Main
  About
  Cabochons
  Slabs
  Rough
  Jewelry
  Contact
  Order

 



   

 

  High quality cabs cut from material from around the world. Beautiful cabs cut from sugilite. All cabs cut with bevel and satin finish backs to facilitate settings. Backs of stones can be polished at clients request for no extra charge.

The story of Sugilite

(Excepted from an email from my supplier Jaco)

The Kalahari Manganese field is the largest manganese deposit of it's kind in the world. The mines are privately owned and worked exclusively for manganese ore. Sugilite is one of the by-products of these mines. The mines have no interest in it though and all the sugilite gets crushed with the ore and shipped off to be refined. Over years the sugilite became known to the jewel industry and became very sought after for it's purple color, but the mine still shows no interest in this material as an source of income and it still gets crushed with the ore.

Workers at the mine were not unaware of this  fact and with a demand for sugilite in the market, saw this as an extra source of income. Today there is a whole informal market for sugilite at the source. The miners actually take the sugilite from the mine and sell it to local based dealers from which we are supplied. If any of the miners get caught removing any type of rock from the mine they are dismissed. This makes it dangerous for them as they might lose their jobs if caught and this, most of all, is the reason for the very high price of sugilite itself.

Now, with this background I think you should have a better understanding of the whole sugilite trade and market. As the Kalahari Manganese field is the only source of workable sugilite in the world it is a well known fact that nothing on the market at the moment came from anywhere else. The mine authorities also know about the informal trade in Sugilite but although it is annoying to them there is nothing they can do about it.

Sugilite is in general a deep earth mineral but occurs at different levels and in a huge range of different shades and associations. Each pocket and vein found is different in composition, color and association and this also change as the veins move on.
 

Gemstone Sugilite
Country of Origin Africa
Treatments None
Hardness 5-6

 

 

Cabochons Selection

Sugilite

#sg01

$25.99

Sugilite

#sg02

SOLD

 

Sugilite

#224sugc

$29.99

 

Sugilite

#sugc01

Not Available

 

Sugilite

#sugc02

SOLD

 

Sugilite

#sugc05

$29.99

Sugilite

#sugc03

$18.99

Sugilite

#sugc04

$19.99

Fuschia Sugilite

#0807sugc

$45.99