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Tasmanian Gemmologist
Vol 19 Winter 2012 Page 1
Special Notes
amp Dates
Trivia Night
11th August 2012
Royal Hobart Show
24th-27th October 2012
Committee details 2
Trivia Night
Royal Hobart Show
3
Angular Zoning in Zircon
45
A Diamond Jubilee
An all Diamond Ring
67
Tanzanian Tour Details
Red Andesine
89
Some donation
Fire Opal
10
11
Go Goanna Advertisement 12
The Voice of the
Tasmania Division
GAA
Whatrsquos inside
66th Annual
Conference and
Seminar
Manly NSW 2012
Above Sheila Catterall
amp
Jewel Beresford
Below Syd Prickett amp
Byron Nicol
Above Nancie Bauer
Rod Brightman amp
Peter Cartwright
Peo
ple
Page 2
Tasmania Division) Inc
President Jewel Beresford Ph 6261 4233 Email jewelberesfordnetspacenetau
Vice President Vicky James Ph6239 0225 Email vlj0501bigpondnetau
Secretary Maree Prickett Ph 6297 8311 Email mdj1191bigpondcom
Treasurer Byron Nicol Ph 6247 7619 Email byronnicoldodocomau
Committee Richard Wright 6247 1579 Megan Dickens 6265 9651
Don McDonald 6265 7563
Andrew Friedrich 6247 9606 Robert Long 6249 8845
Syd Prickett 6271 3500 John De Ruyter 6225 5312
Education contacts Robert Long 62498845 rlongtassienetau
Syd Prickett 6271 3500 SydPrickettroadwayscomau
Correspondence address
PO Box 2138
Howrah
TAS 7018
Tutorial address
ldquoPhilip Smith Centrerdquo
2 Edward Street
Glebe TAS 7000
Contact details
Ph Fax 03 62614233
Email tasgemorgau
URL wwwgemorgautasdivfhtm
Public officer Jewel Beresford 62614233 Newsletter Editor Paul Beresford 62614233
Newsletter Reminder
This newsletter contains important
information technological updates humour
news of your division etc but it also has
details of forthcoming events about which
you will not receive any other notices
Therefore failure to read this may result in
you missing out on events Your feed back
would also be appreciated and if you think
more articles about whatever could or
should be includedhellip
Send them in
The Gemmological Association of Australia
Written contributions to this newsletter are very
welcome If you have any material you would
like to be published please forward it in either
written or electronic form (preferred) to the
appropriate addresses on page 2
It does not have to be a large item
ldquoEnjoyment
comes
from
Involvementrdquo
Page 3 Trivia Night
W ell it is that mid- winter time of year again and the
date is set for our annual trivia night Join us for an
evening of fun and frivolity with prizes galore and soup and
desserts to sustain you through the evening
Bring Friends Family Young folk Old folk Odd Folk
Husband Wife Lover Girlfriend Boyfriend we donrsquot mind
who comes along to join the party
When Saturday 11th August 2012 at 7pm
Where Philip Smith Centre Theatre
2 Edward Street Glebe Hobart
RSVP by 4th August 2012
Jewel Beresford 62614233 or email jewelberesfordnetspacenetau
Royal Hobart Show
Royal Hobart Show 24th-27th October 2012
C reative Crafts is on the move to a new site within the Hobart Showgrounds the new abode
is what most folk know as the Market Building at the entrance to the main gates on
Howard Road It will be a very different layout and the Gemmological Association stand will be
somewhat smaller I think certainly not the backdrop we had) so we will need to do some serious
thinking re a new design
Once again we have the support of Sargisons Jewellers of Hobart and Maree amp Syd Prickett as
sponsors for the Gems amp Jewellery Section of the Creative Crafts and we extend to them our
sincere thanks
We also need volunteers to set up Tuesday afternoon and for the four days of the show to
run our stand Wednesday through to Saturday from 830 ndash 5pm Whether for a full day or
half day we need all the help we can get
You will enjoy selling items to raise funds for our division and meeting the public who come
ldquoarmedrdquo with endless questions about gems and minerals
Show entry tickets are available To register your availability phone Jewel 03 62614233
Page 4 A Pause for Thought
W hatever the romantic notion or indeed
the scientific explanation for the
origin of pearls there is no denying that these
valuable living treasures have been inspiring
civilisations for centuries and will continue to
do so for centuries to come
From heaven there fell upon the foaming wave A timid drop the flood with anger roared But God its modest boldness to reward Strength to the drop and firm endurance gave Itrsquos form the mussel captive took And to itrsquos lasting glory and renown The pearl now glistens in our monarchrsquos crown With gentle gleam and loving look
Johann Wolfgang von Goeth 1749-1832
Angular Colour Zoning in a ldquoMud Tankrdquo Zircon Page 5
Congratulations
Congratulations to Maree and Syd Prickett are
in order on the birth of their first grandchild
to Amanda and Mick The young man is to be
named Edward Michael Kyneur (Ned sound
familiar)
Seems like Jan and Richard wonrsquot be the only
ones travelling back and forth to the mainland
A 235 carat (high) zircon was cut by
the author The rough stone came
from the collection of an avid
fossicker
The finished stone is a ldquozircon cutrdquo
brilliant with 73 facets It displays the
usual characteristic of distinct doubling
of the rear facet junctions when viewed
through the table facet High dispersion
and sub-adamantinevitreous lustre
completes the hand lens inspection of a
clean gemstone
An overall pink colour appears to be due to pink colour banding The colour banding
consists of straight parallel banding with angular corners of about 45 degrees The
banding is visible through the table facet however tilting of the stone by only several
degrees loses the effect
Technical Details
Chelsea filter - redgreen
Dichroscope - light pinkslightly darker pink
Specific Gravity - 470
Ultra Violet - SW strong light green LW weak pink
Diffraction Grating Spectroscope- Faint zircon line at 653 nm
Refractive index ndash 191 by apparent depth method
Other ndash Uniaxial Optic Figure visible offset 10 degrees through table
John DeRuyter FGAA 30 April 2012
Microscope photo at about 60 magnification
Page 6 A Diamond Jubilee
B rooches a ring and a necklace made from the largest
diamond ever found go on display at Buckingham Palace
this summer The special exhibition Diamonds A Jubilee
Celebration reunites for the first time seven of the nine principal
stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond that now form part of Her
Majesty The Queenrsquos personal jewels
The Cullinan Diamond which weighed 3106 carats in its rough
state was discovered at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South
Africa in 1905 At first the stone was assumed to be a crystal as
it is three times larger than any other diamond that has been
discovered When it was taken to the mine managerrsquos office the
clerks threw it out the window unable to believe that something
so big was a diamond Eventually they were persuaded and the
diamond was named after the chairman of the mining company
Thomas Cullinan
Measuring 101 x 635 x 59cm the diamond was notable for its
extraordinary blue-white colour and exceptional
purity Although it is the largest stone to have ever been found
the rough diamond had a cleavage face on one side which
suggested that it might once have formed part of an even larger stone Soon after being discovered it was
sent to London and taken to Buckingham Palace for inspection by King Edward VII For the next two
years the stone remained a public wonder during which time it was shown to many prospective clients ndash
although it was hard to find a buyer as no one could understand how a stone so big could possibly be
cut Eventually the Prime Minister of the Transvaal suggested that his government should acquire the
Cullinan and present it to Edward VII as a token of loyalty
The gift did not include the cost of cutting the stone and this task was entrusted to the celebrated firm of
IJ Asscher of Amsterdam No one had ever cut such a huge stone ndash and the complexities of doing so were
many It was too large to be cut into a single gem so cleaving or sawing was necessary After weeks of
consideration including four days spent making the groove into which the steel cleaving knife was to be
inserted the stone was ready to be split The first blow broke the knife but the diamond remained
intact A second cleavage knife was fitted and this time the blow split the diamond in two A few days
later the task of dividing up these two large pieces began Eight months of grinding and polishing
followed for three polishers working 14 hours a day Eventually they produced nine principal numbered
stones 96 small brilliants and nine carats of unpolished fragments The total weight of the gems cut from
the Cullinan amounted to 10559 carats
Exhibition curator Caroline de Guitaut said lsquoUntil 26
January 1905 no one had ever seen a diamond of this size
So incredible was its discovery that the moment it was found
at the Premier Mine it was thrown out of the window of the
mine managerrsquos office because it was thought to be a
worthless crystal Now for the first time our visitors will be
able to see seven of the nine principal stones cut from this
magnificent and highly important diamondrsquo Buckingham
Palace is open 30 June - 8 July and 31 July - 7 October 2012
An all Diamond Ring Page 7
Jewel amp Mike Cooke
Diane amp Byron
Andrew amp Mike Cooke
Elizabeth Ruth and others
S hawish Jewelry has unveiled The Worlds Fist All Diamond Ring This 150 carat ldquobad boyrdquo is carved from one single-faceted diamond and it will set
you back $68 million
At first this ring could come across as some type of publicity stunt but Mohamed Shawesh President and CEO of Geneva-based Shawish Jewelry seems genuine and passionate about the reasons he wanted to create it In 2011 he explained
A ring made entirely of a faceted diamond has al-ways seemed like a fantasy It seemed impossible so
we decided to embark on the adven- ture of creating it To create the perfect diamond ring is the epitome of art
This ring was definitely a labour of love for the designer In 2009 they sought to get a copyright on the design and in 2010 it was finally secured but the ring was far from fruition Shawish goes on to talk about the process they went through to get the ring as perfect as possible
we had to do multiple tests with the design to get the precision of the circle right Diamonds are made of carbon and molecules that can change even the colour can be altered when attempt-ing to cut it We had to buy special laser equipment to cut di-rectly into the diamond The most important aspect is preserv-ing the integrity of the diamond and of course the most difficult phase is precision cutting an entire stone into a ring
So now its 2012 all of that hard work has paid off and his fanta-sy has become a reality At 150 carats this stunner dwarfs Kim Kardashians 222 carat ring and makes an 18 carat ring like Beyonces look like chump change In Hollywood everyone wants the biggest and the best and when it comes to rings this takes the cake
Congratulations Grant On the award of Honorary Life Membership
From your friends in Tasmania Division
This meritorious award was presented to Grant Hamid at the
recent 2012 Annual Conference and Seminar in Sydney
Page 8
Rare Red Andesine joins our Collection Page 9
T wo of our recent graduates ndash Megan Dickens and John De Ruyter have undertaken to continue the arduous task
of updating and cataloguing our gem collection
One of the recent additions to the collection is the unusual and controversial RedYellow Andesine (plagioclase
feldspar) from Bainang Country Tibet Dr Ahmadjan Abduriyim donated some rough examples of this Andesine to
Tasmania Division on his visit to the state in 2010 and John has kindly facetted one of the pieces thus enabling
Tasmanian Division to have an example in our collection
The stone when tested by John and Megan gave the following properties ndash
RI 1550 ndash 1562 B+ 012 bir
SG 2675
Spectroscope ndash Weak Band Red (approx 630)
Broad Band in GreenBlue (approx 570)
UV LW - Weak Brown SW ndash Inert
The stone had yellow red banding (probably lamellae twinning) several growth tubes fractures and many small
crystals Literature from Dr Abduriyim suggests these tiny crystals ldquomayberdquo small native copper grains or platelets
these being a common inclusion in the Tibetan Andesine
Additions like this Andesine mean Tasmania Divisionrsquos gem collection continues to grow in both variety and
number I would like to thank John and Megan for their efforts in what is a very time consuming task
Rob Long Education Officer
Page 10
0 Donation
R io Tinto is donating its massive pink diamond found in February
this year at the Argyle mine to a Mel-bourne museum Museum Victorias Robin Hirst explained that Rio Tinto has a tradition of donating diamonds to the museum
The diamond which was previously 1276 carats has cut and polished down to a disappointing eight carats The stone is believed to have had a single major internal fault line that put the stone at risk if cutting continued so Rio decided instead to donate the partially finished stone to Museum Victoria
While it WAS estimated to be worth around $12 million the cutting process has highlighted a number of internal flaws throughout the diamond which
have dramatically dropped its value
It was cut and polished as a single stone by Richard How Kim Kam who has worked for the mining company for more than twenty years
The individual who gets to wear this remarkable pink diamond will be in-credibly lucky indeed Argyle pink dia-monds manager Josephine Johnson stated according to Diamond News She went on to say that it is unprece-dented in the companys history It has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone and we may never see one like this again
While a price has not been set on the diamond according to Johnson pink diamonds typically outperform white diamond prices and have been known to cost up to $1 million per carat One of the miners previous high quality pink diamonds the Argyle Mystra was only 202 carats
Fire Opal Page 11
T his Edwardian pendant came into the workshop of Geoff Roberts ldquojeweller of this townrdquo for identification from a client named Jane with a bit of a story
Turns out that her Grandfather had a fairly savage gambling habit (just the Gee-Gees) but occasionally had a win and presumably to placate her would buy long suffering Grandma the occasional piece of frippery
Dressed with very fine chain and typical Edwardian trickle of old mine cut 3 pt diamonds with the top stone of about 5mm set into white gold
Geoff thought the orange translucent stones were most likely Mexican fire opal and thus they proved to be after some simple gemmological tests Fairly soft and not well polished showing wear but a unique and lovely piece of jewellery from the 1920s still in its original box and probably made in London where it was purchased
The gemstone fire opal is a rarer type of opal that is found mainly in Mexico There are two different varieties of fire opal The first type of fire opal is a red orange or yellow and has translucent features and a minimal amount of colour play The second type of fire opal is a brownish colour and has similar play or colour as the precious opal The colour range of the fire opal gemstone can be anywhere from a reddish brown to an orange yellowish shade The most favoured fire opal stones are those with a burnt autumn red-orange colour Opal represents the birthstone for those born in the month of October and are considered to be very delicate stones The price of fire opal is determined by a number of different factors including the stonersquos transparency and colour as well as the play of colour the stone may feature These types of gemstones are soft and therefore susceptible to easy scratching as well as fading and cracking The fire opal is rated between a 55 and a 6 on the Mohs scale for stone hardness which is considered to be soft These types of stones also have an aversion to extremely dry atmospheres If they do not have enough water content they will begin to dry and possible fade or crack Fire opal can range in transparency between showing a slight cloudy appearance to being translucent or even transparent Stones that show a more transparent or translucent clarity are considered to be of a higher grade versus those with a cloudy appearance Fire opals are mainly found and mined in Mexico which is known for having the finest quality of these opals available They can also be found in Brazil Guatemala across the United States as well as Australia
Page 2
Tasmania Division) Inc
President Jewel Beresford Ph 6261 4233 Email jewelberesfordnetspacenetau
Vice President Vicky James Ph6239 0225 Email vlj0501bigpondnetau
Secretary Maree Prickett Ph 6297 8311 Email mdj1191bigpondcom
Treasurer Byron Nicol Ph 6247 7619 Email byronnicoldodocomau
Committee Richard Wright 6247 1579 Megan Dickens 6265 9651
Don McDonald 6265 7563
Andrew Friedrich 6247 9606 Robert Long 6249 8845
Syd Prickett 6271 3500 John De Ruyter 6225 5312
Education contacts Robert Long 62498845 rlongtassienetau
Syd Prickett 6271 3500 SydPrickettroadwayscomau
Correspondence address
PO Box 2138
Howrah
TAS 7018
Tutorial address
ldquoPhilip Smith Centrerdquo
2 Edward Street
Glebe TAS 7000
Contact details
Ph Fax 03 62614233
Email tasgemorgau
URL wwwgemorgautasdivfhtm
Public officer Jewel Beresford 62614233 Newsletter Editor Paul Beresford 62614233
Newsletter Reminder
This newsletter contains important
information technological updates humour
news of your division etc but it also has
details of forthcoming events about which
you will not receive any other notices
Therefore failure to read this may result in
you missing out on events Your feed back
would also be appreciated and if you think
more articles about whatever could or
should be includedhellip
Send them in
The Gemmological Association of Australia
Written contributions to this newsletter are very
welcome If you have any material you would
like to be published please forward it in either
written or electronic form (preferred) to the
appropriate addresses on page 2
It does not have to be a large item
ldquoEnjoyment
comes
from
Involvementrdquo
Page 3 Trivia Night
W ell it is that mid- winter time of year again and the
date is set for our annual trivia night Join us for an
evening of fun and frivolity with prizes galore and soup and
desserts to sustain you through the evening
Bring Friends Family Young folk Old folk Odd Folk
Husband Wife Lover Girlfriend Boyfriend we donrsquot mind
who comes along to join the party
When Saturday 11th August 2012 at 7pm
Where Philip Smith Centre Theatre
2 Edward Street Glebe Hobart
RSVP by 4th August 2012
Jewel Beresford 62614233 or email jewelberesfordnetspacenetau
Royal Hobart Show
Royal Hobart Show 24th-27th October 2012
C reative Crafts is on the move to a new site within the Hobart Showgrounds the new abode
is what most folk know as the Market Building at the entrance to the main gates on
Howard Road It will be a very different layout and the Gemmological Association stand will be
somewhat smaller I think certainly not the backdrop we had) so we will need to do some serious
thinking re a new design
Once again we have the support of Sargisons Jewellers of Hobart and Maree amp Syd Prickett as
sponsors for the Gems amp Jewellery Section of the Creative Crafts and we extend to them our
sincere thanks
We also need volunteers to set up Tuesday afternoon and for the four days of the show to
run our stand Wednesday through to Saturday from 830 ndash 5pm Whether for a full day or
half day we need all the help we can get
You will enjoy selling items to raise funds for our division and meeting the public who come
ldquoarmedrdquo with endless questions about gems and minerals
Show entry tickets are available To register your availability phone Jewel 03 62614233
Page 4 A Pause for Thought
W hatever the romantic notion or indeed
the scientific explanation for the
origin of pearls there is no denying that these
valuable living treasures have been inspiring
civilisations for centuries and will continue to
do so for centuries to come
From heaven there fell upon the foaming wave A timid drop the flood with anger roared But God its modest boldness to reward Strength to the drop and firm endurance gave Itrsquos form the mussel captive took And to itrsquos lasting glory and renown The pearl now glistens in our monarchrsquos crown With gentle gleam and loving look
Johann Wolfgang von Goeth 1749-1832
Angular Colour Zoning in a ldquoMud Tankrdquo Zircon Page 5
Congratulations
Congratulations to Maree and Syd Prickett are
in order on the birth of their first grandchild
to Amanda and Mick The young man is to be
named Edward Michael Kyneur (Ned sound
familiar)
Seems like Jan and Richard wonrsquot be the only
ones travelling back and forth to the mainland
A 235 carat (high) zircon was cut by
the author The rough stone came
from the collection of an avid
fossicker
The finished stone is a ldquozircon cutrdquo
brilliant with 73 facets It displays the
usual characteristic of distinct doubling
of the rear facet junctions when viewed
through the table facet High dispersion
and sub-adamantinevitreous lustre
completes the hand lens inspection of a
clean gemstone
An overall pink colour appears to be due to pink colour banding The colour banding
consists of straight parallel banding with angular corners of about 45 degrees The
banding is visible through the table facet however tilting of the stone by only several
degrees loses the effect
Technical Details
Chelsea filter - redgreen
Dichroscope - light pinkslightly darker pink
Specific Gravity - 470
Ultra Violet - SW strong light green LW weak pink
Diffraction Grating Spectroscope- Faint zircon line at 653 nm
Refractive index ndash 191 by apparent depth method
Other ndash Uniaxial Optic Figure visible offset 10 degrees through table
John DeRuyter FGAA 30 April 2012
Microscope photo at about 60 magnification
Page 6 A Diamond Jubilee
B rooches a ring and a necklace made from the largest
diamond ever found go on display at Buckingham Palace
this summer The special exhibition Diamonds A Jubilee
Celebration reunites for the first time seven of the nine principal
stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond that now form part of Her
Majesty The Queenrsquos personal jewels
The Cullinan Diamond which weighed 3106 carats in its rough
state was discovered at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South
Africa in 1905 At first the stone was assumed to be a crystal as
it is three times larger than any other diamond that has been
discovered When it was taken to the mine managerrsquos office the
clerks threw it out the window unable to believe that something
so big was a diamond Eventually they were persuaded and the
diamond was named after the chairman of the mining company
Thomas Cullinan
Measuring 101 x 635 x 59cm the diamond was notable for its
extraordinary blue-white colour and exceptional
purity Although it is the largest stone to have ever been found
the rough diamond had a cleavage face on one side which
suggested that it might once have formed part of an even larger stone Soon after being discovered it was
sent to London and taken to Buckingham Palace for inspection by King Edward VII For the next two
years the stone remained a public wonder during which time it was shown to many prospective clients ndash
although it was hard to find a buyer as no one could understand how a stone so big could possibly be
cut Eventually the Prime Minister of the Transvaal suggested that his government should acquire the
Cullinan and present it to Edward VII as a token of loyalty
The gift did not include the cost of cutting the stone and this task was entrusted to the celebrated firm of
IJ Asscher of Amsterdam No one had ever cut such a huge stone ndash and the complexities of doing so were
many It was too large to be cut into a single gem so cleaving or sawing was necessary After weeks of
consideration including four days spent making the groove into which the steel cleaving knife was to be
inserted the stone was ready to be split The first blow broke the knife but the diamond remained
intact A second cleavage knife was fitted and this time the blow split the diamond in two A few days
later the task of dividing up these two large pieces began Eight months of grinding and polishing
followed for three polishers working 14 hours a day Eventually they produced nine principal numbered
stones 96 small brilliants and nine carats of unpolished fragments The total weight of the gems cut from
the Cullinan amounted to 10559 carats
Exhibition curator Caroline de Guitaut said lsquoUntil 26
January 1905 no one had ever seen a diamond of this size
So incredible was its discovery that the moment it was found
at the Premier Mine it was thrown out of the window of the
mine managerrsquos office because it was thought to be a
worthless crystal Now for the first time our visitors will be
able to see seven of the nine principal stones cut from this
magnificent and highly important diamondrsquo Buckingham
Palace is open 30 June - 8 July and 31 July - 7 October 2012
An all Diamond Ring Page 7
Jewel amp Mike Cooke
Diane amp Byron
Andrew amp Mike Cooke
Elizabeth Ruth and others
S hawish Jewelry has unveiled The Worlds Fist All Diamond Ring This 150 carat ldquobad boyrdquo is carved from one single-faceted diamond and it will set
you back $68 million
At first this ring could come across as some type of publicity stunt but Mohamed Shawesh President and CEO of Geneva-based Shawish Jewelry seems genuine and passionate about the reasons he wanted to create it In 2011 he explained
A ring made entirely of a faceted diamond has al-ways seemed like a fantasy It seemed impossible so
we decided to embark on the adven- ture of creating it To create the perfect diamond ring is the epitome of art
This ring was definitely a labour of love for the designer In 2009 they sought to get a copyright on the design and in 2010 it was finally secured but the ring was far from fruition Shawish goes on to talk about the process they went through to get the ring as perfect as possible
we had to do multiple tests with the design to get the precision of the circle right Diamonds are made of carbon and molecules that can change even the colour can be altered when attempt-ing to cut it We had to buy special laser equipment to cut di-rectly into the diamond The most important aspect is preserv-ing the integrity of the diamond and of course the most difficult phase is precision cutting an entire stone into a ring
So now its 2012 all of that hard work has paid off and his fanta-sy has become a reality At 150 carats this stunner dwarfs Kim Kardashians 222 carat ring and makes an 18 carat ring like Beyonces look like chump change In Hollywood everyone wants the biggest and the best and when it comes to rings this takes the cake
Congratulations Grant On the award of Honorary Life Membership
From your friends in Tasmania Division
This meritorious award was presented to Grant Hamid at the
recent 2012 Annual Conference and Seminar in Sydney
Page 8
Rare Red Andesine joins our Collection Page 9
T wo of our recent graduates ndash Megan Dickens and John De Ruyter have undertaken to continue the arduous task
of updating and cataloguing our gem collection
One of the recent additions to the collection is the unusual and controversial RedYellow Andesine (plagioclase
feldspar) from Bainang Country Tibet Dr Ahmadjan Abduriyim donated some rough examples of this Andesine to
Tasmania Division on his visit to the state in 2010 and John has kindly facetted one of the pieces thus enabling
Tasmanian Division to have an example in our collection
The stone when tested by John and Megan gave the following properties ndash
RI 1550 ndash 1562 B+ 012 bir
SG 2675
Spectroscope ndash Weak Band Red (approx 630)
Broad Band in GreenBlue (approx 570)
UV LW - Weak Brown SW ndash Inert
The stone had yellow red banding (probably lamellae twinning) several growth tubes fractures and many small
crystals Literature from Dr Abduriyim suggests these tiny crystals ldquomayberdquo small native copper grains or platelets
these being a common inclusion in the Tibetan Andesine
Additions like this Andesine mean Tasmania Divisionrsquos gem collection continues to grow in both variety and
number I would like to thank John and Megan for their efforts in what is a very time consuming task
Rob Long Education Officer
Page 10
0 Donation
R io Tinto is donating its massive pink diamond found in February
this year at the Argyle mine to a Mel-bourne museum Museum Victorias Robin Hirst explained that Rio Tinto has a tradition of donating diamonds to the museum
The diamond which was previously 1276 carats has cut and polished down to a disappointing eight carats The stone is believed to have had a single major internal fault line that put the stone at risk if cutting continued so Rio decided instead to donate the partially finished stone to Museum Victoria
While it WAS estimated to be worth around $12 million the cutting process has highlighted a number of internal flaws throughout the diamond which
have dramatically dropped its value
It was cut and polished as a single stone by Richard How Kim Kam who has worked for the mining company for more than twenty years
The individual who gets to wear this remarkable pink diamond will be in-credibly lucky indeed Argyle pink dia-monds manager Josephine Johnson stated according to Diamond News She went on to say that it is unprece-dented in the companys history It has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone and we may never see one like this again
While a price has not been set on the diamond according to Johnson pink diamonds typically outperform white diamond prices and have been known to cost up to $1 million per carat One of the miners previous high quality pink diamonds the Argyle Mystra was only 202 carats
Fire Opal Page 11
T his Edwardian pendant came into the workshop of Geoff Roberts ldquojeweller of this townrdquo for identification from a client named Jane with a bit of a story
Turns out that her Grandfather had a fairly savage gambling habit (just the Gee-Gees) but occasionally had a win and presumably to placate her would buy long suffering Grandma the occasional piece of frippery
Dressed with very fine chain and typical Edwardian trickle of old mine cut 3 pt diamonds with the top stone of about 5mm set into white gold
Geoff thought the orange translucent stones were most likely Mexican fire opal and thus they proved to be after some simple gemmological tests Fairly soft and not well polished showing wear but a unique and lovely piece of jewellery from the 1920s still in its original box and probably made in London where it was purchased
The gemstone fire opal is a rarer type of opal that is found mainly in Mexico There are two different varieties of fire opal The first type of fire opal is a red orange or yellow and has translucent features and a minimal amount of colour play The second type of fire opal is a brownish colour and has similar play or colour as the precious opal The colour range of the fire opal gemstone can be anywhere from a reddish brown to an orange yellowish shade The most favoured fire opal stones are those with a burnt autumn red-orange colour Opal represents the birthstone for those born in the month of October and are considered to be very delicate stones The price of fire opal is determined by a number of different factors including the stonersquos transparency and colour as well as the play of colour the stone may feature These types of gemstones are soft and therefore susceptible to easy scratching as well as fading and cracking The fire opal is rated between a 55 and a 6 on the Mohs scale for stone hardness which is considered to be soft These types of stones also have an aversion to extremely dry atmospheres If they do not have enough water content they will begin to dry and possible fade or crack Fire opal can range in transparency between showing a slight cloudy appearance to being translucent or even transparent Stones that show a more transparent or translucent clarity are considered to be of a higher grade versus those with a cloudy appearance Fire opals are mainly found and mined in Mexico which is known for having the finest quality of these opals available They can also be found in Brazil Guatemala across the United States as well as Australia
Page 3 Trivia Night
W ell it is that mid- winter time of year again and the
date is set for our annual trivia night Join us for an
evening of fun and frivolity with prizes galore and soup and
desserts to sustain you through the evening
Bring Friends Family Young folk Old folk Odd Folk
Husband Wife Lover Girlfriend Boyfriend we donrsquot mind
who comes along to join the party
When Saturday 11th August 2012 at 7pm
Where Philip Smith Centre Theatre
2 Edward Street Glebe Hobart
RSVP by 4th August 2012
Jewel Beresford 62614233 or email jewelberesfordnetspacenetau
Royal Hobart Show
Royal Hobart Show 24th-27th October 2012
C reative Crafts is on the move to a new site within the Hobart Showgrounds the new abode
is what most folk know as the Market Building at the entrance to the main gates on
Howard Road It will be a very different layout and the Gemmological Association stand will be
somewhat smaller I think certainly not the backdrop we had) so we will need to do some serious
thinking re a new design
Once again we have the support of Sargisons Jewellers of Hobart and Maree amp Syd Prickett as
sponsors for the Gems amp Jewellery Section of the Creative Crafts and we extend to them our
sincere thanks
We also need volunteers to set up Tuesday afternoon and for the four days of the show to
run our stand Wednesday through to Saturday from 830 ndash 5pm Whether for a full day or
half day we need all the help we can get
You will enjoy selling items to raise funds for our division and meeting the public who come
ldquoarmedrdquo with endless questions about gems and minerals
Show entry tickets are available To register your availability phone Jewel 03 62614233
Page 4 A Pause for Thought
W hatever the romantic notion or indeed
the scientific explanation for the
origin of pearls there is no denying that these
valuable living treasures have been inspiring
civilisations for centuries and will continue to
do so for centuries to come
From heaven there fell upon the foaming wave A timid drop the flood with anger roared But God its modest boldness to reward Strength to the drop and firm endurance gave Itrsquos form the mussel captive took And to itrsquos lasting glory and renown The pearl now glistens in our monarchrsquos crown With gentle gleam and loving look
Johann Wolfgang von Goeth 1749-1832
Angular Colour Zoning in a ldquoMud Tankrdquo Zircon Page 5
Congratulations
Congratulations to Maree and Syd Prickett are
in order on the birth of their first grandchild
to Amanda and Mick The young man is to be
named Edward Michael Kyneur (Ned sound
familiar)
Seems like Jan and Richard wonrsquot be the only
ones travelling back and forth to the mainland
A 235 carat (high) zircon was cut by
the author The rough stone came
from the collection of an avid
fossicker
The finished stone is a ldquozircon cutrdquo
brilliant with 73 facets It displays the
usual characteristic of distinct doubling
of the rear facet junctions when viewed
through the table facet High dispersion
and sub-adamantinevitreous lustre
completes the hand lens inspection of a
clean gemstone
An overall pink colour appears to be due to pink colour banding The colour banding
consists of straight parallel banding with angular corners of about 45 degrees The
banding is visible through the table facet however tilting of the stone by only several
degrees loses the effect
Technical Details
Chelsea filter - redgreen
Dichroscope - light pinkslightly darker pink
Specific Gravity - 470
Ultra Violet - SW strong light green LW weak pink
Diffraction Grating Spectroscope- Faint zircon line at 653 nm
Refractive index ndash 191 by apparent depth method
Other ndash Uniaxial Optic Figure visible offset 10 degrees through table
John DeRuyter FGAA 30 April 2012
Microscope photo at about 60 magnification
Page 6 A Diamond Jubilee
B rooches a ring and a necklace made from the largest
diamond ever found go on display at Buckingham Palace
this summer The special exhibition Diamonds A Jubilee
Celebration reunites for the first time seven of the nine principal
stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond that now form part of Her
Majesty The Queenrsquos personal jewels
The Cullinan Diamond which weighed 3106 carats in its rough
state was discovered at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South
Africa in 1905 At first the stone was assumed to be a crystal as
it is three times larger than any other diamond that has been
discovered When it was taken to the mine managerrsquos office the
clerks threw it out the window unable to believe that something
so big was a diamond Eventually they were persuaded and the
diamond was named after the chairman of the mining company
Thomas Cullinan
Measuring 101 x 635 x 59cm the diamond was notable for its
extraordinary blue-white colour and exceptional
purity Although it is the largest stone to have ever been found
the rough diamond had a cleavage face on one side which
suggested that it might once have formed part of an even larger stone Soon after being discovered it was
sent to London and taken to Buckingham Palace for inspection by King Edward VII For the next two
years the stone remained a public wonder during which time it was shown to many prospective clients ndash
although it was hard to find a buyer as no one could understand how a stone so big could possibly be
cut Eventually the Prime Minister of the Transvaal suggested that his government should acquire the
Cullinan and present it to Edward VII as a token of loyalty
The gift did not include the cost of cutting the stone and this task was entrusted to the celebrated firm of
IJ Asscher of Amsterdam No one had ever cut such a huge stone ndash and the complexities of doing so were
many It was too large to be cut into a single gem so cleaving or sawing was necessary After weeks of
consideration including four days spent making the groove into which the steel cleaving knife was to be
inserted the stone was ready to be split The first blow broke the knife but the diamond remained
intact A second cleavage knife was fitted and this time the blow split the diamond in two A few days
later the task of dividing up these two large pieces began Eight months of grinding and polishing
followed for three polishers working 14 hours a day Eventually they produced nine principal numbered
stones 96 small brilliants and nine carats of unpolished fragments The total weight of the gems cut from
the Cullinan amounted to 10559 carats
Exhibition curator Caroline de Guitaut said lsquoUntil 26
January 1905 no one had ever seen a diamond of this size
So incredible was its discovery that the moment it was found
at the Premier Mine it was thrown out of the window of the
mine managerrsquos office because it was thought to be a
worthless crystal Now for the first time our visitors will be
able to see seven of the nine principal stones cut from this
magnificent and highly important diamondrsquo Buckingham
Palace is open 30 June - 8 July and 31 July - 7 October 2012
An all Diamond Ring Page 7
Jewel amp Mike Cooke
Diane amp Byron
Andrew amp Mike Cooke
Elizabeth Ruth and others
S hawish Jewelry has unveiled The Worlds Fist All Diamond Ring This 150 carat ldquobad boyrdquo is carved from one single-faceted diamond and it will set
you back $68 million
At first this ring could come across as some type of publicity stunt but Mohamed Shawesh President and CEO of Geneva-based Shawish Jewelry seems genuine and passionate about the reasons he wanted to create it In 2011 he explained
A ring made entirely of a faceted diamond has al-ways seemed like a fantasy It seemed impossible so
we decided to embark on the adven- ture of creating it To create the perfect diamond ring is the epitome of art
This ring was definitely a labour of love for the designer In 2009 they sought to get a copyright on the design and in 2010 it was finally secured but the ring was far from fruition Shawish goes on to talk about the process they went through to get the ring as perfect as possible
we had to do multiple tests with the design to get the precision of the circle right Diamonds are made of carbon and molecules that can change even the colour can be altered when attempt-ing to cut it We had to buy special laser equipment to cut di-rectly into the diamond The most important aspect is preserv-ing the integrity of the diamond and of course the most difficult phase is precision cutting an entire stone into a ring
So now its 2012 all of that hard work has paid off and his fanta-sy has become a reality At 150 carats this stunner dwarfs Kim Kardashians 222 carat ring and makes an 18 carat ring like Beyonces look like chump change In Hollywood everyone wants the biggest and the best and when it comes to rings this takes the cake
Congratulations Grant On the award of Honorary Life Membership
From your friends in Tasmania Division
This meritorious award was presented to Grant Hamid at the
recent 2012 Annual Conference and Seminar in Sydney
Page 8
Rare Red Andesine joins our Collection Page 9
T wo of our recent graduates ndash Megan Dickens and John De Ruyter have undertaken to continue the arduous task
of updating and cataloguing our gem collection
One of the recent additions to the collection is the unusual and controversial RedYellow Andesine (plagioclase
feldspar) from Bainang Country Tibet Dr Ahmadjan Abduriyim donated some rough examples of this Andesine to
Tasmania Division on his visit to the state in 2010 and John has kindly facetted one of the pieces thus enabling
Tasmanian Division to have an example in our collection
The stone when tested by John and Megan gave the following properties ndash
RI 1550 ndash 1562 B+ 012 bir
SG 2675
Spectroscope ndash Weak Band Red (approx 630)
Broad Band in GreenBlue (approx 570)
UV LW - Weak Brown SW ndash Inert
The stone had yellow red banding (probably lamellae twinning) several growth tubes fractures and many small
crystals Literature from Dr Abduriyim suggests these tiny crystals ldquomayberdquo small native copper grains or platelets
these being a common inclusion in the Tibetan Andesine
Additions like this Andesine mean Tasmania Divisionrsquos gem collection continues to grow in both variety and
number I would like to thank John and Megan for their efforts in what is a very time consuming task
Rob Long Education Officer
Page 10
0 Donation
R io Tinto is donating its massive pink diamond found in February
this year at the Argyle mine to a Mel-bourne museum Museum Victorias Robin Hirst explained that Rio Tinto has a tradition of donating diamonds to the museum
The diamond which was previously 1276 carats has cut and polished down to a disappointing eight carats The stone is believed to have had a single major internal fault line that put the stone at risk if cutting continued so Rio decided instead to donate the partially finished stone to Museum Victoria
While it WAS estimated to be worth around $12 million the cutting process has highlighted a number of internal flaws throughout the diamond which
have dramatically dropped its value
It was cut and polished as a single stone by Richard How Kim Kam who has worked for the mining company for more than twenty years
The individual who gets to wear this remarkable pink diamond will be in-credibly lucky indeed Argyle pink dia-monds manager Josephine Johnson stated according to Diamond News She went on to say that it is unprece-dented in the companys history It has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone and we may never see one like this again
While a price has not been set on the diamond according to Johnson pink diamonds typically outperform white diamond prices and have been known to cost up to $1 million per carat One of the miners previous high quality pink diamonds the Argyle Mystra was only 202 carats
Fire Opal Page 11
T his Edwardian pendant came into the workshop of Geoff Roberts ldquojeweller of this townrdquo for identification from a client named Jane with a bit of a story
Turns out that her Grandfather had a fairly savage gambling habit (just the Gee-Gees) but occasionally had a win and presumably to placate her would buy long suffering Grandma the occasional piece of frippery
Dressed with very fine chain and typical Edwardian trickle of old mine cut 3 pt diamonds with the top stone of about 5mm set into white gold
Geoff thought the orange translucent stones were most likely Mexican fire opal and thus they proved to be after some simple gemmological tests Fairly soft and not well polished showing wear but a unique and lovely piece of jewellery from the 1920s still in its original box and probably made in London where it was purchased
The gemstone fire opal is a rarer type of opal that is found mainly in Mexico There are two different varieties of fire opal The first type of fire opal is a red orange or yellow and has translucent features and a minimal amount of colour play The second type of fire opal is a brownish colour and has similar play or colour as the precious opal The colour range of the fire opal gemstone can be anywhere from a reddish brown to an orange yellowish shade The most favoured fire opal stones are those with a burnt autumn red-orange colour Opal represents the birthstone for those born in the month of October and are considered to be very delicate stones The price of fire opal is determined by a number of different factors including the stonersquos transparency and colour as well as the play of colour the stone may feature These types of gemstones are soft and therefore susceptible to easy scratching as well as fading and cracking The fire opal is rated between a 55 and a 6 on the Mohs scale for stone hardness which is considered to be soft These types of stones also have an aversion to extremely dry atmospheres If they do not have enough water content they will begin to dry and possible fade or crack Fire opal can range in transparency between showing a slight cloudy appearance to being translucent or even transparent Stones that show a more transparent or translucent clarity are considered to be of a higher grade versus those with a cloudy appearance Fire opals are mainly found and mined in Mexico which is known for having the finest quality of these opals available They can also be found in Brazil Guatemala across the United States as well as Australia
Page 4 A Pause for Thought
W hatever the romantic notion or indeed
the scientific explanation for the
origin of pearls there is no denying that these
valuable living treasures have been inspiring
civilisations for centuries and will continue to
do so for centuries to come
From heaven there fell upon the foaming wave A timid drop the flood with anger roared But God its modest boldness to reward Strength to the drop and firm endurance gave Itrsquos form the mussel captive took And to itrsquos lasting glory and renown The pearl now glistens in our monarchrsquos crown With gentle gleam and loving look
Johann Wolfgang von Goeth 1749-1832
Angular Colour Zoning in a ldquoMud Tankrdquo Zircon Page 5
Congratulations
Congratulations to Maree and Syd Prickett are
in order on the birth of their first grandchild
to Amanda and Mick The young man is to be
named Edward Michael Kyneur (Ned sound
familiar)
Seems like Jan and Richard wonrsquot be the only
ones travelling back and forth to the mainland
A 235 carat (high) zircon was cut by
the author The rough stone came
from the collection of an avid
fossicker
The finished stone is a ldquozircon cutrdquo
brilliant with 73 facets It displays the
usual characteristic of distinct doubling
of the rear facet junctions when viewed
through the table facet High dispersion
and sub-adamantinevitreous lustre
completes the hand lens inspection of a
clean gemstone
An overall pink colour appears to be due to pink colour banding The colour banding
consists of straight parallel banding with angular corners of about 45 degrees The
banding is visible through the table facet however tilting of the stone by only several
degrees loses the effect
Technical Details
Chelsea filter - redgreen
Dichroscope - light pinkslightly darker pink
Specific Gravity - 470
Ultra Violet - SW strong light green LW weak pink
Diffraction Grating Spectroscope- Faint zircon line at 653 nm
Refractive index ndash 191 by apparent depth method
Other ndash Uniaxial Optic Figure visible offset 10 degrees through table
John DeRuyter FGAA 30 April 2012
Microscope photo at about 60 magnification
Page 6 A Diamond Jubilee
B rooches a ring and a necklace made from the largest
diamond ever found go on display at Buckingham Palace
this summer The special exhibition Diamonds A Jubilee
Celebration reunites for the first time seven of the nine principal
stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond that now form part of Her
Majesty The Queenrsquos personal jewels
The Cullinan Diamond which weighed 3106 carats in its rough
state was discovered at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South
Africa in 1905 At first the stone was assumed to be a crystal as
it is three times larger than any other diamond that has been
discovered When it was taken to the mine managerrsquos office the
clerks threw it out the window unable to believe that something
so big was a diamond Eventually they were persuaded and the
diamond was named after the chairman of the mining company
Thomas Cullinan
Measuring 101 x 635 x 59cm the diamond was notable for its
extraordinary blue-white colour and exceptional
purity Although it is the largest stone to have ever been found
the rough diamond had a cleavage face on one side which
suggested that it might once have formed part of an even larger stone Soon after being discovered it was
sent to London and taken to Buckingham Palace for inspection by King Edward VII For the next two
years the stone remained a public wonder during which time it was shown to many prospective clients ndash
although it was hard to find a buyer as no one could understand how a stone so big could possibly be
cut Eventually the Prime Minister of the Transvaal suggested that his government should acquire the
Cullinan and present it to Edward VII as a token of loyalty
The gift did not include the cost of cutting the stone and this task was entrusted to the celebrated firm of
IJ Asscher of Amsterdam No one had ever cut such a huge stone ndash and the complexities of doing so were
many It was too large to be cut into a single gem so cleaving or sawing was necessary After weeks of
consideration including four days spent making the groove into which the steel cleaving knife was to be
inserted the stone was ready to be split The first blow broke the knife but the diamond remained
intact A second cleavage knife was fitted and this time the blow split the diamond in two A few days
later the task of dividing up these two large pieces began Eight months of grinding and polishing
followed for three polishers working 14 hours a day Eventually they produced nine principal numbered
stones 96 small brilliants and nine carats of unpolished fragments The total weight of the gems cut from
the Cullinan amounted to 10559 carats
Exhibition curator Caroline de Guitaut said lsquoUntil 26
January 1905 no one had ever seen a diamond of this size
So incredible was its discovery that the moment it was found
at the Premier Mine it was thrown out of the window of the
mine managerrsquos office because it was thought to be a
worthless crystal Now for the first time our visitors will be
able to see seven of the nine principal stones cut from this
magnificent and highly important diamondrsquo Buckingham
Palace is open 30 June - 8 July and 31 July - 7 October 2012
An all Diamond Ring Page 7
Jewel amp Mike Cooke
Diane amp Byron
Andrew amp Mike Cooke
Elizabeth Ruth and others
S hawish Jewelry has unveiled The Worlds Fist All Diamond Ring This 150 carat ldquobad boyrdquo is carved from one single-faceted diamond and it will set
you back $68 million
At first this ring could come across as some type of publicity stunt but Mohamed Shawesh President and CEO of Geneva-based Shawish Jewelry seems genuine and passionate about the reasons he wanted to create it In 2011 he explained
A ring made entirely of a faceted diamond has al-ways seemed like a fantasy It seemed impossible so
we decided to embark on the adven- ture of creating it To create the perfect diamond ring is the epitome of art
This ring was definitely a labour of love for the designer In 2009 they sought to get a copyright on the design and in 2010 it was finally secured but the ring was far from fruition Shawish goes on to talk about the process they went through to get the ring as perfect as possible
we had to do multiple tests with the design to get the precision of the circle right Diamonds are made of carbon and molecules that can change even the colour can be altered when attempt-ing to cut it We had to buy special laser equipment to cut di-rectly into the diamond The most important aspect is preserv-ing the integrity of the diamond and of course the most difficult phase is precision cutting an entire stone into a ring
So now its 2012 all of that hard work has paid off and his fanta-sy has become a reality At 150 carats this stunner dwarfs Kim Kardashians 222 carat ring and makes an 18 carat ring like Beyonces look like chump change In Hollywood everyone wants the biggest and the best and when it comes to rings this takes the cake
Congratulations Grant On the award of Honorary Life Membership
From your friends in Tasmania Division
This meritorious award was presented to Grant Hamid at the
recent 2012 Annual Conference and Seminar in Sydney
Page 8
Rare Red Andesine joins our Collection Page 9
T wo of our recent graduates ndash Megan Dickens and John De Ruyter have undertaken to continue the arduous task
of updating and cataloguing our gem collection
One of the recent additions to the collection is the unusual and controversial RedYellow Andesine (plagioclase
feldspar) from Bainang Country Tibet Dr Ahmadjan Abduriyim donated some rough examples of this Andesine to
Tasmania Division on his visit to the state in 2010 and John has kindly facetted one of the pieces thus enabling
Tasmanian Division to have an example in our collection
The stone when tested by John and Megan gave the following properties ndash
RI 1550 ndash 1562 B+ 012 bir
SG 2675
Spectroscope ndash Weak Band Red (approx 630)
Broad Band in GreenBlue (approx 570)
UV LW - Weak Brown SW ndash Inert
The stone had yellow red banding (probably lamellae twinning) several growth tubes fractures and many small
crystals Literature from Dr Abduriyim suggests these tiny crystals ldquomayberdquo small native copper grains or platelets
these being a common inclusion in the Tibetan Andesine
Additions like this Andesine mean Tasmania Divisionrsquos gem collection continues to grow in both variety and
number I would like to thank John and Megan for their efforts in what is a very time consuming task
Rob Long Education Officer
Page 10
0 Donation
R io Tinto is donating its massive pink diamond found in February
this year at the Argyle mine to a Mel-bourne museum Museum Victorias Robin Hirst explained that Rio Tinto has a tradition of donating diamonds to the museum
The diamond which was previously 1276 carats has cut and polished down to a disappointing eight carats The stone is believed to have had a single major internal fault line that put the stone at risk if cutting continued so Rio decided instead to donate the partially finished stone to Museum Victoria
While it WAS estimated to be worth around $12 million the cutting process has highlighted a number of internal flaws throughout the diamond which
have dramatically dropped its value
It was cut and polished as a single stone by Richard How Kim Kam who has worked for the mining company for more than twenty years
The individual who gets to wear this remarkable pink diamond will be in-credibly lucky indeed Argyle pink dia-monds manager Josephine Johnson stated according to Diamond News She went on to say that it is unprece-dented in the companys history It has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone and we may never see one like this again
While a price has not been set on the diamond according to Johnson pink diamonds typically outperform white diamond prices and have been known to cost up to $1 million per carat One of the miners previous high quality pink diamonds the Argyle Mystra was only 202 carats
Fire Opal Page 11
T his Edwardian pendant came into the workshop of Geoff Roberts ldquojeweller of this townrdquo for identification from a client named Jane with a bit of a story
Turns out that her Grandfather had a fairly savage gambling habit (just the Gee-Gees) but occasionally had a win and presumably to placate her would buy long suffering Grandma the occasional piece of frippery
Dressed with very fine chain and typical Edwardian trickle of old mine cut 3 pt diamonds with the top stone of about 5mm set into white gold
Geoff thought the orange translucent stones were most likely Mexican fire opal and thus they proved to be after some simple gemmological tests Fairly soft and not well polished showing wear but a unique and lovely piece of jewellery from the 1920s still in its original box and probably made in London where it was purchased
The gemstone fire opal is a rarer type of opal that is found mainly in Mexico There are two different varieties of fire opal The first type of fire opal is a red orange or yellow and has translucent features and a minimal amount of colour play The second type of fire opal is a brownish colour and has similar play or colour as the precious opal The colour range of the fire opal gemstone can be anywhere from a reddish brown to an orange yellowish shade The most favoured fire opal stones are those with a burnt autumn red-orange colour Opal represents the birthstone for those born in the month of October and are considered to be very delicate stones The price of fire opal is determined by a number of different factors including the stonersquos transparency and colour as well as the play of colour the stone may feature These types of gemstones are soft and therefore susceptible to easy scratching as well as fading and cracking The fire opal is rated between a 55 and a 6 on the Mohs scale for stone hardness which is considered to be soft These types of stones also have an aversion to extremely dry atmospheres If they do not have enough water content they will begin to dry and possible fade or crack Fire opal can range in transparency between showing a slight cloudy appearance to being translucent or even transparent Stones that show a more transparent or translucent clarity are considered to be of a higher grade versus those with a cloudy appearance Fire opals are mainly found and mined in Mexico which is known for having the finest quality of these opals available They can also be found in Brazil Guatemala across the United States as well as Australia
Angular Colour Zoning in a ldquoMud Tankrdquo Zircon Page 5
Congratulations
Congratulations to Maree and Syd Prickett are
in order on the birth of their first grandchild
to Amanda and Mick The young man is to be
named Edward Michael Kyneur (Ned sound
familiar)
Seems like Jan and Richard wonrsquot be the only
ones travelling back and forth to the mainland
A 235 carat (high) zircon was cut by
the author The rough stone came
from the collection of an avid
fossicker
The finished stone is a ldquozircon cutrdquo
brilliant with 73 facets It displays the
usual characteristic of distinct doubling
of the rear facet junctions when viewed
through the table facet High dispersion
and sub-adamantinevitreous lustre
completes the hand lens inspection of a
clean gemstone
An overall pink colour appears to be due to pink colour banding The colour banding
consists of straight parallel banding with angular corners of about 45 degrees The
banding is visible through the table facet however tilting of the stone by only several
degrees loses the effect
Technical Details
Chelsea filter - redgreen
Dichroscope - light pinkslightly darker pink
Specific Gravity - 470
Ultra Violet - SW strong light green LW weak pink
Diffraction Grating Spectroscope- Faint zircon line at 653 nm
Refractive index ndash 191 by apparent depth method
Other ndash Uniaxial Optic Figure visible offset 10 degrees through table
John DeRuyter FGAA 30 April 2012
Microscope photo at about 60 magnification
Page 6 A Diamond Jubilee
B rooches a ring and a necklace made from the largest
diamond ever found go on display at Buckingham Palace
this summer The special exhibition Diamonds A Jubilee
Celebration reunites for the first time seven of the nine principal
stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond that now form part of Her
Majesty The Queenrsquos personal jewels
The Cullinan Diamond which weighed 3106 carats in its rough
state was discovered at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South
Africa in 1905 At first the stone was assumed to be a crystal as
it is three times larger than any other diamond that has been
discovered When it was taken to the mine managerrsquos office the
clerks threw it out the window unable to believe that something
so big was a diamond Eventually they were persuaded and the
diamond was named after the chairman of the mining company
Thomas Cullinan
Measuring 101 x 635 x 59cm the diamond was notable for its
extraordinary blue-white colour and exceptional
purity Although it is the largest stone to have ever been found
the rough diamond had a cleavage face on one side which
suggested that it might once have formed part of an even larger stone Soon after being discovered it was
sent to London and taken to Buckingham Palace for inspection by King Edward VII For the next two
years the stone remained a public wonder during which time it was shown to many prospective clients ndash
although it was hard to find a buyer as no one could understand how a stone so big could possibly be
cut Eventually the Prime Minister of the Transvaal suggested that his government should acquire the
Cullinan and present it to Edward VII as a token of loyalty
The gift did not include the cost of cutting the stone and this task was entrusted to the celebrated firm of
IJ Asscher of Amsterdam No one had ever cut such a huge stone ndash and the complexities of doing so were
many It was too large to be cut into a single gem so cleaving or sawing was necessary After weeks of
consideration including four days spent making the groove into which the steel cleaving knife was to be
inserted the stone was ready to be split The first blow broke the knife but the diamond remained
intact A second cleavage knife was fitted and this time the blow split the diamond in two A few days
later the task of dividing up these two large pieces began Eight months of grinding and polishing
followed for three polishers working 14 hours a day Eventually they produced nine principal numbered
stones 96 small brilliants and nine carats of unpolished fragments The total weight of the gems cut from
the Cullinan amounted to 10559 carats
Exhibition curator Caroline de Guitaut said lsquoUntil 26
January 1905 no one had ever seen a diamond of this size
So incredible was its discovery that the moment it was found
at the Premier Mine it was thrown out of the window of the
mine managerrsquos office because it was thought to be a
worthless crystal Now for the first time our visitors will be
able to see seven of the nine principal stones cut from this
magnificent and highly important diamondrsquo Buckingham
Palace is open 30 June - 8 July and 31 July - 7 October 2012
An all Diamond Ring Page 7
Jewel amp Mike Cooke
Diane amp Byron
Andrew amp Mike Cooke
Elizabeth Ruth and others
S hawish Jewelry has unveiled The Worlds Fist All Diamond Ring This 150 carat ldquobad boyrdquo is carved from one single-faceted diamond and it will set
you back $68 million
At first this ring could come across as some type of publicity stunt but Mohamed Shawesh President and CEO of Geneva-based Shawish Jewelry seems genuine and passionate about the reasons he wanted to create it In 2011 he explained
A ring made entirely of a faceted diamond has al-ways seemed like a fantasy It seemed impossible so
we decided to embark on the adven- ture of creating it To create the perfect diamond ring is the epitome of art
This ring was definitely a labour of love for the designer In 2009 they sought to get a copyright on the design and in 2010 it was finally secured but the ring was far from fruition Shawish goes on to talk about the process they went through to get the ring as perfect as possible
we had to do multiple tests with the design to get the precision of the circle right Diamonds are made of carbon and molecules that can change even the colour can be altered when attempt-ing to cut it We had to buy special laser equipment to cut di-rectly into the diamond The most important aspect is preserv-ing the integrity of the diamond and of course the most difficult phase is precision cutting an entire stone into a ring
So now its 2012 all of that hard work has paid off and his fanta-sy has become a reality At 150 carats this stunner dwarfs Kim Kardashians 222 carat ring and makes an 18 carat ring like Beyonces look like chump change In Hollywood everyone wants the biggest and the best and when it comes to rings this takes the cake
Congratulations Grant On the award of Honorary Life Membership
From your friends in Tasmania Division
This meritorious award was presented to Grant Hamid at the
recent 2012 Annual Conference and Seminar in Sydney
Page 8
Rare Red Andesine joins our Collection Page 9
T wo of our recent graduates ndash Megan Dickens and John De Ruyter have undertaken to continue the arduous task
of updating and cataloguing our gem collection
One of the recent additions to the collection is the unusual and controversial RedYellow Andesine (plagioclase
feldspar) from Bainang Country Tibet Dr Ahmadjan Abduriyim donated some rough examples of this Andesine to
Tasmania Division on his visit to the state in 2010 and John has kindly facetted one of the pieces thus enabling
Tasmanian Division to have an example in our collection
The stone when tested by John and Megan gave the following properties ndash
RI 1550 ndash 1562 B+ 012 bir
SG 2675
Spectroscope ndash Weak Band Red (approx 630)
Broad Band in GreenBlue (approx 570)
UV LW - Weak Brown SW ndash Inert
The stone had yellow red banding (probably lamellae twinning) several growth tubes fractures and many small
crystals Literature from Dr Abduriyim suggests these tiny crystals ldquomayberdquo small native copper grains or platelets
these being a common inclusion in the Tibetan Andesine
Additions like this Andesine mean Tasmania Divisionrsquos gem collection continues to grow in both variety and
number I would like to thank John and Megan for their efforts in what is a very time consuming task
Rob Long Education Officer
Page 10
0 Donation
R io Tinto is donating its massive pink diamond found in February
this year at the Argyle mine to a Mel-bourne museum Museum Victorias Robin Hirst explained that Rio Tinto has a tradition of donating diamonds to the museum
The diamond which was previously 1276 carats has cut and polished down to a disappointing eight carats The stone is believed to have had a single major internal fault line that put the stone at risk if cutting continued so Rio decided instead to donate the partially finished stone to Museum Victoria
While it WAS estimated to be worth around $12 million the cutting process has highlighted a number of internal flaws throughout the diamond which
have dramatically dropped its value
It was cut and polished as a single stone by Richard How Kim Kam who has worked for the mining company for more than twenty years
The individual who gets to wear this remarkable pink diamond will be in-credibly lucky indeed Argyle pink dia-monds manager Josephine Johnson stated according to Diamond News She went on to say that it is unprece-dented in the companys history It has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone and we may never see one like this again
While a price has not been set on the diamond according to Johnson pink diamonds typically outperform white diamond prices and have been known to cost up to $1 million per carat One of the miners previous high quality pink diamonds the Argyle Mystra was only 202 carats
Fire Opal Page 11
T his Edwardian pendant came into the workshop of Geoff Roberts ldquojeweller of this townrdquo for identification from a client named Jane with a bit of a story
Turns out that her Grandfather had a fairly savage gambling habit (just the Gee-Gees) but occasionally had a win and presumably to placate her would buy long suffering Grandma the occasional piece of frippery
Dressed with very fine chain and typical Edwardian trickle of old mine cut 3 pt diamonds with the top stone of about 5mm set into white gold
Geoff thought the orange translucent stones were most likely Mexican fire opal and thus they proved to be after some simple gemmological tests Fairly soft and not well polished showing wear but a unique and lovely piece of jewellery from the 1920s still in its original box and probably made in London where it was purchased
The gemstone fire opal is a rarer type of opal that is found mainly in Mexico There are two different varieties of fire opal The first type of fire opal is a red orange or yellow and has translucent features and a minimal amount of colour play The second type of fire opal is a brownish colour and has similar play or colour as the precious opal The colour range of the fire opal gemstone can be anywhere from a reddish brown to an orange yellowish shade The most favoured fire opal stones are those with a burnt autumn red-orange colour Opal represents the birthstone for those born in the month of October and are considered to be very delicate stones The price of fire opal is determined by a number of different factors including the stonersquos transparency and colour as well as the play of colour the stone may feature These types of gemstones are soft and therefore susceptible to easy scratching as well as fading and cracking The fire opal is rated between a 55 and a 6 on the Mohs scale for stone hardness which is considered to be soft These types of stones also have an aversion to extremely dry atmospheres If they do not have enough water content they will begin to dry and possible fade or crack Fire opal can range in transparency between showing a slight cloudy appearance to being translucent or even transparent Stones that show a more transparent or translucent clarity are considered to be of a higher grade versus those with a cloudy appearance Fire opals are mainly found and mined in Mexico which is known for having the finest quality of these opals available They can also be found in Brazil Guatemala across the United States as well as Australia
Page 6 A Diamond Jubilee
B rooches a ring and a necklace made from the largest
diamond ever found go on display at Buckingham Palace
this summer The special exhibition Diamonds A Jubilee
Celebration reunites for the first time seven of the nine principal
stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond that now form part of Her
Majesty The Queenrsquos personal jewels
The Cullinan Diamond which weighed 3106 carats in its rough
state was discovered at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South
Africa in 1905 At first the stone was assumed to be a crystal as
it is three times larger than any other diamond that has been
discovered When it was taken to the mine managerrsquos office the
clerks threw it out the window unable to believe that something
so big was a diamond Eventually they were persuaded and the
diamond was named after the chairman of the mining company
Thomas Cullinan
Measuring 101 x 635 x 59cm the diamond was notable for its
extraordinary blue-white colour and exceptional
purity Although it is the largest stone to have ever been found
the rough diamond had a cleavage face on one side which
suggested that it might once have formed part of an even larger stone Soon after being discovered it was
sent to London and taken to Buckingham Palace for inspection by King Edward VII For the next two
years the stone remained a public wonder during which time it was shown to many prospective clients ndash
although it was hard to find a buyer as no one could understand how a stone so big could possibly be
cut Eventually the Prime Minister of the Transvaal suggested that his government should acquire the
Cullinan and present it to Edward VII as a token of loyalty
The gift did not include the cost of cutting the stone and this task was entrusted to the celebrated firm of
IJ Asscher of Amsterdam No one had ever cut such a huge stone ndash and the complexities of doing so were
many It was too large to be cut into a single gem so cleaving or sawing was necessary After weeks of
consideration including four days spent making the groove into which the steel cleaving knife was to be
inserted the stone was ready to be split The first blow broke the knife but the diamond remained
intact A second cleavage knife was fitted and this time the blow split the diamond in two A few days
later the task of dividing up these two large pieces began Eight months of grinding and polishing
followed for three polishers working 14 hours a day Eventually they produced nine principal numbered
stones 96 small brilliants and nine carats of unpolished fragments The total weight of the gems cut from
the Cullinan amounted to 10559 carats
Exhibition curator Caroline de Guitaut said lsquoUntil 26
January 1905 no one had ever seen a diamond of this size
So incredible was its discovery that the moment it was found
at the Premier Mine it was thrown out of the window of the
mine managerrsquos office because it was thought to be a
worthless crystal Now for the first time our visitors will be
able to see seven of the nine principal stones cut from this
magnificent and highly important diamondrsquo Buckingham
Palace is open 30 June - 8 July and 31 July - 7 October 2012
An all Diamond Ring Page 7
Jewel amp Mike Cooke
Diane amp Byron
Andrew amp Mike Cooke
Elizabeth Ruth and others
S hawish Jewelry has unveiled The Worlds Fist All Diamond Ring This 150 carat ldquobad boyrdquo is carved from one single-faceted diamond and it will set
you back $68 million
At first this ring could come across as some type of publicity stunt but Mohamed Shawesh President and CEO of Geneva-based Shawish Jewelry seems genuine and passionate about the reasons he wanted to create it In 2011 he explained
A ring made entirely of a faceted diamond has al-ways seemed like a fantasy It seemed impossible so
we decided to embark on the adven- ture of creating it To create the perfect diamond ring is the epitome of art
This ring was definitely a labour of love for the designer In 2009 they sought to get a copyright on the design and in 2010 it was finally secured but the ring was far from fruition Shawish goes on to talk about the process they went through to get the ring as perfect as possible
we had to do multiple tests with the design to get the precision of the circle right Diamonds are made of carbon and molecules that can change even the colour can be altered when attempt-ing to cut it We had to buy special laser equipment to cut di-rectly into the diamond The most important aspect is preserv-ing the integrity of the diamond and of course the most difficult phase is precision cutting an entire stone into a ring
So now its 2012 all of that hard work has paid off and his fanta-sy has become a reality At 150 carats this stunner dwarfs Kim Kardashians 222 carat ring and makes an 18 carat ring like Beyonces look like chump change In Hollywood everyone wants the biggest and the best and when it comes to rings this takes the cake
Congratulations Grant On the award of Honorary Life Membership
From your friends in Tasmania Division
This meritorious award was presented to Grant Hamid at the
recent 2012 Annual Conference and Seminar in Sydney
Page 8
Rare Red Andesine joins our Collection Page 9
T wo of our recent graduates ndash Megan Dickens and John De Ruyter have undertaken to continue the arduous task
of updating and cataloguing our gem collection
One of the recent additions to the collection is the unusual and controversial RedYellow Andesine (plagioclase
feldspar) from Bainang Country Tibet Dr Ahmadjan Abduriyim donated some rough examples of this Andesine to
Tasmania Division on his visit to the state in 2010 and John has kindly facetted one of the pieces thus enabling
Tasmanian Division to have an example in our collection
The stone when tested by John and Megan gave the following properties ndash
RI 1550 ndash 1562 B+ 012 bir
SG 2675
Spectroscope ndash Weak Band Red (approx 630)
Broad Band in GreenBlue (approx 570)
UV LW - Weak Brown SW ndash Inert
The stone had yellow red banding (probably lamellae twinning) several growth tubes fractures and many small
crystals Literature from Dr Abduriyim suggests these tiny crystals ldquomayberdquo small native copper grains or platelets
these being a common inclusion in the Tibetan Andesine
Additions like this Andesine mean Tasmania Divisionrsquos gem collection continues to grow in both variety and
number I would like to thank John and Megan for their efforts in what is a very time consuming task
Rob Long Education Officer
Page 10
0 Donation
R io Tinto is donating its massive pink diamond found in February
this year at the Argyle mine to a Mel-bourne museum Museum Victorias Robin Hirst explained that Rio Tinto has a tradition of donating diamonds to the museum
The diamond which was previously 1276 carats has cut and polished down to a disappointing eight carats The stone is believed to have had a single major internal fault line that put the stone at risk if cutting continued so Rio decided instead to donate the partially finished stone to Museum Victoria
While it WAS estimated to be worth around $12 million the cutting process has highlighted a number of internal flaws throughout the diamond which
have dramatically dropped its value
It was cut and polished as a single stone by Richard How Kim Kam who has worked for the mining company for more than twenty years
The individual who gets to wear this remarkable pink diamond will be in-credibly lucky indeed Argyle pink dia-monds manager Josephine Johnson stated according to Diamond News She went on to say that it is unprece-dented in the companys history It has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone and we may never see one like this again
While a price has not been set on the diamond according to Johnson pink diamonds typically outperform white diamond prices and have been known to cost up to $1 million per carat One of the miners previous high quality pink diamonds the Argyle Mystra was only 202 carats
Fire Opal Page 11
T his Edwardian pendant came into the workshop of Geoff Roberts ldquojeweller of this townrdquo for identification from a client named Jane with a bit of a story
Turns out that her Grandfather had a fairly savage gambling habit (just the Gee-Gees) but occasionally had a win and presumably to placate her would buy long suffering Grandma the occasional piece of frippery
Dressed with very fine chain and typical Edwardian trickle of old mine cut 3 pt diamonds with the top stone of about 5mm set into white gold
Geoff thought the orange translucent stones were most likely Mexican fire opal and thus they proved to be after some simple gemmological tests Fairly soft and not well polished showing wear but a unique and lovely piece of jewellery from the 1920s still in its original box and probably made in London where it was purchased
The gemstone fire opal is a rarer type of opal that is found mainly in Mexico There are two different varieties of fire opal The first type of fire opal is a red orange or yellow and has translucent features and a minimal amount of colour play The second type of fire opal is a brownish colour and has similar play or colour as the precious opal The colour range of the fire opal gemstone can be anywhere from a reddish brown to an orange yellowish shade The most favoured fire opal stones are those with a burnt autumn red-orange colour Opal represents the birthstone for those born in the month of October and are considered to be very delicate stones The price of fire opal is determined by a number of different factors including the stonersquos transparency and colour as well as the play of colour the stone may feature These types of gemstones are soft and therefore susceptible to easy scratching as well as fading and cracking The fire opal is rated between a 55 and a 6 on the Mohs scale for stone hardness which is considered to be soft These types of stones also have an aversion to extremely dry atmospheres If they do not have enough water content they will begin to dry and possible fade or crack Fire opal can range in transparency between showing a slight cloudy appearance to being translucent or even transparent Stones that show a more transparent or translucent clarity are considered to be of a higher grade versus those with a cloudy appearance Fire opals are mainly found and mined in Mexico which is known for having the finest quality of these opals available They can also be found in Brazil Guatemala across the United States as well as Australia
An all Diamond Ring Page 7
Jewel amp Mike Cooke
Diane amp Byron
Andrew amp Mike Cooke
Elizabeth Ruth and others
S hawish Jewelry has unveiled The Worlds Fist All Diamond Ring This 150 carat ldquobad boyrdquo is carved from one single-faceted diamond and it will set
you back $68 million
At first this ring could come across as some type of publicity stunt but Mohamed Shawesh President and CEO of Geneva-based Shawish Jewelry seems genuine and passionate about the reasons he wanted to create it In 2011 he explained
A ring made entirely of a faceted diamond has al-ways seemed like a fantasy It seemed impossible so
we decided to embark on the adven- ture of creating it To create the perfect diamond ring is the epitome of art
This ring was definitely a labour of love for the designer In 2009 they sought to get a copyright on the design and in 2010 it was finally secured but the ring was far from fruition Shawish goes on to talk about the process they went through to get the ring as perfect as possible
we had to do multiple tests with the design to get the precision of the circle right Diamonds are made of carbon and molecules that can change even the colour can be altered when attempt-ing to cut it We had to buy special laser equipment to cut di-rectly into the diamond The most important aspect is preserv-ing the integrity of the diamond and of course the most difficult phase is precision cutting an entire stone into a ring
So now its 2012 all of that hard work has paid off and his fanta-sy has become a reality At 150 carats this stunner dwarfs Kim Kardashians 222 carat ring and makes an 18 carat ring like Beyonces look like chump change In Hollywood everyone wants the biggest and the best and when it comes to rings this takes the cake
Congratulations Grant On the award of Honorary Life Membership
From your friends in Tasmania Division
This meritorious award was presented to Grant Hamid at the
recent 2012 Annual Conference and Seminar in Sydney
Page 8
Rare Red Andesine joins our Collection Page 9
T wo of our recent graduates ndash Megan Dickens and John De Ruyter have undertaken to continue the arduous task
of updating and cataloguing our gem collection
One of the recent additions to the collection is the unusual and controversial RedYellow Andesine (plagioclase
feldspar) from Bainang Country Tibet Dr Ahmadjan Abduriyim donated some rough examples of this Andesine to
Tasmania Division on his visit to the state in 2010 and John has kindly facetted one of the pieces thus enabling
Tasmanian Division to have an example in our collection
The stone when tested by John and Megan gave the following properties ndash
RI 1550 ndash 1562 B+ 012 bir
SG 2675
Spectroscope ndash Weak Band Red (approx 630)
Broad Band in GreenBlue (approx 570)
UV LW - Weak Brown SW ndash Inert
The stone had yellow red banding (probably lamellae twinning) several growth tubes fractures and many small
crystals Literature from Dr Abduriyim suggests these tiny crystals ldquomayberdquo small native copper grains or platelets
these being a common inclusion in the Tibetan Andesine
Additions like this Andesine mean Tasmania Divisionrsquos gem collection continues to grow in both variety and
number I would like to thank John and Megan for their efforts in what is a very time consuming task
Rob Long Education Officer
Page 10
0 Donation
R io Tinto is donating its massive pink diamond found in February
this year at the Argyle mine to a Mel-bourne museum Museum Victorias Robin Hirst explained that Rio Tinto has a tradition of donating diamonds to the museum
The diamond which was previously 1276 carats has cut and polished down to a disappointing eight carats The stone is believed to have had a single major internal fault line that put the stone at risk if cutting continued so Rio decided instead to donate the partially finished stone to Museum Victoria
While it WAS estimated to be worth around $12 million the cutting process has highlighted a number of internal flaws throughout the diamond which
have dramatically dropped its value
It was cut and polished as a single stone by Richard How Kim Kam who has worked for the mining company for more than twenty years
The individual who gets to wear this remarkable pink diamond will be in-credibly lucky indeed Argyle pink dia-monds manager Josephine Johnson stated according to Diamond News She went on to say that it is unprece-dented in the companys history It has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone and we may never see one like this again
While a price has not been set on the diamond according to Johnson pink diamonds typically outperform white diamond prices and have been known to cost up to $1 million per carat One of the miners previous high quality pink diamonds the Argyle Mystra was only 202 carats
Fire Opal Page 11
T his Edwardian pendant came into the workshop of Geoff Roberts ldquojeweller of this townrdquo for identification from a client named Jane with a bit of a story
Turns out that her Grandfather had a fairly savage gambling habit (just the Gee-Gees) but occasionally had a win and presumably to placate her would buy long suffering Grandma the occasional piece of frippery
Dressed with very fine chain and typical Edwardian trickle of old mine cut 3 pt diamonds with the top stone of about 5mm set into white gold
Geoff thought the orange translucent stones were most likely Mexican fire opal and thus they proved to be after some simple gemmological tests Fairly soft and not well polished showing wear but a unique and lovely piece of jewellery from the 1920s still in its original box and probably made in London where it was purchased
The gemstone fire opal is a rarer type of opal that is found mainly in Mexico There are two different varieties of fire opal The first type of fire opal is a red orange or yellow and has translucent features and a minimal amount of colour play The second type of fire opal is a brownish colour and has similar play or colour as the precious opal The colour range of the fire opal gemstone can be anywhere from a reddish brown to an orange yellowish shade The most favoured fire opal stones are those with a burnt autumn red-orange colour Opal represents the birthstone for those born in the month of October and are considered to be very delicate stones The price of fire opal is determined by a number of different factors including the stonersquos transparency and colour as well as the play of colour the stone may feature These types of gemstones are soft and therefore susceptible to easy scratching as well as fading and cracking The fire opal is rated between a 55 and a 6 on the Mohs scale for stone hardness which is considered to be soft These types of stones also have an aversion to extremely dry atmospheres If they do not have enough water content they will begin to dry and possible fade or crack Fire opal can range in transparency between showing a slight cloudy appearance to being translucent or even transparent Stones that show a more transparent or translucent clarity are considered to be of a higher grade versus those with a cloudy appearance Fire opals are mainly found and mined in Mexico which is known for having the finest quality of these opals available They can also be found in Brazil Guatemala across the United States as well as Australia
Page 8
Rare Red Andesine joins our Collection Page 9
T wo of our recent graduates ndash Megan Dickens and John De Ruyter have undertaken to continue the arduous task
of updating and cataloguing our gem collection
One of the recent additions to the collection is the unusual and controversial RedYellow Andesine (plagioclase
feldspar) from Bainang Country Tibet Dr Ahmadjan Abduriyim donated some rough examples of this Andesine to
Tasmania Division on his visit to the state in 2010 and John has kindly facetted one of the pieces thus enabling
Tasmanian Division to have an example in our collection
The stone when tested by John and Megan gave the following properties ndash
RI 1550 ndash 1562 B+ 012 bir
SG 2675
Spectroscope ndash Weak Band Red (approx 630)
Broad Band in GreenBlue (approx 570)
UV LW - Weak Brown SW ndash Inert
The stone had yellow red banding (probably lamellae twinning) several growth tubes fractures and many small
crystals Literature from Dr Abduriyim suggests these tiny crystals ldquomayberdquo small native copper grains or platelets
these being a common inclusion in the Tibetan Andesine
Additions like this Andesine mean Tasmania Divisionrsquos gem collection continues to grow in both variety and
number I would like to thank John and Megan for their efforts in what is a very time consuming task
Rob Long Education Officer
Page 10
0 Donation
R io Tinto is donating its massive pink diamond found in February
this year at the Argyle mine to a Mel-bourne museum Museum Victorias Robin Hirst explained that Rio Tinto has a tradition of donating diamonds to the museum
The diamond which was previously 1276 carats has cut and polished down to a disappointing eight carats The stone is believed to have had a single major internal fault line that put the stone at risk if cutting continued so Rio decided instead to donate the partially finished stone to Museum Victoria
While it WAS estimated to be worth around $12 million the cutting process has highlighted a number of internal flaws throughout the diamond which
have dramatically dropped its value
It was cut and polished as a single stone by Richard How Kim Kam who has worked for the mining company for more than twenty years
The individual who gets to wear this remarkable pink diamond will be in-credibly lucky indeed Argyle pink dia-monds manager Josephine Johnson stated according to Diamond News She went on to say that it is unprece-dented in the companys history It has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone and we may never see one like this again
While a price has not been set on the diamond according to Johnson pink diamonds typically outperform white diamond prices and have been known to cost up to $1 million per carat One of the miners previous high quality pink diamonds the Argyle Mystra was only 202 carats
Fire Opal Page 11
T his Edwardian pendant came into the workshop of Geoff Roberts ldquojeweller of this townrdquo for identification from a client named Jane with a bit of a story
Turns out that her Grandfather had a fairly savage gambling habit (just the Gee-Gees) but occasionally had a win and presumably to placate her would buy long suffering Grandma the occasional piece of frippery
Dressed with very fine chain and typical Edwardian trickle of old mine cut 3 pt diamonds with the top stone of about 5mm set into white gold
Geoff thought the orange translucent stones were most likely Mexican fire opal and thus they proved to be after some simple gemmological tests Fairly soft and not well polished showing wear but a unique and lovely piece of jewellery from the 1920s still in its original box and probably made in London where it was purchased
The gemstone fire opal is a rarer type of opal that is found mainly in Mexico There are two different varieties of fire opal The first type of fire opal is a red orange or yellow and has translucent features and a minimal amount of colour play The second type of fire opal is a brownish colour and has similar play or colour as the precious opal The colour range of the fire opal gemstone can be anywhere from a reddish brown to an orange yellowish shade The most favoured fire opal stones are those with a burnt autumn red-orange colour Opal represents the birthstone for those born in the month of October and are considered to be very delicate stones The price of fire opal is determined by a number of different factors including the stonersquos transparency and colour as well as the play of colour the stone may feature These types of gemstones are soft and therefore susceptible to easy scratching as well as fading and cracking The fire opal is rated between a 55 and a 6 on the Mohs scale for stone hardness which is considered to be soft These types of stones also have an aversion to extremely dry atmospheres If they do not have enough water content they will begin to dry and possible fade or crack Fire opal can range in transparency between showing a slight cloudy appearance to being translucent or even transparent Stones that show a more transparent or translucent clarity are considered to be of a higher grade versus those with a cloudy appearance Fire opals are mainly found and mined in Mexico which is known for having the finest quality of these opals available They can also be found in Brazil Guatemala across the United States as well as Australia
Rare Red Andesine joins our Collection Page 9
T wo of our recent graduates ndash Megan Dickens and John De Ruyter have undertaken to continue the arduous task
of updating and cataloguing our gem collection
One of the recent additions to the collection is the unusual and controversial RedYellow Andesine (plagioclase
feldspar) from Bainang Country Tibet Dr Ahmadjan Abduriyim donated some rough examples of this Andesine to
Tasmania Division on his visit to the state in 2010 and John has kindly facetted one of the pieces thus enabling
Tasmanian Division to have an example in our collection
The stone when tested by John and Megan gave the following properties ndash
RI 1550 ndash 1562 B+ 012 bir
SG 2675
Spectroscope ndash Weak Band Red (approx 630)
Broad Band in GreenBlue (approx 570)
UV LW - Weak Brown SW ndash Inert
The stone had yellow red banding (probably lamellae twinning) several growth tubes fractures and many small
crystals Literature from Dr Abduriyim suggests these tiny crystals ldquomayberdquo small native copper grains or platelets
these being a common inclusion in the Tibetan Andesine
Additions like this Andesine mean Tasmania Divisionrsquos gem collection continues to grow in both variety and
number I would like to thank John and Megan for their efforts in what is a very time consuming task
Rob Long Education Officer
Page 10
0 Donation
R io Tinto is donating its massive pink diamond found in February
this year at the Argyle mine to a Mel-bourne museum Museum Victorias Robin Hirst explained that Rio Tinto has a tradition of donating diamonds to the museum
The diamond which was previously 1276 carats has cut and polished down to a disappointing eight carats The stone is believed to have had a single major internal fault line that put the stone at risk if cutting continued so Rio decided instead to donate the partially finished stone to Museum Victoria
While it WAS estimated to be worth around $12 million the cutting process has highlighted a number of internal flaws throughout the diamond which
have dramatically dropped its value
It was cut and polished as a single stone by Richard How Kim Kam who has worked for the mining company for more than twenty years
The individual who gets to wear this remarkable pink diamond will be in-credibly lucky indeed Argyle pink dia-monds manager Josephine Johnson stated according to Diamond News She went on to say that it is unprece-dented in the companys history It has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone and we may never see one like this again
While a price has not been set on the diamond according to Johnson pink diamonds typically outperform white diamond prices and have been known to cost up to $1 million per carat One of the miners previous high quality pink diamonds the Argyle Mystra was only 202 carats
Fire Opal Page 11
T his Edwardian pendant came into the workshop of Geoff Roberts ldquojeweller of this townrdquo for identification from a client named Jane with a bit of a story
Turns out that her Grandfather had a fairly savage gambling habit (just the Gee-Gees) but occasionally had a win and presumably to placate her would buy long suffering Grandma the occasional piece of frippery
Dressed with very fine chain and typical Edwardian trickle of old mine cut 3 pt diamonds with the top stone of about 5mm set into white gold
Geoff thought the orange translucent stones were most likely Mexican fire opal and thus they proved to be after some simple gemmological tests Fairly soft and not well polished showing wear but a unique and lovely piece of jewellery from the 1920s still in its original box and probably made in London where it was purchased
The gemstone fire opal is a rarer type of opal that is found mainly in Mexico There are two different varieties of fire opal The first type of fire opal is a red orange or yellow and has translucent features and a minimal amount of colour play The second type of fire opal is a brownish colour and has similar play or colour as the precious opal The colour range of the fire opal gemstone can be anywhere from a reddish brown to an orange yellowish shade The most favoured fire opal stones are those with a burnt autumn red-orange colour Opal represents the birthstone for those born in the month of October and are considered to be very delicate stones The price of fire opal is determined by a number of different factors including the stonersquos transparency and colour as well as the play of colour the stone may feature These types of gemstones are soft and therefore susceptible to easy scratching as well as fading and cracking The fire opal is rated between a 55 and a 6 on the Mohs scale for stone hardness which is considered to be soft These types of stones also have an aversion to extremely dry atmospheres If they do not have enough water content they will begin to dry and possible fade or crack Fire opal can range in transparency between showing a slight cloudy appearance to being translucent or even transparent Stones that show a more transparent or translucent clarity are considered to be of a higher grade versus those with a cloudy appearance Fire opals are mainly found and mined in Mexico which is known for having the finest quality of these opals available They can also be found in Brazil Guatemala across the United States as well as Australia
Page 10
0 Donation
R io Tinto is donating its massive pink diamond found in February
this year at the Argyle mine to a Mel-bourne museum Museum Victorias Robin Hirst explained that Rio Tinto has a tradition of donating diamonds to the museum
The diamond which was previously 1276 carats has cut and polished down to a disappointing eight carats The stone is believed to have had a single major internal fault line that put the stone at risk if cutting continued so Rio decided instead to donate the partially finished stone to Museum Victoria
While it WAS estimated to be worth around $12 million the cutting process has highlighted a number of internal flaws throughout the diamond which
have dramatically dropped its value
It was cut and polished as a single stone by Richard How Kim Kam who has worked for the mining company for more than twenty years
The individual who gets to wear this remarkable pink diamond will be in-credibly lucky indeed Argyle pink dia-monds manager Josephine Johnson stated according to Diamond News She went on to say that it is unprece-dented in the companys history It has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone and we may never see one like this again
While a price has not been set on the diamond according to Johnson pink diamonds typically outperform white diamond prices and have been known to cost up to $1 million per carat One of the miners previous high quality pink diamonds the Argyle Mystra was only 202 carats
Fire Opal Page 11
T his Edwardian pendant came into the workshop of Geoff Roberts ldquojeweller of this townrdquo for identification from a client named Jane with a bit of a story
Turns out that her Grandfather had a fairly savage gambling habit (just the Gee-Gees) but occasionally had a win and presumably to placate her would buy long suffering Grandma the occasional piece of frippery
Dressed with very fine chain and typical Edwardian trickle of old mine cut 3 pt diamonds with the top stone of about 5mm set into white gold
Geoff thought the orange translucent stones were most likely Mexican fire opal and thus they proved to be after some simple gemmological tests Fairly soft and not well polished showing wear but a unique and lovely piece of jewellery from the 1920s still in its original box and probably made in London where it was purchased
The gemstone fire opal is a rarer type of opal that is found mainly in Mexico There are two different varieties of fire opal The first type of fire opal is a red orange or yellow and has translucent features and a minimal amount of colour play The second type of fire opal is a brownish colour and has similar play or colour as the precious opal The colour range of the fire opal gemstone can be anywhere from a reddish brown to an orange yellowish shade The most favoured fire opal stones are those with a burnt autumn red-orange colour Opal represents the birthstone for those born in the month of October and are considered to be very delicate stones The price of fire opal is determined by a number of different factors including the stonersquos transparency and colour as well as the play of colour the stone may feature These types of gemstones are soft and therefore susceptible to easy scratching as well as fading and cracking The fire opal is rated between a 55 and a 6 on the Mohs scale for stone hardness which is considered to be soft These types of stones also have an aversion to extremely dry atmospheres If they do not have enough water content they will begin to dry and possible fade or crack Fire opal can range in transparency between showing a slight cloudy appearance to being translucent or even transparent Stones that show a more transparent or translucent clarity are considered to be of a higher grade versus those with a cloudy appearance Fire opals are mainly found and mined in Mexico which is known for having the finest quality of these opals available They can also be found in Brazil Guatemala across the United States as well as Australia
Fire Opal Page 11
T his Edwardian pendant came into the workshop of Geoff Roberts ldquojeweller of this townrdquo for identification from a client named Jane with a bit of a story
Turns out that her Grandfather had a fairly savage gambling habit (just the Gee-Gees) but occasionally had a win and presumably to placate her would buy long suffering Grandma the occasional piece of frippery
Dressed with very fine chain and typical Edwardian trickle of old mine cut 3 pt diamonds with the top stone of about 5mm set into white gold
Geoff thought the orange translucent stones were most likely Mexican fire opal and thus they proved to be after some simple gemmological tests Fairly soft and not well polished showing wear but a unique and lovely piece of jewellery from the 1920s still in its original box and probably made in London where it was purchased
The gemstone fire opal is a rarer type of opal that is found mainly in Mexico There are two different varieties of fire opal The first type of fire opal is a red orange or yellow and has translucent features and a minimal amount of colour play The second type of fire opal is a brownish colour and has similar play or colour as the precious opal The colour range of the fire opal gemstone can be anywhere from a reddish brown to an orange yellowish shade The most favoured fire opal stones are those with a burnt autumn red-orange colour Opal represents the birthstone for those born in the month of October and are considered to be very delicate stones The price of fire opal is determined by a number of different factors including the stonersquos transparency and colour as well as the play of colour the stone may feature These types of gemstones are soft and therefore susceptible to easy scratching as well as fading and cracking The fire opal is rated between a 55 and a 6 on the Mohs scale for stone hardness which is considered to be soft These types of stones also have an aversion to extremely dry atmospheres If they do not have enough water content they will begin to dry and possible fade or crack Fire opal can range in transparency between showing a slight cloudy appearance to being translucent or even transparent Stones that show a more transparent or translucent clarity are considered to be of a higher grade versus those with a cloudy appearance Fire opals are mainly found and mined in Mexico which is known for having the finest quality of these opals available They can also be found in Brazil Guatemala across the United States as well as Australia
