Six Jerry Newman and Dan Stair recuts: tourmaline, zircon, tsavorite, tanzanite, hessonite

[Polyhex]

I thought I would share the before and after for six recuts that Jerry Newman of Gemartservices. and Dan Stair of Customgemstones.com did for me in the last month.

I think they are both incredibly talented, and I've had excellent results. Part of getting the excellent results is describing what I like to see in colored stones, and exactly what I like and dislike about the stones as they are.

This will take a few posts to stay within the Pricescope image limit, so I'll start with the two from Dan Stair.

Neon Pink Tourmaline:

Went from 4.82 to 3.4 without a loss of face up size. I loved the color of this stone but the optics were really strange, even though the oval was not overly long it split into two colors on either side, and the cut looked bifurcated like butt cheeks. This was an inexpensive stone from Pakistan of Afghan origin. It did not match the seller's photos so I can't recommend them. I asked Dan to fix the cut any way he saw fit.

Before:



After -- now the color is symmetrical and the varied colors look like flames inside the stone, not two separate halves.




Teal blue indocolite tourmaline:

This was a large Afghan tourmaline from Haris_gems_93 which was a great match for his photos and I bought planning to recut it. The stone was a beautiful color but the mixed cut was poorly executed and it was "off" most of the time. However, it doesn't shift much in outdoor vs. crappy indoor lighting, which was a big plus for me. It does not have a completely open C-axis which gives it this medium tone.

It went from 16.49 to 10.32 cts and from 14 x 13.7 to 12.85 square. I am pretty sure Dan could have fixed the cut with less weight loss if I had given him free reign, but I asked him to turn it into an old mine cut.

Before - the stone "on"



Before - the stone "off"



After






Incandescent light - you can see it shifts green but the effect is quite pleasing!




Overall, the cut improved saturation in the center, and lost a bit of saturation around the edges, which is a fair trade for me.

Next up Jerry's stones...

 

[Polyhex]

Now for Jerry Newman's stones.

First up is a blazing red Hessonite garnet. This was an inexpensive stone cut in Pakistan of African origin. I LOVE LOVE LOVED the color of the stone but the problem was that with the mixed step cut, the stone was either "on" and blazing red or "off" and murky brown. It also came with chips that the seller didn't disclose to me.

I asked Jerry to recut the bottom only to give it chunky brilliant facets. He used old mine faceting on the bottom, without a culet. The crown of the stone was already a good match for old mine faceting.

Went from 9.7 to 8.29 with no loss of face up size.

Before - gloriously "on"


Before - sadly "off"


After - Jerry did an AMAZING job. The stone is now always at least partially on, so even when it's dark there are always red flames inside it. The stone looks equally great in sunlight and incandescent indoor light. To me it looks like a flame opal at a much less expensive price point.





Dark, incandescent light. You can see how even when the stone is dark it always has red flames now.



Bright incandescent light



Next up more stones by Jerry Newman...

 

[Polyhex]

This is an antique, transitional-cut zircon from an early 20th century engagement ring. It was already beautifully cut but the crown was extremely worn from being loved over so many years. Jerry redid the crown in the same cut for a tiny weight loss, face up size stayed the same.

Went from 5 cts to 4.87.

Before



After, restored to glory

 

[Polyhex]

Next up, a "free tsavorite" -- I won an auction based on what I was willing to pay for 10 .2+ ct diamonds, and they came in a ring with a lumpy, included, insanely shallow and windowed tsavorite. I told Jerry to do whatever he could to make something of the stone and WOW did he ever impress me.

Went from 2.23cts around 8.5 x 8 x 4.3 to 1.68cts and 8.4 x 6.9 x 4.2.

Edit - this one also has a cleavage plane across the entire stone which he was concerned could become obvious or cause the stone to break during recutting. Since it was a "free tsavorite" and so ugly it was unsettable for me, I told him to go ahead. After the recut, the plane is invisible.

Before

-





After - I can't even describe how much he improved the saturation of the stone with the recut. My phone hates green, it is even more neon and saturated in person, like a glowing shard of Kryptonite!

 

[Acinom]

What an amazing post! The recutters did such an amazing job. All your beautiful stones came to life. You now even have a more amazing collection

 

[Polyhex]

Finally, we have a tanzanite which I did not realize had internal feathers/fractures when I bought it, as the top of the stone was so worn down and marked up. This is one where I would not have bought it if I had realized it had that problem, but Jerry Newman still did a great job of recutting it without damaging the stone. I told him that if it broke during the recut, it was on me and we would make two small tanzanites instead. It was a good learning experience to be cautious of heavily damaged stones.

Went from 3.55 to 2.81 and small loss of diameter.

Before




After



The fractures are hard to see except when the stone is held in tweezers with light entering from the back and sides as well..



I think I will probably be able to set it as the stone survived the pressures of being recut.

 

[Rfisher]

This is so interesting!
Thank you for sharing with us all the info and pictures.
They all are really gorgeous!

 

[2Neesers]

Congratulations on your recuts! It‘s so helpful and educational to see your before and after pictures. The stones are beautifu!

 

[arkieb1]

Wow they all look amazing after the recuts!!!

 

[Burmesedaze]

What a great learning journey on recuts and every stone now looks 100% gorgeous!

 

[icy_jade]

oh I love this. Thanks for sharing. The recuts look so much better! ... am still gathering courage to do recuts but your success is definitely inspirational.

 

[dk168]

Thanks for the before and after photos, very useful, as well as being very nice eye candies!

DK

 

[paragon1234]

Was the cost of recutting them much less than the cost of the stones? I could do with a UK based lapidarist offering recutting at reasonable prices.

 

[Polyhex]

@Acinom @Rfisher @2Neezers @arkieb1 @Burmesedaze @icy_jade @dk168 I'm super glad the post is helpful and thank you so much!

@paragon1234 these recuts cost from 120 (half stone, straightforward work) to 200 (full stone, most complicated) in USD. I personally find the pricing very reasonable to go from "meh" or even unusable to "WOW!" I tend to buy larger bargain stones so there is more material for them to work with.

I've had 8 stones recut including a diamond and been very happy with the outcomes. The only one I wouldn't do over again is I wouldn't have bought the tanzanite if I knew it had the fractures, and that's my error, not the cutter's.

Part of getting the great results is to be able to tell the cutter exactly what you like and dislike. I like dramatic cuts with strong contrast and play of light in the faceting, and I like cuts that always have at least a few facets "on" in dim lighting and when they are tilted.

It probably helps that I tend to buy vivid colors and so there is a lot of color to work with in the cut, and less risk of unacceptable desaturation in the recut.

I am packaging up a few more stones for Jerry now. I also find Dan Stair's work exquisite but he is very backed up right now as he does a lot of work for dealers in addition to cutting his own rough, so I won't bug him again until sometime in the new year.

 

[Module]

Very impressive recut results! When you buy stones with the intention to recut, do you let Jerry or Dan evaluate them if they are good candidate for recut before pulling the trigger?

 

[Stone Hunter]

WOW they did a wonderful job!

Congrats on your "new" beautiful stones.

 

[lovedogs]

oh my goodness these are incredible recuts! It's incredible what a talented recutter can do with a "meh" stone that has good bones. It goes from "meh" to "WOW!"

 

[Polyhex]

Very impressive recut results! When you buy stones with the intention to recut, do you let Jerry or Dan evaluate them if they are good candidate for recut before pulling the trigger?

In my case, no because I am buying "bargain" stones that in exchange for low pricing are not returnable or not easily returnable (traditional live auctions and direct from the source.)

A good candidate for a recut is a stone that is larger and in particular deeper than you need it to be, with vivid / saturated color, and not so expensive that every loss of carat is going to hurt. I also try to make sure that I would not be distraught if it broke, though if a stone survived cutting once, it is highly likely to survive a recut. If I couldn't afford to replace the stone, I wouldn't recut it, but I also wouldn't want to own jewelry that I couldn't afford to replace.

 

[Cerulean]

What a fabulous thread! I’m astounded by each and every one! Thank you for sharing with us

 

[lulu_ma]

@Polyhex ALL gorgeous! But that indicolite tourmaline is my fave I so want one like that one!

 

[CSpan]

What a fun journey! Everything turned out so well. I especially love the OMC, genius.

 

[Mreader]

I’m late to this thread but what lovely transformations!! I read about those beautiful zircons in your previous thread and I was wondering did you ever put the other one in that cherub setting?

 

[Polyhex]

What a fabulous thread! I’m astounded by each and every one! Thank you for sharing with us

Thank you so much! It's my pleasure and I hope it helps anyone considering a recut.

@Polyhex ALL gorgeous! But that indicolite tourmaline is my fave I so want one like that one!

Thank you!! I was nervous but it turned out soooo well!! Dan used a well known facet diagram so any good lapidary artist can do it, but you would probably need to have it custom cut or recut like I did.

What a fun journey! Everything turned out so well. I especially love the OMC, genius.

Thank you soooo much! Dan's cut makes the material even more beautiful.

I’m late to this thread but what lovely transformations!! I read about those beautiful zircons in your previous thread and I was wondering did you ever put the other one in that cherub setting?

Thank you!! Cjd_Sako on instagram has it right now. I am guessing he will get to it within the next month... it's an adorable little old cut and I can't wait to see it in that antique setting. I will definitely post it when he's finished! The deep blue zircon from this thread that Jerry Newman repaired has been set, and I will post its new home soon.

 

[bright&shiny]

@Polyhex - what a fantastic thread! I’m curious about your size cutoff (minimum) for buying your stones. So what settings await your new beauties? And what other treasures are you sending off to be reclaimed?