Axinite

Item Description

Axinite is a well-known species, but crystal are often very thin, and not suitable for cutting stones. Even if you can find a thick enough crystal to cut, you have to find one that is gem quality. Additionally, you have to factor in fact that Axinite is brittle and the crystals have good cleavage on the a{100} face, along with poor cleavage in a few other directions, so it takes a skilled hand to cut them. Here we have a nice collector's stone from a recent find in Pakistan. The area which produced this material is has produced little material in recent years. This stone has a saturated "cognac" hue with a "Brilliant Cushion" cut. To find a nearly 1 carat is very impressive, and this gem is very close to that weight, so it's not considered small by the standards of the material. It is difficult to find this material in clean stones, so inclusions are accepted by most collectors and dealers. This gem is has some slight inclusions, which is par for the course for Axinite stones. It also shows a bit of trichroic color-change when rotated in different directions. The color shifts from orange-brown to somewhat of a purplish-brown with slight greenish-yellow flashes when rotated in the light (best seen from the pavilion). Axinite is actually hard enough that it can be worn in jewelry, though it is a bit brittle, so I wouldn't recommend putting it in a ring, only a pendant.