Taaffeite

Item Description

This cute trillion-cut example of a top rarity is almost a full carat. It is essentially colorless with a faint lavender- pink tone. A must have species for any rare gem collection! This came from an old collection without locality information, but it's likely from Sri Lanka. Taaffeite is one of the most famous and storied of the rare collector gem species. In 1945, gemologist Count Edward Charles Richard Taaffe of Dublin, Ireland, was sifting through a parcel of cut and polished stones. While examining them, he thought a small, mauve-colored gem that looked like spinel might actually be something different. Taaffe sent the gem to the Laboratory of the London Chamber of Commerce for testing. Researchers eventually confirmed it was a new species and named the stone after him. There is never more than a trickle of these on the market at any time, and far too few to satisfy demand. Its excellent hardness (8 to 8.5 on the Mohs scale) also makes it one of the very few great rarities that is suited for any jewelry use. Taaffeites tend to be largely desaturated colors - very muddy browns or purplish grays. So, this is a beautiful, and rare, collector stone. No treatment, this is natural color.