Monday, May 24, 2010

AAA Gem Grade Malachite

The Other Side

I descovered in looking at this post, that I had put in the wrong photo on the last one, so I tried to edit it...but alas the editing program will not cooperate...so I am posting the photo's of the last piece first..following is the photo of one side.

One Side


I decided to post some of the work I have been doing over the past two days in my work shop and give you a peek at what has been my passion for the last 48 years as a Lapidarian (the Art of cutting and polishing gemstones).


Over the years I have cut all kinds of Gemstones, with top grade Opal being the one I love the best, I have also cut a lot of Malachite of various grades from Africa and I am showing you some today of the very best Top Grade Malachite.


This Malachite is considered AAA Gem Grade, and very rare, as most you see is the banded or striped kind.


All of the pieces except the very first one I have cut to be a Two Sided piece, thus allowing for display in a pendant or something similar on either side.


Click on any image for a larger view and see more details of the patterns.



The first piece is a One Sided piece, it is 51 mm long x 21 mm wide.

This piece could be mounted in a pendant or a bracelet.




This piece is a Two sided piece, the first photo is of one side, the next photo is of the other side.


This is a "Free form" cut, which is used to save the most possible amount of the beautiful patterns.

The piece measures 48 mm long x 10-14 mm in width.

Side One

The Other side





This is another two sided piece,it measures 46 mm in length x 28 mm at it's widest point, it is also considered a "Free Form" piece.


One side


The Other Side





This is another Two Sided piece, also considered a "Free Form" piece.



It measures 47 mm in length x 33 mm at it's widest point.



One Side

The Other Side


Note: The final piece you will find at the top..due to an editing error...


The final piece of Malachite follows, it is 54 mm in length x 10-21 mm in width, it is also a "Free Form" piece and is a Two Sided piece.






This is a Natural Stable piece of very fine Turquoise Nugget that I aquired some years ago and as of yet have not had the heart to cut it up into smaller pieces for mounting into jewelry.


This is not the largest nugget I have, but it is one of the finest.


This Nugget measures 60 mm in length x 37 mm wide x 22 mm thick.

3 comments:

Deb said...

You are a multifaceted person, yourself! Wonderful gems. I can see why you would be reluctant to cut some of them.

Light and Voices said...

You certainly have a lot of things to keep you busy and out of trouble. tee hee

Boy if this gem could talk the stories it must know.
Joyce

Judith HeartSong said...

oh Bob they are gorgeous!!!!!