GRADING REPORT RPR0292
- Identification: Natural Unheated & Untreated Rhodolite
- Carat: 2.92
- Shape: Roundish Drop
- Measures: 7.43x8.38x5.84 (millimeter)
- Color Grade: Very Good
- Tone: MD70
- Color Zoning: None
- Clarity: Free of Inclusions
- Cutting Grade: Very Good (see comment)
o Brilliancy: 50%
o Depth: 77%
- Origin: Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
- Treatment: None
Certificate No: GLC A65001 (see more images)
Overall Grade: Very Good
Comment: Thick roundish rhodolite with a comfortable far-eastern Buddha-Belly. Equally rich deep purplish red hue, with MD70 not too dark, although with some blackouts. Ruby-like deep mystic red, never even a hint of a flashy pink. Could (SHOULD) be re-cut into a round brilliant sparkler, resulting in an even more ruby-like gem with a far better luster, say up to 80%, btw a common effect when re-cutting from drop to round. The gem would not merely change 'a bit of shape' but more dramatically change its overall character. The comfortable 'couch-fat' on its sides would be slimmed away without any torture in the gym and without much loss of the front view, the face-up; from the now 8.38x7.34mm we would lose no more than a few mm in the axis, staying well above 7mm round, perhaps even 7.20. Seeing the quality of its facets in the side images, one may suspect that the last cutter aimed to stay over 3 carats but failed and did NOT re-cut. As so often with late-last-century lapidaries, the faceting quality is almost at precision level (see the orderly and well-formed bows under the girdle) yet the mental focus remains on weight retention (as in all the centuries before). But beware, you Western master-cutters, here are experienced lapidaries 'precision-cutting blind by hand', on shaky machines. All they need is a new strategic outlook to become your competitors at a fraction of cost. (What then, is your answer? My pet topic: Globalization in East and West). Our recommendation (for this rhodolite, not the thousands of lapidaries) is to add $200 to this bargain and turn it into a round brilliant-sparkling as-good-as-ruby show, all for less than a tenth of a 2.5+ carats ruby, ditching the blackouts while keeping its 7+mm face-up. As it is: a 3*NOS gem with as much as possible color before night sets in, no flaws only potential for improvements. Small but reliable early-test lab report (can be remade at IGI after re-cut), rainforest purchase at WLT and help for the pro-bono lawyers at the NhRP. Let us organize a re-cut and design a bespoke jewel to last generations. A master piece, be it ruby or rhodolite.
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