Every Goldsmith has his favorite stones and we are certainly no exception. We have our Favorite Six. It is probably safe to say that we have one of the finest collections of Imperial Topaz. Our Tanzanite includes very lovely small dark stones as well as larger deeply saturated ones that we buy directly from the mine owner. We have a large amount of Nigerian Aquamarine especially cut for us and we have secured an excellent selection of Nigerian Pink Tourmaline from a small pocket discovered last year which has already been exhausted. Our Australian Opal comes in more colour variations than a kaleidescope. Last , but not least, we have Alexandrite with wonderful colour changes from both Brazil and Tanzania.

Imperial Topaz: favorite among favorites! The Czar¹s gem, originally discovered a hundred years ago in the Ural Mountains of Russia, the very rare Imperial Topaz was so coveted that it was strictly reserved for the Czar and his family. That location, however, has long been exhausted. We had the privilege of being invited to the only working Imperial Topaz mine in the world: the Capao Mine near Ouro Preto, Brazil. This beautiful gemstone ranges in colour from golden to peach to salmon with sherry reds, pink and purples as the most sought after shades. A collectors item, it is the birthstone for November.

Tourmaline, ah ŠŠTourmaline! Namibian blue green, Brazilian bicolour, Maine mints, Nigerian pinks, Madagascar liddicoatite (watermelon), we have it all and a lot more. A stone, which is finally beginning to be recognized for what it always was; a beautiful underrated gem with more colours than a black eye and most of the time at least two or three shades in the same stone! With Opal, birthstone for October.

Most people think of Opal as a milky white stone with a few flecks of colour. You have not seen anything yet! A collection of Opals is like a fireworks display. There are broadflash, pinfire, harlequin, black, boulder and crystal Opals to name a few and every one has a unique play of colour. The blue-green and gold combinations are often favorites because of their resemblance to a Caribbean sunset. If you are born in October, remember that we have been collecting Australian Opals for 20 years.

Alexandrite: the mystery stone, Ruby by night and Emerald by day! Originally only mined in Russia and named for Czar Alexander, this extremely rare variety of Chrysoberyl is now only found in Brazil and Tanzania. In incandescent or candlelight, Alexandrite will appear red due to the predominance of red wavelengths in this light. In fluorescent or daylight, it will look green because fluorescent light is rich in blue- green wavelengths. Synthetic Alexandrite (actually synthetic corundum with a colour change) has been around in fairly large stones since the 1920¹s. and is an inexpensive substitute for the real thing (ours!) Together with Pearl and Moonstone, it is the birthstone for June.

Aquamarine in its natural crystal form often has green as a secondary colour. This is not always deemed to be desirable so most of these stones are heat-treated to drive out the greenish tinge. Our Aquamarines, however, are Nigerian gems and they do not need any treatment. They are beautifully cut to our own specifications and, since we buy this cutter's total output, we have a very large selection. Birthstone for March.

Tanzanite, which was not discovered until 1967, has rapidly become many people¹s favorite with its unique blue purple colour combination. It is only found in the Merelani district in Tanzania and since our supplier spends most of his time over there we have an excellent selection ranging from 10-carat stones to lovely 1 caraters that are especially cut for us. There are quite a few dealers who would like to make Tanzanite the official birthstone for December since no one seems to be very much in love with Blue Zircon.