Superb 19thC Antique Natural 1/3ct Russian Alexandrite

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Click to see 1200 CD's, antique gemstones and handcrafted jewelry items on our eBay store! Exceptionally Good Quality Antique Nineteenth Century Genuine Natural Handcrafted Russian Color Change One-Third Carat Faceted Oval Cut Alexandrite Precious Gemstone. CLASSIFICATION: Faceted Alexandrite Oval. ORIGIN: Russia, 19th Century. SIZE : Length: 5mm. Width: 3mm. Thickness (Depth): 2mm. All measurements approximate. WEIGHT : Approximately 0.31 carats. NOTES : Upon request we can set your gemstones as a ring, pendant, or as earrings (click for more information). DETAIL: Beware! The vast majority of alexandrite offered in the USA is synthetic. The American Gemological Institute estimates that less than 1 in every 100,000 Americans has ever even seen genuine, natural alexandrite. This is a stunning, brilliant, gorgeous, rare, natural green alexandrite gemstone from the Ural Mountains of Russia. The gemstone was hand crafted and faceted by a 19th century Russian artisan, part of an heritage renown for the production of the elaborate gemstones and jewelry of the Czars of Medieval, Renaissance, and Victorian Russia. As you can see in these photo enlargements, the gemstone is absolutely clean to the unaided eye of the casual admirer. Even in these 600% photo enlargements it is exceedingly difficult to discern what blemishes that the gemstone might possess. It may be conservatively described as “eye clean”. The gemstone is green, when it is so inclined, at least. The color under most lighting conditions is the classic alexandrite green, reminiscent of both peridot and emerald. However under strong white light, the stone magically transforms itself into a hue ranging from a bright rose-peach to a saturated blue-violet. No matter what light source we used to image this gemstone, whether scanner or camera, it turned color. In hand, under most lighting conditions, it is most assuredly green. But the charm of these remarkable gemstones, at least in the higher qualities, is the dramatic color change they are capable of. And true to its reputation, the light of the scanner turned this precious gemstone rose-peach, a decent digital camera showed the color as blue-violet. All of these pictures are of the same gemstone! The color depends upon the light source (color spectrum) and intensity/brightness. This remarkable gemstone is capable of all of those colors, a true chameleon, quite an extraordinary precious gemstone. The green images were produced using a filter which suppresses the normal color change so as to produce an image of matching color (to show you the normal color of the gemstone). But the remaining images which were produced with a high definition scanner and a high quality Nikon digital camera give more detail and show you what the gemstone looks like when “fully illuminated”. This fascinating and sumptuous gemstone was hand crafted into this sparkling faceted oval in 19th century Russia, the fabled land of the incredibly sophisticated, sumptuous gemstones and jewelry of the Czars. It is a gorgeous gemstone, full of fire and sparkle, vibrant, and possessing good clarity and color. It is truly a special little gemstone, quite rare. It’s not a large gemstone (though for alexandrite, it is a reasonably appreciable size), but it would make into a nice ring. And of course a pair would make lovely studs. Under magnification the gemstone shows the unmistakable characteristics of having been hand crafted. The coarseness of the 19th century finish is considered appealing to most gemstone collectors, and is not considered a detriment, or detract from the value of a gemstone. These characteristics are not only expected of hand-finished gemstones, most serious collectors consider such gemstones more desirable, possessed of greater character and uniqueness when compared to today's cookie-cutter mass-produced machine-faceted gemstones. Unlike today’s computer controlled machine produced gemstones, the cut and finish of a... read more

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