A zincite purchase

[AustenNut]

I know that before PS2 there were a couple of threads where people were wondering about zincite, but nobody owned any, or had seen any in real life. Well, I bought some and thought I would share the experience here.

Allen at All That Glitters was extraordinarily patient and helpful throughout the process, answering my numerous questions. I ended up buying two stones (but am returning one). I am keeping a 4.92 trillion (10mm) that makes me think of a faint yellow diamond. The dispersion is amazing, and it produces lots of fire, though I'm totally inept at capturing it with my camera.

I had also purchased an orange stone, and it holds its color in pretty much all lighting conditions. But it was too dark to show much of the dispersion (though the stone itself is not dark).

Without further ado, here are some pictures. And my apologies in advance for my poor gem photography skills. And the overcast day certainly has not helped matters.

The photo below shows the color of my trillion best.

Here is a hand shot to get a sense of the scale.

My best attempt at catching the fire.

 

[AustenNut]

One last photo of the zincite I'm keeping.

 

[packrat]

It's pretty! What will you be doing with it? I don't know anything about this stone-is it more a pendant stone or can it be a ring stone?

 

[Largosmom]

Very pretty stone. Not one I had heard of before, thanks for sharing it.

Laura

 

[Lady_Disdain]

AustenNut - do you know the origin of your stone? Zincite can be natural (rare), but it is also a side product of zinc smelting and it can be a synthetic.

Packrat - I would call zincite more of a collector's stone than a jewelry stone. It is soft (a 4 on Moh's), brittle and has perfect cleavage on one axis and partial cleavage on the second. Yikes!

 

[JewelFreak]

AustinNut, pretty stone! A couple of your photos do give an idea of the fire. Interesting to see, thanks for sharing.

--- Laurie

 

[Arkteia]

If it is a zinc ore, can its dispersion be comparable to that of sphalerite?

 

[packrat]

Yikes, a 4? Don't scowl at it or talk mean to it if it's that soft!

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Yikes, a 4? Don't scowl at it or talk mean to it if it's that soft!

My sphalerite (3.5) broke down in tears at your comment! LOL

 

[packrat]

Aw I'm such a meanie I'm sorry!

 

[AustenNut]

Zincite has a Mohs rating of 4-4.5, so it's definitely not recommended for ring wear. Earrings, pendants, and brooches should be fine (this one is intended to become a pendant).

http://www.atggems.com/Zincite.htm has more info on zincite, including a link to an article with more technical info. The last line of the article addresses the synthetic issue. "These crystals cannot in reality be classed as 'man made', but more as being caused as a result of man." The stone I have was a by-product of Polish manufacturing plants (at least that's what ATG's website seems to indicate), though according to the article in Facetors Stone, there is some natural zincite in New Jersey, and a few other locations.

The RI is at 2.013, and according to ATG's website, the dispersion is actually higher than a diamond's though I couldn't find a number for it. (I believe it though because I was just at the jeweler and was taking a look at some of their yellow diamonds. My zincite was definitely firier.) I suspect that it's dispersion is similar to a sphalerite, but I couldn't say for sure.

And thanks for the compliments Packrat, LargosMom, and JewelFreak.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

I think it is going to look great as a pendant. What metal are you planning?

One age old trick for setting very soft stones is to use "alternate" tools for closing a soft metal bezel: Tim McCreigh recommends an old tooth brush handle, I have heard about chopsticks and one master jeweller used some of his wife's fake nails to set an absolutely priceless specimen ambar (while the customer watched!).

 

[Lovinggems]

Interesting stone, you'll need a skilled benchman/jeweller to set it.

 

[chrono]

You have a very interesting collection stone; with the softness, I’m not sure I’d even dare have it set in a pendant.

 

[AustenNut]

Thanks for the additional feedback LadyD, LovingGems, and Chrono. I'm planning on having the stone set in yellow gold, either bezeled or prong, depending on what my jeweler recommends. They've set apatite for me before, and they know their colored stones. The people there are very knowledgeable and they have several gemologists on staff. I trust them to tell me if they don't feel comfortable setting it, as they've told me before if there's something I have planned that they have doubts about. So, I'll let everyone know if the jeweler ends up feeling comfortable setting it, and I'll show pictures if it happens.

 

[beaujolais]

Absolutely beautiful.

Zincite is fascinating.

I have a really pretty light orange zincite pendant crystal pendant.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

You have a very interesting collection stone; with the softness, I’m not sure I’d even dare have it set in a pendant.

Andrew Sarosi has a sphelarite pendant on his site. Now That is one piece I want to see in my hands.

 

[shinyrocks]

What a beauty! Capturing dispersion on camera is tough, isn't it?? I've never been successful...

 

[colorluvr]

thanks for posting your pictures. I bought one from Ravenstein-Investment-Gems on ebay right before you started this thread, so of course it caught my interest. I asked Ales (owner) about the stone I purchased which originated in Kansas and this is what he told me.

"This Zincite was purchased form Galena, Kansas and is naturally occurring on man made deposits on smelter unlike totally man made Zincite from Poland and other places. This is why Zincite is called the Accidental gem by many....One interesting things about this Zincite, it has a few about 2 to 5mm diameter fuzzy spherical inclusions which were cut out of course.. but the inclusions were very interesting, perfect small spheres made of hundreds of microscopic crystals of some other mineral."

Apparently most US Zincite is found in New Jersey, which is why I questioned him about being from Kansas.

 

[AustenNut]

I'm rolling the dice on my zincite's safety right now. I went to the jeweler, and they think it's an iffy proposition. But they think it's likely enough to work that they're willing to try. So hopefully my zincite will soon be in a yellow gold prong setting (they said that a bezel was out of the question). I've been instructed to think happy thoughts about the setting, and hopefully y'all will join in sending some happy thoughts to the benchman so everything turns out well!

 

[colorluvr]

I've been instructed to think happy thoughts about the setting, and hopefully y'all will join in sending some happy thoughts to the benchman so everything turns out well!

Many happy thoughts out your way... of course I have a personal interest in how it turns out because I'd love to put mine in a pendant, but I'm not sure yet if I'm going to try it.

 

[AustenNut]

Thanks for the good wishes, Colorluvr. I just got home and saw I had a message from the jeweler and got all anxious. Turns out that my fiance's wedding band came in. So I guess no news is good news for the zincite! I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

 

[Harriet]

AustenNut,

Check out this zincite crystal: http://www.wordcraft.net/fluorescent5.html

 

[AustenNut]

Thanks, Harriet! I'll have to find a UV flight to see what kind of fluor my zincite has. Assuming, of course, it makes it through the setting process okay.

 

[AustenNut]

WOOHOO! I just got a call from the jeweler to say that my item is ready. Of course they close in 11 minutes so I can't pick it up today, but boy am I excited. So apparently it went through the setting process okay and now I get to pick it up. Yippee!!!

 

[AustenNut]

I am now wearing my new zincite pendant. When I went to the jewelry store to pick it up my salesman told me that the benchman didn't have any problems setting the stone, though he was appreciative of the head's up in terms of it's tremendous fragility.

I'm not a great photographer so there is no great photo shoot, but here are some picts of the final product.

 

[AustenNut]

 

[colorluvr]

WOOHOO! I just got a call from the jeweler to say that my item is ready. Of course they close in 11 minutes so I can't pick it up today, but boy am I excited. So apparently it went through the setting process okay and now I get to pick it up. Yippee!!!

Yippee! It looks gorgeous! I got mine in the mail and it's beautiful, but I doubt I'll be able to capture it in an IRL photo with my poor gemstone photo skills.

 

[platinumrock]

Wow, very pretty stone!! Its luster and dispersion reminds me of a yellow diamond.

Great choice on a pendant!

 

[AustenNut]

Thanks, Colorluvr and PlatinumRock! It does remind me of a yellow diamond, and am thoroughly enjoying it. Colorluvr, what color zincite did you get?