Moonstones

[Largosmom]

Well, maybe it's not a real secret, but I've had a yen for some moonstones for several months now. Thanks to pricescopers, and a bit of local shopping, I have a few now.

I purchased two faceted stones at a local gem show. These are rainbow moonstones and there was one larger and one smaller stone.

The cut on the larger stone is pretty horrible. It is full of inclusions...girdle chipped, really, not so pretty a stone. However it has a nice adularescence. Smaller one also has a nice sheen, cutting blech, but not bad for an inexpensive stone.

I ended up giving the larger stone to my local G.G./goldsmith/lapidary. He had given me a small cats eye moonstone earlier in the week and just really loved the stone...to me it got uglier every time I looked at it, lol...he's been quite generous with time, knowledge and a few stones out of his collection, so it was a nice trade.

 

[Largosmom]

Now for a couple of images of the smaller faceted moonstone. It's much better than the larger and I'm keeping that one. The yellowish color on this is not the stone...it's the lighting.

 

[Largosmom]

Now for the stones you have been waiting for...the stones from Barry at www.acstones.com. Thanks to the pricescopers for letting me know about the sale, I love love love these stones. They are VERY difficult to photograph however. You need a dimmer amount of lighting, and exactly the right angle for the camera to see the blue flash in the stones. I got lots of shots that look like pretty polished stones, but no or little blue.

They are so well polished, like drops of water with a sheen of royal blue in them.

Sorry..lots of Pics!

 

[Largosmom]

More photos, including some of all five, including the little cat's eye moonstone. You can compare blue flash to rainbow moonstone in a couple of the pictures.

 

[Largosmom]

Sorry, looks like a couple are the same photos.

Any ideas on setting see-through stones as a pendant or ring? I'm not sure what I'll do with the nice three, but I will set the smaller pair as earrings.

Laura

 

[cushioncutnut]

those are just lovely! Great pictures too! I vote to have one of the stones set east/west in a bezeled diamond halo ring!!

 

[oddoneout]

I was totally eying up the Barry stones myself. They're lovely.

 

[chrono]

Your Barry moonstones are gorgeous and I am forever crazy about moonstones. Sorry about the horrible inclusions in the rainbow moonstones as they show a pretty sheen. I find that they photograph much easier against a dark background because with them being translucent, light going through them makes them appear almost colourless. On a dark background, the sheen will show up easily while the rest of the creamy part is dimmed.

 

[brandy_z28]

I your Barry moonstones too!

 

[Largosmom]

These were a bear to try to photograph...I was lucky that someone pointed out the sale or I would be congratulating someone else right now!

I think my collection is getting pretty eclectic...I started out with a few small spinels, and am now branching out.

Laura

 

[T L]

Your moonstones are pretty.