|
High quality
cabs cut from material from around the world. Beautiful cabs cut from
sugilite. All cabs cut with bevel
and satin finish backs to facilitate settings. Backs of stones can be polished
at clients request for no extra charge.
The story of Sugilite
(Excepted from an email from my supplier
Jaco)
The Kalahari Manganese
field is the largest manganese deposit of it's kind in the world. The mines are
privately owned and worked exclusively for manganese ore. Sugilite is one of the
by-products of these mines. The mines have no interest in it though and all the
sugilite gets crushed with the ore and shipped off to be refined. Over years the
sugilite became known to the jewel industry and became very sought after for
it's purple color, but the mine still shows no interest in this material as an
source of income and it still gets crushed with the ore.
Workers at the mine were not unaware of this fact and with a demand for
sugilite in the market, saw this as an extra source of income. Today there is a
whole informal market for sugilite at the source. The miners actually take the
sugilite from the mine and sell it to local based dealers from which we are
supplied. If any of the miners get caught removing any type of rock from the
mine they are dismissed. This makes it dangerous for them as they might lose
their jobs if caught and this, most of all, is the reason for the very high
price of sugilite itself.
Now, with this background I think you should have a better understanding of the
whole sugilite trade and market. As the Kalahari Manganese field is the only
source of workable sugilite in the world it is a well known fact that nothing on
the market at the moment came from anywhere else. The mine authorities also know
about the informal trade in Sugilite but although it is annoying to them there
is nothing they can do about it.
Sugilite is in general a deep earth mineral but occurs at different levels and
in a huge range of different shades and associations. Each pocket and vein found
is different in composition, color and association and this also change as the
veins move on.
| Gemstone |
Sugilite |
| Country of Origin |
Africa |
| Treatments |
None |
| Hardness |
5-6 |
|
