Gems & Gemology Articles, Summer 2010

Two good articles have appeared in Gems and Gemology Magazine, which is published by GIA - The Gemological Institute of America. http://www.gia.edu

The Wittlesbach-Graff and Hope Diamonds: Not Cut from the Same Rough

As the title indicates these two diamonds, thought to possibly be from the same piece of rough, have been determined to have come from two different pieces of diamond rough.

All That Glitters heard this information first hand before any articles had been published because of an unexpected discussion over dinner in Tucson of 2010. A number of distinguished members of the gem related trade/community assembled for dinner at the invite of All That Glitters. This included a former colored gemstone editor, a well known facetor and a few custom jewelers. The topic of conversation was soon opened up by the past editor of a well known jewelry/gemstone magazine. He was unexpectedly invited to the Smithsonian to perform some of the photography and be present when these two important historical diamonds were studied side by side. This gentleman slid his laptop computer around the table as we viewed still images and video clips of these two famous diamonds, while he told his story of how he even got to photograph the Hope Diamond while in his hand.

The owner of All That Glitters was also friends of art dealer who was raised/lived in NYC area and who went to school with Evalyn Walsh McLean's daughter (Ms. McLean was the last owner of the Hope Diamond prior to it's arrival at the Smithsonian). He said that he had even held it during one of his visits to the McLean's household. This same gentleman also had the good fortune to know Mr. Gallo, of the famous Gallo Wine Family - Mr. Gallo had given him a small painting by one of the Dutch Masters! Though this acquaintance of the owner of All That Glitters has had good luck, the McLean family had the opposite luck. Mr. McLean left Evalyn for another woman, lost his fortune and ended up in an asylum. Their son was killed in a car accident, and the daughter mentioned above, died of a drug overdose.

To learn more about the interesting history of the Hope Diamond, visit the following link:
http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/hope/hmain.html

Play-of-Color Opal from Wegel Tena, Wollo Province, Ethiopia

This relatively new find of Opal from Ethiopia has been taking the gem trade by storm, so to say. Previous material from this country tended to be chocolate brown as well as what one normally thinks of Opal. The older material had a tendency to crack. With this new find, the material has been quite stable and the colors span the rainbow, displaying play of color in various patterns. They are gemologically interesting as when they are placed into water, they become entirely transparent. Upon drying, they return to their original body color. This is called Hydrophane Opal. To quote the article - "Tena Opals become transparent when soaked in water, showing a remarkable hydrophane character....the white, opaque to translucent opals are remarkably durable...(the deposit) could become a major source of gem-quality opal...The Wegel Tena area has the potential to become a leading supplier of high-quality white play-of-color opal."

Some are saying that it is equivalent to fine Australian Opal. To view a few pieces of our Ethiopian Opal, visit the link below - we show an example of a before and after photo of a piece exposed to water; also, we have 3 cabs displayed on the page. Just scroll down until you see Opal! < Newly Photographed Gemstones >