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After laboratory testing this material we now know that Red River Sunset® is a  bicolored calcite-dominant carbonate. The red layer is more iron-rich, although the highest percentage found during testing is only 0.89 %. However, iron is a powerful coloring agent.

According to testing this material is most likely travertine. Travertine is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs.

Fresh travertines vary widely in their porosity, from about 10% to 70%. Red River Sunset® however, shows comparatively small porosity, which indicates it to be a very ancient travertine. Such old travertines may have a porosity as low as 2% due to the crystallization of secondary calcite in the original pore spaces. It also indicates that this travertine was formed around a hot spring, rather than a cold one. Finally, given the fact that the material lacks the presence of magnesium, it is most likely that it was formed in fresh water and not in seawater.

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Rarity

Even though it occurs in Europe, Lybia, Egypt, and Mexico, the largest deposits are in Peru. It is not a rare stone.

Color

Angelite is a glacier-blue or lilac-blue-colored stone.

Color intensity:

In the Angelite mines, one can buy a whitish, pale blue version of Angelite at a cheaper price. This pale material is not adequate for jewelry. Jewelry-grade Angelite displays a more intense blue and can be acquired from mines at a higher price.

Uniformity of color:

Angelite generally displays a uniform coloration with very few color shades.

Impurities

Angelite shows white and brown impurities. White impurities are gypsum. Gypsum impurities appear as tiny white flecks or as massive lines of gypsum penetrating the stone along microcracks in the material. Most likely those cracks opened the way for water to penetrate the stone, which hydrated the cracks and initiated the Angelites’ deterioration into gypsum along those cracks.

The reddish-brown impurities penetrate a great part of the Angelite volume in a similar pattern to the gypsum lines.

Gypsum lines and brownish impurities render more than 75 % of the Angelite unsuitable for jewelry.

Angelite with just a few tiny white gypsum flecks may be used for economy jewelry at a lower price level. However, less than 20 percent of the Angelite rough rock material acquired in the mine is free of impurities and suitable for top-quality jewelry.

In order to obtain this material the nodes must be cut open and all unsuitable material must be cut away. In order to obtain 1 kilo of jewelry-grade material we are buying 5 kilos of rough rock and discard 4 kilos on average.

Polishable

When polishing Angelite Gemrock cutters do NOT follow the regular steps of increasingly finer diamond wheels from 600 to 3000 grit. Maximum polish can be obtained by polishing to 1200 grit and then adding a different polishing method, developed by us, which makes a by far superior polished surface pop out.

Cutting Quality

Challenges:

Angelite is a very soft material. Cutting it requires the application of very little pressure against the shaping and polishing wheels. Cutting small cabs from this soft material becomes more difficult the smaller the required cab is. Inexperienced cutters will most likely deform the cab.

Advantages:

Angelite does not tend to break or chip. Experienced cutters therefore can obtain very sharp unchipped edges between the backside and bezel as well as between the bezel and dome.

Top-cutting-quality is characterized by:

• a polished backside
• a sharp unchipped edge between the backside and the bezel
• a very straight and even highly polished bezel
• a sharp unchipped edge between the bezel and the dome
• a well-shaped dome, not showing any deformation
• Top-quality polish

Be aware of wrongfull quality grading

It’s commonplace in the crystal industry to cut cheap cabochons from any kind of Angelite without applying any kind of grading for high-quality material. Frecuently you can find cabochons made from completely unsuitable material full of brown and white impurities. Unscrupulous dealers take advantage of the lack of knowledge of crystal shops, jewelers, and final clients and market such low-grade and even trashy material as Tripple A top-grade material.

Pricing

Adequate pricing must take into account the cost factors to obtain top-quality cabochons:

• Acquisition of top-grade Angelite with strong color in the mine.
• Selection of material without impurities and discarding more than 80 percent of the rough rock as unsuitable for jewelry.
• A usual material loss of approximately 90 % of the selected material during the cutting and shaping process.
• The level of experience required by a cutter to produce a flawlessly shaped and highly polished cabochon from such a soft material.

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Products made with Red River Sunset

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