Backstory:
Back many months ago when I began buying gemstones, I'd snatch up anything at auction that was going cheap. Since I was NEW to gemstones and mounting, I had NO PLANS to ruin expensive stones just learning. At the gem auction site I often came across these BEAUTIFUL white, glowing stones in large sizes (8cts +) and NO ONE was bidding on them. At least at first . . . They had been listed as feldspar moonstone.
SO I bought one, a large 14 carat emerald cut gem for about $4. And then I forgot about it.
Until my order arrived and I excitedly ripped open my package to see if my gems were as nice as they looked online, and the white "moonstone" fell out. Curious, I dumped it out of the plastic envelope and looked at it. I was sitting next to the window with the curtain open just a bit.
It glowed like nothing I had ever seen. Soft whispers of pink, lavender, and bursts of yellow and peach secretly lit across the rear facets. As I turned it in my hand, the color play changed. The stone, while inclusion free, had a strange fog to it which amplified the inner glow. It reminded me of a sunrise on a foggy morning.
Holding it in my hand was like holding lightning. I've never held a stone and felt "something" from it, but this, this was like nothing I'd ever come across. To this day, I always keep them around me. I have two on my desk right now. I'm a huge color fan, I DO NOT LIKE colorless stones. But THESE were fully on a different level.
So I began buying more up. Any I could find and added them to my auctions. Online they were selling for $300-$900 each but I was having luck buying them at auction for under $20, many for under $10. At least for a bit. As time went by, others also fell in love and began bidding too.
Sellers began to see a pattern and tracked me down and offered to sell to me directly. I went from buying 2-3 at a time to buying 30-50 at a time. And each time they'd show me a video selection of their newest faceted stones, my heart would beat quickly and my breath catch. They were spectacular.
But WHAT WERE THEY?
No one knew. Not the sellers, not the gem cutters and no publications online. A few called them quartz, and a few feldspar - two VERY different minerals. I ran my own studies, tested dozens of my own stones and could not figure it out. Spent countless months researching and asking experts. Finally I found a few labs that could run a FULL CHEMICAL ANALYSIS.
For the record, GIA will ONLY run the tests THEY feel they need to. They are NOT a research lab. I had sent 3 stones to them with directions to run chemical testing (they offer it on their website) so I could understand both the major and minor elements. Most testing can only determine the major elements. $600 later, they informed me they were milky quartz. Considering that NO gem quality milky quartz material had EVER been documented (found), I found it strange. They also told me they were able to determine this by looking at it with basic equipment and refused to do major mineral testing.
They also listed the incorrect stone shape on my report. They listed a very obvious emerald cut as oval . . . lets just say I WON'T be sending stones to GIA ever again.
So I searched for a lab that WOULD run the testing needed. Finally I found one in germany and one in the US. The german lab was a gem lab, the US lab was a mineral/rock lab.
While both fond the material to be quartz, and the german lab still insisting it was milky quartz, the US lab took a closer look at it to actually try to classify and understand it.
Both labs ran a raman and EDXRF testing. Since the US lab was cheaper and easier to converse back and forth with, I sent them 4 stones and the German Lab only 2.
Quartz is made up of Silicon and Oxygen, SiO2. Raman testing is only able to test these major minerals. EDXRF is able to test the TINIEST chemical compounds. Long ago, rose quartz was thoght to get it's color from iron or titanium. recently, thanks to EDXRF we now know it's actually composed of tiny titanium compound fibers which are pink, but ALSO come in blue and white. melted in hydrofloric acid, only these fibers are left, almost like pink batten insulation in your walls
These are ALSO possibly the same fibers that cause asterism in star quartz and lend them their unique glow. Right now the lab in the US is studying the optics of the stones, to see the crystal compounds and determine where the color is coming from. Under microscope, many of the stones will show 4 pointed stars within, suggesting they are in fact a new type of star quartz which in itself is possibly a type of gemmy clear rose quartz.
Here are the mineral contents (averages)
SiO2: 99.162 (silicon)
TiO2: 0.010 (titanium)
Al2O3: 0.387 (aluminum)
Fe2O3: 0.076 (Iron)
MgO: 0.054 (magnesium)
CaO: 0.001 (Calcium)
Na2O: 0.283 (sodium)
K2O: 0.005 (Potassium)
P2O5: 0.012 (Phosphorus)
Sum:
99.99 %
So the tentative conclusion thus far: rare, white gemmy rose quartz. The rough material seems to be circulating under the trade name "Girasol quartz", but gemstone quality rough is few and far between, the ones found are usually turned into spheres and not gemstones and sold to the metaphysical community.
Currently inventory is running low, with MUCH LESS available online. I don't know how long it will last so I'm buying as much as I can.
The unique thing about this gem, is the faceting. Gem cutters overseas usually have a passion for their work, and they TRULEY respect this stone. The cuts i have this in i have NEVER SEEN in any other stone, and lend even more beauty to it.
So while it is often listed as feldspar moonstone, it is NOT a moonstone, although sometimes sold as pakistani moonstone, or quartz moonstone.
Currently I am running a trademark name to have a new name developed for it under "Nurielite" since I now have the absolute chemical composition of it. "Nuriel" is aramaic for "Fire of God".
It's cost me a small fortune overall with all the various testing, but I feel a stone this stunning deserves SOMEONE to care enough about it to make sure it gets it's due attention.
In regards to quality: you want stones with NO BREAKS. I did have one seller send me a bunch of CRAP where many were cracking inside or near edges. Some material is perfectly clean while other is full fog. Some have "fingerprint" inclusions and some have wisps of clouds. I would imagine the fully clear, cloud free stones may eventually sell for more, but perhaps the fully cloudy ones might. Both retain a unique beauty entirely different.
At the moment they are selling for roughly $2-3 per carat if you buy direct and in bulk, but singularly expect to pay $50 or more per stone.
And yes, I would HIGHLY suggest buying at least one. if nothing else, they are simply stunning and you won't find ANYONE selling them as mounted jewelry online.
And between you and me, I don't think ShopLC could get their hands on enough gem quality rough to even make a go of it... and even if they could, there is NO WAY they could duplicate the amazing faceting these gem cutters are doing to them.
the info and absolutely LOVE
your name for it! I hope you get the trademark name for it!