0.47 ct. Orange Benitoite
- Color: Medium Slightly Brownish-Yellow
- Clarity: Eye Clean to Slightly Included
- Origin: San Benito Co., California
- Cut: Round Brilliant
- Treatments: Heat
- Measurements: 4.5 mm
Benitoite is one of the most well known and beloved of collector gem materials. In many ways it is a perfect "rare stone"; it has an exceptional color, is found at a single source and is sufficiently durable enough for jewelry use. The top color for gem Benitoite has always been a deep violetish-blue color, but the stones range through lighter blues and into truly colorless stones. It is a little known fact about this gem that those colorless stones are capable of heating to an unusual and attractive orange color. Only some of the already colorless material will heat to orange and then the exact temperature and process are proprietary. The availability of this orange material is therefore severely restricted and it has been absent from the market for a number of years.
This is a spectacular example, in the finest and deepest orange hue that these are capable of. Additionally, this particular example has the most dazzling flashes of yellow and pink brilliance - there is sometimes a very slight pinkish modifier present in some of these and a round is certainly the best way to appreciate this effect. There is an extremely light veil near one edge, but this is seen only with magnification. One of the very finest and largest of the oranges we have ever had and a lovely collector's rarity.