Sphalerite (rare Colorado locality)

Item Description

Sphalerite is fairly rare in terms of faceted material, and stones from Colorado are very hard to find on the market. This particular stone was cut from a piece of rough collected off of the dumps of the Big Four Mine in 2004. It shows a very distinctive greenish-golden hue with a yellow overtone and some darker golden-brown zoning. This mix of colors is honestly characteristic for this locality. The stone was cut by Brett Kosnar of Kosnar Gem Co., and is only slightly included with an attractive "Oval Brilliant" cut. Truth be told, most Sphalerite gems from this locality have some sort of inclusions and are rarely seen in totally eye clean gems. The high refractive index of Sphalerite allows light to bounce around every side of the stone, and the density of the material makes for "heavy" gems, even in smaller sizes. A great collector's stone from a fairly obscure mine in Colorado.