0.65 ct. Orange Benitoite - The Gem Trader Rare Gems

0.65 ct. Orange Benitoite


  • Color: Medium Dark Orange

  • Clarity: Eye Clean

  • Origin: San Benito Co., California

  • Cut: Oval Brilliant

  • Treatments: Heat

  • Measurements: 6.5 x 4.4 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 that has the very deepest and most intense orange bodycolor that we ever seen in any heated Benitoite. As with the best of these, there are the most dazzling flashes of yellow and pink brilliance. Completely eye clean and cut perfectly, there is one tiny veil near one corner which is completely lost in the brilliance and deep color. Superb size for these and a simply magnificent color that is surely one of the best examples extant.

$1850 total