Friedelite

With the hundreds of species found at Franklin and Sterling Hill, there are only a few that are worthy of yielding cut stones. A few that come to mind are Willemite, Zincite and Friedelite. Most species from Franklin are either too tiny, too devoid of color or too freaking rare to even consider cutting into gems. Friedelite is a cool phyllosilicate and the historic mining district at Franklin is probably the only place in the world to yield gemmy enough crystals for faceting.

This stone has a very pleasing characteristic orange-red hue and the typical fuzzy appearance. I've never seen a completely eye clean gem of Friedelite from Franklin and stones this size are considered to be large for the material. This is definitely in the rare category, and with such an attractive color, combined with the fact that the stone is nearly a full carat in weight, it is a superb stone for collectors.

Item # FRIEDNJ087