Diamond Jim: "What is Zultanite?"
A customer came in a while back and was talking to me and asked, “what is Zultanite?”. This was an absolutely great question. And she caught me totally off guard. I must say…that is not easy to do. Although I’ve heard of zultanite, this is not a common stone to find in jewelry. Also, never having any dealings with zultanite whatsoever, I had no idea of the value, rarity, country of origin, hardness, suitability for jewelry, etc. I thought my customer was playing “Stump the Jeweler”. The question made me do some research concerning something about which I admittedly knew very little. I love to learn something new every day, and this customer received accolades for this day. I’ll pass the info on to each of you now.
Zultanite is an extremely rare gemstone used in jewelry design. Zultanite changes color in light, ranging from a kiwi green with flashes of yellow in sunlight conditions to raspberry hues in candlelight. Zultanite is relatively new to the jewelry world (commercial production started in 2006) and is only found via one source in the world: a remote mountain area in Anatolia, Turkey. Zultanite as a Type II transparent gemstone, meaning that it is usually eye-clean (no visible inclusions when the gem is examined approximately 6 inches from the naked eye) with some inclusions visible under 10x magnification. Zultanite registers 7 out of 10 on the Mohs’ Hardness Scale (a system devised in the 18th century by a Viennese mineralogist Friedrich Mohs to measure the ability of a gem to resist surface scratching), has a refractive index of 1.75 and specific gravity of 3.39. These characteristics make zultanite an excellent jewelry gemstone. As 100% natural gemstone, zultanite is one of the few gems that has no known enhancements or treatments.
Zultanite®® changes in price-per-carat by carat weight. The price of a Zultanite® stone for sale ranges from $500-$10,000 per carat at retail. Zultanite is available from Pineforest Jewelry by special order only. And we can design a custom ring for you in which to mount this exceptionally beautiful stone. In addition, Pineforest Jewelry can provide a “Storybook” slideshow/video to you capturing the entire creation of your ring from drawing to finished piece!
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