Fredos gems: KUNSITE – THE PINK LADY

GEMS AND GEMOLOGY

Gemology has been a fascinating hobby of mine for over 20 years, reading up “Gemstones of the World” by Walter Schumann, attending practical classes on coloured gemstones, and visiting gem mining areas. I acquired some pieces, both priced and less well known, of various colours, shapes and cuts from gem-producing areas like Burma,Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia etc. These have since grown to quite a collection.

Among the 63 gems species are: traditional gemstones - corundum(sapphire,ruby), beryl (emerald,aquamarine), fancy diamond; and others - spinel, chrysoberyl(cat's eye,alexandrite), tanzanite, garnet(tsavorite, spessartite,), tourmaline(rubellite,indocolite), zircon, topaz, quartz(amethyst,citrine), chalcedony(agate,chrysoprase), feldspar(moonstone,labradorite), kyanite, peridot, kunsite, scapolite, flourite and many other lesser known gemstones. (view complete list on blog archive on the right with traditional gemstones at the bottom. click on types of interest to you.)

I'm now divesting my collection. An abbreviated description is provided below each photo, including price. Example 1: m2(size ref) tq(turquoise gem) ov(oval shape) plgnbl(pale greenish blue colour) afg ( Afghanistan country) 3.82 (carat weight) (18.7x8.5mm)(dimensions LxW) in mm) op (opaque clarity) 175 (USD 175 price) 10b30 N18(ref no and location). Example 2:"sa (type sapphire), ov(shape oval), dpbl(colour deep blue), af(origin Africa), 4.43(weight in carat), (11.3x10.2x4.6mm)dimension LxWxD, ec(clarity eyeclean), 1k(price US$1000)".

Personal viewing can be done for friends in Singapore.

Those outside Singapore, purchase can be secured via registered post upon payment in USD(or Singapore equivalent) via paypal, money/postal order, account transfer/cheque (Singapore) or other mutually agreed arrangement. Do have a look and contact me for any other details.

Happy viewing!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

KUNSITE – THE PINK LADY

Kunsite is a relatively new gemstone which has become popular with collectors. Its lilac-pink colour comes from manganese and it has a vivid vitreous lustre. Though hard (7 MOH), its perfect cleavage makes it fragile. Strong pleochroism is easily seen in gem material when viewed from different angles ie colourless and pink. It is usually cut table facet and heated to enhance its pink colour. Named after gemmologist G F Kunz who described it in 1902, Kunsite comes from the family Spodumene, which includes the yellow variety Triphane and green variety Hiddenite.

Kunsite - the pink lady

e ku ovc pk afg 55.74(22x19.7x15.4)si 1k hb L45	e ku ov cats eye pk afg 54.21(20x17.5x16.5)tl 1.2k hb L90
g ku em ltpk br 33.09(29x13.8x8.5)ecu 1.15k 6b14 N47	h1 ku ov pk br 26.34(23x16.5x10.5)si 900 6b9 M71
h1 ku tr ltpk afg 24.28(17.7x12)ec 850 6b11 N61	h1 ku sqcu sfpk afg 23.73(15.8x15.4x13.8)si 830 6b9 M56
h1 bi-ku em y-pk br 22.43(23x11x9.4)ecu 1k 6b12 N56	h2 ku em pk afg 17.19(15.8x12.3x9)ec 860 6b10 NE172
h2 ku ov pk 18.55(17.8x13.8x11.3)si 650 6b10 M41	h2 ku cu pk 16.87(16.7x11.9x11.6)ec 845 6b13 T46
h2 ku ov lvpk br 16.63(18.1x12.8x9.7)cu 750 6b13 T80	h2 ku ov ltpk br 15.08(17.4x15.2x8.5)ec 600 6b13 N40
h ku lgem pk 12.42(25.3x8.5x5.5)ec 620 6b11 T37	h lgem lvpk 11.95(20x8x7)ec 600 6b10 N41
h ku em ltpk br 10.84(13x12.6x8)ec 450 6b13 N48	h bi-ku em gn-pk afg 10.28(13.6x10.9x8)c 515 6b12 N31
h ku em lvpk br 10.05(13.5x10.7x8.3)cu 500 6b13 N43	l1 ku em ltpk br 9.88(18x9.8x7)ec 500 6b12 N33
l1 ku ovce pk afg 9.87(14x10x7.7)tl 500 6b7 N18	l2ku ov pk 7.80(12.1x10.6x8.2)ec 500 6b10 T64
l3 ku em lvpk 6.03(10.7x8.8x6.7)ec 350 6b11T47	l ku bi-em y- pk 5.86(12.7x7.6x6.4)ec 350 6b10 T100
l ku ov lvpk afg 5.93(10.9x9x7.4)ec 300 6b11 N36	m1 ku em pk ma 4.72(10.4x8.5x6.3)ecu 250 6b13 N25