done. This too is a cushion, but a short rectangular one. The stone has a very small amount of copper shiller that can be seen with a loop, or a very close sharp eye. This tends to soften the stone a little and give it a glow. This one is definitely nicer in person than the picture.

The last stone tonight, and hot off the faceting machine is a spinel from Tanzania. The color on this is a lavender/purple color.

Pink

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-05-08T13:42:30-04:00

I seem to be cutting in color groups lately. Here are two new pink stones. The first one is an Umbalite Garnet cut in a high dome crown design. This design is by the late Jeff Graham and features a star of David in the crown faceting. These dome cuts show what I always say, that proportions in colored stones don't mean anything. The crown is as high as the pavilion is deep on this stone. So many times people ask me about the depth of a stone and ratio of table diameter to stone diameter etc. These things may be useful in judging diamonds, but really mean nothing in colored stones with all the various designs and materials used. The only way to judge a stone is to look at it. Trust your eyes, don't look for an equation.

This next stone is a pink Spinel from Tajikistan. I cut this in a pretty traditional shape oval barion design. This stone is just shy of 3 cts, so it's a very nice size for spinel.

3 cute little ones

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-05-04T22:11:55-04:00

These three new stones are all about the same size and all go well together. The stones are all around 1 ct. which to me, is a fun size to cut. This first one is an Afghan Tourmaline.

Next is a Mali Garnet. I haven't cut one of these in over a year, and when I saw it in my Garnet bag, I just had to cut it. In person this stone has so much more life than the picture.

The final stone tonight is a Tsavorite Garnet from Tanzania. Tsavorite are my favorite stone. A more intense chrome green color in person. The Nikon just doesn't capture the true vivid green.

New Website

gene@precisiongem.com — 2011-04-24T10:25:56-04:00

I thought is was about time for a new look on the website. The other one had been the same for a few years, and I wanted to freshen things up. In the process I updated all the pages, so there are no sold stones left on the site, and did lower prices on a few older stones. On each of the gemstone pages I'm adding banners showing rough stones for the gem specie listed on the page. I hope you find these an interesting view into what the stones look like in the rough. The blog server is a different, which should make it easier to make posts on the blog with any comments you may have about the stones.

As usual, I'll post all the latest cut stones here on blog. You can sign up for the RSS feed, so you will be alerted the second I make a new posting. Each system and mail software handles RSS feeds differently, so I can't really help you there unless you are using a Mac, in which case you most likely don't need any help as RSS feeds are totally integrated into Mac Mail.

With the blog redone, all the old blog pages are gone, but for those who like to look through some previous sold stones, I added an Archive page with a bunch of my favorite stones from the past.

A few new stones to start off the new website, and I redid some pictures of a few stones that I think are really nice and may have been overlooked due to the old photos.

This first stone is a new Spessartite Garnet from Nigeria. I really like this trillion design, and have not cut in a 3 or 4 years, so I felt like on this stone.

I had a request from a new customer a few months back to cut a stone that looked like the logo for the Rosetta stone software company. She works there, and really loves her job, and wanted to make a ring with their stone on it. I had a really nice piece of Swiss Blue Topaz, and worked out this design with the outline of the logo. The stone was kind of a pain in the neck to cut, and I hope no one else in her company wants one.

Here's some stones that I took new pictures of, that I really think deserve a second look. This first one is a Zircon that is completely concave cut. This could make a really unique piece of jewelry. I have sold a few other stones cut in this design, and the finished pieces were pretty nice.

I bought a parcel of Spinel a few years ago from Tajikistan. They are a rose pink color, all are a little included with some bubbles, but in person they do look much cleaner than in these photos. The stone are all nice sizes ranging from 1.88 cts to over 5 cts. I think these are really worth a look at. I have them priced very low for spinel, especially these sizes.