Australian Gems

Australian Emerald

From Cleopatra to conquistadors, the lust for its rare, beautiful greens has made Emeralds one of the world’s most valuable gemstones. An antipodean twist on Beryl’s most prized variety, Australian Emerald hails from the Curlew Emerald Mine (Est 1976), a small deposit at a remote location in East Pilbara’s Shaw River District. In 2007 a small mine-to-market collective secured the exclusive mining rights to the Curlew Emerald Mine, and have been actively working the deposit since 2011. A truly ‘green’ gem, Australian Emerald is ethically and environmentally mined with exceptional value afforded by vertical-integration. Extremely important in today's gem and jewellery industry, nothing is lost to unnecessary middlemen, and provenance is assured. Emeralds from the Curlew Mine are incredibly scarce, and not readily available in the jewellery marketplace.

1. Beauty

May’s birthstone, Emerald’s main origins are Afghanistan, Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Russia (Ural Mountains), Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Measured in value, Colombia is the largest producer, followed by Zambia, Brazil, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Russia. Emerald’s name is derived from the Greek ‘smaragdos’, which means ‘green gem’, but as with Ruby and Sapphire for reds and blues, prior to scientific advances in the 18th century, the name was used for any green gemstone. For example, because Green Sapphire was sourced from the Far East it was once known as ‘Oriental Emerald’. The birthstone for May, Emerald is a member of the Beryl mineral family (from the ancient Greek ‘beryllos’, meaning blue-green stone), commonly known as the ‘mother of gemstones’ because of its highly regarded gem varieties. Pure Beryl is colourless and trace amounts of elements are responsible for producing Beryl’s wonderful colours. Apart from Emerald’s greens, other Beryl gemstones include Aquamarine blues, Golden Beryl yellows, Goshenite whites (colourless), Heliodor greenish-yellows, Morganite pinks, and Red Beryl reds. Emerald is coloured by trace amounts of chromium, vanadium and iron, with their relative concentrations causing an extraordinarily beautiful range of pastel to intense deep greens with varying degrees of bluish, brownish, greyish, and yellowish tints.

COLOUR IS KING: 4 Beauty & Value Criteria: Colour Purity, Transparency, Clarity & Brightness

COLOUR: Classic pure ‘emerald greens’ with a desirable medium to medium-light saturation (strength of colour) and tone (lightness or darkness of colour

BRILLIANCE & TRANSPARENCY: Translucent to semi-transparent, affording delicate ‘green fire’ brightness.

CLARITY: Included, characteristic trait and totally accepted, termed ‘jardin’ (French for ‘garden’). Aside from assured mine-to-market provenance, under 10X magnification their inclusions are Australian origin indicative.

CUTTING QUALITY: Optimally cut, excellent finish, outline, profile, proportions, and shape, maximising brightness and beauty. Expertly faceted in the legendary gemstone country of Thailand (Siam), home to some of the world’s best lapidaries. Cut quality is critical, as a skilled lapidary can locate Emeralds’ inherent inclusions to minimise their beauty impact!

COUNTRY: Curlew Emerald Mine, Shaw River District, East Pilbara Shire, WA. History prior to 1976 undocumented, but local folklore suggests it was discovered in the 20s. While Australia has over 30 Emerald mineral deposits located throughout NSW, TAS and WA, gem-quality crystals are extremely rare. Australian Emeralds have been commercially mined at four main deposits: Emmaville in NSW; and Poona, Menzies and Pilbara in WA.

ENHANCEMENT: Filled (minor clarity enhancement with a colourless liquid polymer resin). Regardless of origin, at least 99% of all cut Emeralds are sold with some sort of clarity enhancement, with at least 95% resin enhanced.

RARITY: A small deposit at a remote location, Curlew Mine’s Emeralds are incredibly scarce, and not readily available in the jewellery marketplace. With no gems unearthed at Curlew in 2022, Emerald mining resumed in 2023, but remains limited and sporadic. Currently semi-mechanised, Emeralds are extracted directly from their host rock via diggings extending up to 500 metres. Mining restricted to winter (June - August), when temperatures are around a palatable 20°C. While summers exceed 32°C almost daily, temperatures above a scorching 45°C are not unusual. Miner’s estimate only 1% of all Curlew Mine’s Emeralds are gem-quality, with approximately 80% weighing below one carat.

Australian Turquoise

An ancient gemstone, blessed with a rich and colourful history, Turquoise’s characteristic colour and patterns fabulously complements any fashion, personality or style. Undeniably one of the world’s rarest and most intriguing Turquoises, Australian Turquoise showcase stunning blues with beautiful mottling, coming from Broken Hill in the Australian state of New South Wales. First cut in the mid to late 90s, our jewellery collections feature the very last of this impossibly rare and virtually unknown Antipodean gemstone. Absolutely critical for a gem where well-over 90 percent are heavily enhanced, Australian Turquoise’s beauty is totally natural, accentuating desirability, rarity, and value.

1. Beauty

One of December’s birthstones, Turquoise is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminium coming in various intensities of blue and greenish-blue often mottled with black, brown, gold, and yellow veins of matrix (host rock), typically brown limonite or black manganese oxide. Turquoise’s modern name is a bit of a misnomer. When Venetian merchants brought the gem to France, it was called ‘pierre turquois’ (Turkish Stone), despite its Persian not Turkish origin, although it did originally reach Europe from Iran via Turkey. Today, the name ‘Turquoise’ is synonymous with both its unique colour and the gemstone. Turquoise is a true cultural chameleon, appearing in some of the world’s most significant civilisations. While Egyptians, Mesopotamians (modern-day Iraq), Persians (modern-day Iran), Mongols, Tibetans, Chinese and Native Americans all greatly valued Turquoise, the two geographic areas forever linked with this gemstone are the Middle East and the Americas. Today, Turquoise is Iran’s national gemstone and also strongly associated with Native American jewellery, such as Zuni bracelets and Navajo belts. Despite its long history, Turquoise wasn’t always called Turquoise. In Persian, the gem is called ‘ferozah’, which means ‘victorious’, and until the 13th century in Europe it was called ‘calläis’ (beautiful stone), probably from the Roman gem names ‘callainos’ or ‘callaina’. While some mineralogists and gemstone authors think these names represented our Turquoise during antiquity, others disagree. Its delightful colour aside, Turquoise’s rich history and mythology are probably due to it being one of the first gemstones ever mined. Mining Turquoise dates back to 6000 BC in Egypt and 5000 BC in Persia. In fact, a Turquoise and gold bracelet excavated in 1900 from the tomb of the Egyptian Queen Zer (5500 BC) is one of the world’s oldest pieces of jewellery. In the Americas, the Aztecs began mining Turquoise in Mexico around 900 AD and created elaborate Turquoise mosaics. The Mayans, Anasazi, Zuni, Navajo and Apache people were so taken by the beauty of Turquoise that by the 16th century indigenous cultures in the American southwest were using it as currency. Despite Theophrastus (the successor of Aristotle’s school of philosophy) noticing the gem in the spoils brought home from Persia by Macedonian soldiers, Turquoise did not make a big impact on European fashion until the Middle Ages.

COLOUR: Bright-pastel blues, brilliant-medium sky blues, and rich robin’s egg blues, with beautiful mottled, swirling ‘egg-shell’ and ‘spider web’ vein patterns of coffee and chocolate host rock (matrix).

TRANSPARENCY: Opaque, signature patterns wonderfully highlighted by a bright lustre.

CLARITY: Beautiful mottled patterns, unique and individual, compatibly graded for each jewellery design. Normal for Turquoise, attractive and well-balanced patterns don’t affect value. Each gem has its own beautiful variations, making every piece individually unique. Whether you choose mottling is up to personal taste, simply determine your preference by assessing the gems’ overall appearance, along with its colour and mottling.

CUTTING QUALITY: Optimally cut ‘en cabochon’ (cut in convex form and highly-polished, but not faceted) to accentuate the signature colour mottling that makes each gemstone visually unique. Carefully cut by experienced lapidaries into attractive smooth domes with a desirable proportion, shape, symmetry, and a superior polish that displays an excellent lustre.

COUNTRY: Unique deposit (1978 – 1996) discovered during copper surveys near Broken Hill, Yancowinna County, NSW, Australia.

ENHANCEMENT: None; absolutely critical for a gem where well-over 90% heavily enhanced (i.e. assembled, dyed & stabilised).

RARITY: While Nishapur (Neyshabur) in Iran, by historical reputation and experience, is still regarded as one of Turquoise’s premium sources, today, fine Turquoise is also commercially mined in the USA (Arizona & Nevada), and China. Deposits throughout Australia do occasionally yield high-quality, fine Turquoise, but unfortunately, not in consistent commercial quantities, mostly unearthing mineral specimens. While Turquoise mineral deposits have been found in many Australian states, including NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC and WA, these extremely limited occurrences do not occur in high quantities or good qualities, with most crystals incapable of being fashioned into gemstones. While eleven 44-gallon drums of Australian Turquoise were mined, only three yielded gem-quality (approximately 27 percent); the remaining Turquoise crystals were simply too powdery for lapidary. Thankfully, recent advances in medical micro-abrasive technology is maximising lapidary yields for the little Australian Turquoise that remains.

DURABILITY: Wonderfully wearable, durable jewellery gemstone (Mohs’ Hardness: 5 - 6).

Kings Plains Sapphire

1. Beauty

September’s birthstone, Sapphire is a truly mesmerising gemstone with a rich history, potent symbolism, and a popularity spanning over 2,500 years. Ruby & Sapphire are colour varieties of the mineral Corundum (crystalline aluminium oxide), which derives its name from the Sanskrit word for Rubies & Sapphires, ‘kuruvinda’. Trace elements such as chromium, iron and titanium, as well as colour centres, produce Corundum’s rainbow of colours.

COLOUR: Royal-blues with a highly-desirable medium (medium-light to medium-dark) saturation (strength of colour) and tone (lightness or darkness of colour), a marketplace ideal.

BRILLIANCE & TRANSPARENCY: Excellent brilliance and transparency, with an attractive vitreous (glassy) lustre.

CLARITY: Eye-clean, the highest quality clarity grade for coloured gemstones as determined by the world's leading gemmological laboratories. Corundum’s gems are classed as Type II gemstones (typically grow with some minor inclusions in nature that may be eye-visible) by the GIA, but as they’re usually cleaner (and larger) than their Ruby siblings, an eye-clean clarity is the preferred standard.

CUTTING QUALITY: Optimally-cut, excellent finish, outline, profile, proportions, and shape, maximising beauty in a manner that doesn’t sacrifice brilliance for weight, with a superior polish that results in a beautiful lustre. Expertly faceted in the legendary gemstone country of Thailand (Siam), home to some of the world’s best lapidaries, at the Wilson’s dedicated cutting house in the internationally acclaimed gem town of Chanthaburi.

COUNTRY: Wilson Gems Mine, Kings Plains, Inverell, New South Wales, Australia. Australian Sapphires’ main sources are the New England (Kings Plains) fields, in northern New South Wales (NSW), and the Anakie fields, in central Queensland. Discovered in 1854, the Kings Plains deposit is an ancient dry riverbed northeast of the country town of Inverell. Few people realise that Australia is actually one of the world’s major Sapphire sources. During the late 80s, Australia supplied 70 percent of the world’s market.

CONFIDENCE: The Wilson Gems Mine is a fourth generation mine-to-market family operation. The principal miner, Jack Wilson, has been mining Sapphires for over 50 years.  With mined land reclaimed into lush pastures replanted with native vegetation, the Wilson Gems Mine is environmentally friendly. The Australian Department of Mineral Resources has asked every NSW miner to review their excellent rehabilitation processes.

ENHANCEMENT: Standard Heat (1200°C - 1700°C, one to 36 hours, carefully repeating to complete). Well-over 90% of Sapphires are permanently heated to alter their colour and/or improve colour uniformity and/or appearance. Heating Sapphires to improve clarity or develop colour has been used in some form for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Likely practiced in the sub-continent over 4,000 years ago, heating is one of the earliest known gemstone enhancements. Early references to the heating of gemstones include Pliny the Elder in his ‘Naturalis Historia’, c. 77 AD and two Egyptian papyri dating to the third or fourth century AD. The scientist Abu Rayhan al-Biruni not only developed the specific gravity scale, using it to identify many gemstones, but in his book, ‘The Book Most Compressive in Knowledge on Precious Stones’ (c. 1048 AD) he describes in detail the 1100°C heating of Corundum to remove dark coloured areas. Interestingly, this is basically the same as today’s modern ‘low’ temperature enhancement, referred to as ‘Standard Heat’ or ‘Traditional Heat’.

RARITY: The finest Australian Sapphires can rival Sapphires from renowned localities with an historic pedigree, such as Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Once one of the richest Sapphire fields ever mined, prior to 2019 every ton of earth yielded 6-8 carats of finished gems. Now every ton of earth only yields 1-2 carats of finished Kings Plains Sapphires displaying their signature royal blues. Most crystals mined typically yield small accent to two carat gemstones. Larger gems are rarely found. ‘Endangered gemstone’ nearing commercial depletion.

DURABILITY: World’s second hardest gemstone, excellent for everyday jewellery (Mohs Hardness: 9).

Australian black opal

Colourful as their country of origin, Black Opal was discovered in 1902 at Lightning Ridge in the Australian state of New South Wales, the world’s premier source. The undisputed ‘King of Opals’, Black Opal is the rarest and most valuable Opal, due to its body colour affording beautiful contrast and intensity. Lightning Ridge Black Opals’ unique character makes it one of the world’s most prized gemstones, and remains the ‘Opal of Choice’ for elite jewellers and serious connoisseurs.

1. Beauty

An October birthstone, Opal is from the Greek ‘opallios’, meaning ‘to see a change’, and is comprised of silica and water, the main component in glass. When silica under the earth mixes with water, a silica solution forms. If this solution fills voids or is trapped in layers under the earth, Opal begins to form. The structure of Opals is unique and comprised of microscopic silicon dioxide spheres (1,500 - 3,500 angstroms in diameter; 1 angstrom is 1 ten millionth of 1 millimetre) that form a pyramid shaped grid, interspersed with 3 – 6 percent water. It’s the refraction of light through these spheres and the gaps between them that produce Opals’ characteristic ‘play of colour’ (see below). Opal without play of colour has its silicon dioxide spheres more randomly arranged. Australian Opals were formed 145.5 million years ago (Cretaceous Period) to 65 million years ago (Tertiary Period) at a huge inland sea’s geological feature called the ‘Great Australian Basin’. The majority of Australia’s Opal fields are located in the basin and were formed from the weathering of sandstone deposited over older host rock. While Opal has been Australia’s national gemstone since 27th July 1993, this gem has been part of indigenous Australian culture for over 60,000 years. Dreamtime legends passed down by storytellers’ call Opal the ‘fire of the desert’, linking it to creation myths, describing how their ancestral creator came to earth on a great rainbow, which turned the rocks it touched into resplendent Opals.

COLOUR: Undeniably beautiful, Lightning Ridge Black Opal appears to have a rainbow trapped within. Opal is the most artistic gemstone. AS EACH OPAL HAS ITS OWN PERSONALITY AND COLOUR PREFERENCES ARE SUBJECTIVE, INDIVIDUAL TASTES PLAY A BIG PART!

COLOUR PLAY: Unique to Opal, ‘play of colour’ are attractive colourful flashes that change with the angle of observation. When white light enters the top of an Opal, it refracts and bounces around inside, through all the microscopic spheres and gaps between them. As the light passes through Opal, it diffracts like a prism, splitting the white light into all the colours of the spectrum. The light eventually bounces back out the top of the gem, giving us an eyeful of beautiful colours. While Ammolite and Labradorite split light through lattice layers, Opal is the only gemstone that diffracts light in this way. The diameter and spacing of the spheres control the colour range of an Opal, with the size and angle at which light is split determining the colour produced. For example, the rare reds and oranges are reflected from the scarcer smaller spheres, approx. 3,500 angstroms in diameter, while Opal’s blues are reflected from the more common larger spheres, about 1,500 angstroms in diameter. The rest of the colours of the rainbow occur between these sizes. The rarity hierarchy of colours is red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet, with value lying in the brilliance, brightness and strength of colours displayed. Opals that display red can also display all the other colours of the spectrum, but… even though the presence of red increases an Opal’s rarity and value, it’s typically valued lower than one that shows several colours. The patterns of colour also affect value, with large patches of colour priced higher than those with small patches of colour.

BRILLIANCE & TRANSPARENCY: Opaque to semi-translucent.

CLARITY: ‘King of Opals’ most valuable due to contrast and intensity afforded by dark (black) body colour. CLASSIFIED BY THEIR BODY COLOUR, HOST ROCK, AND TRANSPARENCY, OPACITY DEMANDS A PREMIUM IN BLACK OPAL!

CUTTING QUALITY: Optimally cut ‘en cabochon’ (cut in convex form and highly polished, but not faceted) by experienced lapidaries, with a superior mirror-like polish/lustre, and an excellent overall appearance (outline, profile, proportions, and shape). OPTIMAL LAPIDARY THAT ACCENTUATES LIGHTNING RIDGE BLACK OPALS’ INNATE BEAUTY & SIGNATURE COLOUR PLAY IS CRITICAL!

COUNTRY: Lightning Ridge, Finch County, New South Wales, Australia.

ENHANCEMENT: None; totally natural, solid and unenhanced, heightening desirability, rarity and value.

RARITY: Mined since 1849, Australia’s Opal fields might be the world’s largest, but only 25 percent are gem-quality. Lightning Ridge Black Opal ranks six on the top ten list of the world's rarest and most valuable gems, and ‘11’ on Forbes list of the ‘12 Most Expensive Gemstones in The World’. Despite increasing global demand, output has decreased by over 50 percent in the last decade, resulting in increasing scarcity and prices.

“At the Lightning Ridge Opal fields, famous for producing the highly sought-after Black Opal, there are some 3,120 mining claims. Sebastian Deisenberger, President of the Lightning Ridge Miners Association, estimated a production drop of more than 60 percent based on stones being presented to their pricing advisory service.” 

AUSTRALIA: Colored Gemstone Mining & Supply by Damien Cody INCOLOR, Winter 2022, Issue 48

This is due to the depletion of commercially viable areas and mounting operational costs, combined with the inherent remoteness and inhospitality of Australia’s Opal fields. During the pandemic mining was virtually non-existent, and similarly tourism, which benefited the ‘Ridge’ in recent years, basically disappeared. AT ITS PEAK IN THE 80S, THERE WERE 8,000 SERIOUS MINERS AT LIGHTNING RIDGE, NOW THERE ARE ONLY APPROX. 8 LARGE COMMERCIAL MINERS STILL OPERATING!

DURABILITY: Relatively durable jewellery gemstone (Mohs’ Hardness: 5.5 – 6). APART FROM THEIR COLOURFUL BRILLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN OPALS ARE ALSO COVETED FOR THEIR HARDNESS AND STABILITY, A KEY CONSIDERATION FOR A GEM CONTAINING THREE TO SIX PERCENT WATER.

Tasmanian Jade

Hand-fossicked over the last decade, our Tasmanian Jade is a solitary miner’s artisanal harvesting on Tasmania’s unforgiving western coastline, at the edge of the world. The relatively new, lustrous beauty of Tasmanian Jade’s mottled forest, grassland and tundra fern-greens, reflects the majesty of the hinterland in which it’s found. While less than 10 percent’s gem-quality, the main challenge remains its small and remote deposit’s perilous locale. Incredibly beautiful, undeniably rare, and everyday wearable, Tasmanian Jade is an immensely collectable twist on an ancient jewellery gem.

1. Beauty

In 1863 Alexis Damour established that ‘Chinese Jade’ (Nephrite, the ‘traditional’ Jade) and ‘Burmese Jade’ (which he named ‘Jadeite’) are different minerals with similar properties. Nephrite comes in blacks, blues, browns, greens, greys, yellows & whites. The true emperor of Chinese jewellery, Jade was also prized in Aztec, Maori, Mayan, Native American, Olmec, and Toltec cultures.

IMPORTANT: Tasmanian Jade’s a variety of Nephrite found by prospectors Boris & Christina Ellis, confirmed by Mineral Resources Tasmania in 2015. They collected these samples several years prior to their submission. Other miners also work(ed) this sole deposit. The Ellis’s aptly named this new Tasmanian gem, ‘Buttongrass Jade’, after the changing colours of Buttongrass (Gymnoschoenus Sphaerocephalus). A common native plant on the island’s West Coast, Buttongrass forms part of Tasmania’s unique grassy hinterland habitat. WE DID NOT BUY FROM THE ELLIS’S, SO NOT USING BUTTONGRASS IN TITLE - SEE BELOW FOR MORE!

COLOUR: Attractive, mottled patterns of rich greens to greyish-greens in medium to dark saturations (strength of colour) and tones (lightness or darkness of colour). Along with occasional splashes of black/grey, provide an interesting canvas, highlighting its characteristic patterns.

TRANSPARENCY: Opaque with an excellent vitreous (glassy) lustre. One of the world’s most uniquely beautiful Nephrites, each has its own beautiful variations, making every gem individually unique.

CLARITY: Medium to fine-grain, affording a very high, mirror-like polish. Helps colour communication & cutting, displaying a high-lustre, even in mundane lighting.

CUTTING QUALITY: Optimally cut ‘en cabochon’; carefully finished into attractive smooth domes with a desirable proportion, shape, symmetry, and a superior polish. Expertly cut in the legendary gemstone country of Thailand (Siam), home to some of the world’s best lapidaries.

CUTTING YIELD: Around 10 percent, lower than usual, noting the typical return on a gem mineral is 20 - 35 percent. Achieved better consistency than anticipated, but crystals had some very fine cracks, which had to be worked around, reducing yield.

COUNTRY: Heemskirk Falls Prospect, Trial Harbour District, West Coast Municipality, Tasmania, Australia. Tasmania's remote West Coast might be best-known for its rugged rocky coastline, but hidden within this harsh and beautiful landscape are gem-quality minerals (Quartz, Topaz & Sapphire) in extremely limited, barely commercial quantities

CONFIDENCE: Ethically and environmentally harvested by a single artisanal miner, with exceptional value afforded by mine-to-market vertical integration. Extremely important, nothing is lost to unnecessary middlemen, and provenance is assured. Legally collected with environmental best practices. To leave no impact, only very small amounts of the best gem-grade are hand-fossicked.

ENHANCEMENT: None; absolutely critical for top qualities, accentuating desirability, rarity, and value. Jade often dyed.

RARITY: While Burma (Myanmar) and China remain important Jade origins, other sources include, Australia, Guatemala, Japan, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Russia, Taiwan, and the USA. Australia has three Nephrite deposits, South Australia (1965), New South Wales (1978), and Tasmania (2015). With only 5 – 10 percent gem-quality, Tasmanian Jades small deposit is best-measured in kilograms over tons, with the miner noting at least a 50 percent decline in ten years of collecting. Sole deposit on a challenging rocky coastline, hard to manoeuvre, especially when you have a backpack of Jade. Only the experienced few make the trek, as the weight of Jade makes an already treacherous trip home, potentially dangerous. Incredibly scarce and not readily available in jewellery, especially when calibrated for collections.

DURABILITY: Tougher than Diamonds, wonderfully wearable, durable gem (Mohs’ Hardness: 6 – 6.5), excellent choice for everyday jewellery!