Rare Red Howardite Designer Cut Cabochon, Designer Cabochons

To me the material looked "feathery" so I cut this cab into a feather shape with a medium high dome, girdled sides and a flat beveled back. It features the rattlesnake pattern for which Howardite is known and has amazing patterning throughout the stone. A very rare chance to have a very rare High Grade and beautiful cab of this highly treasured and rarely available top shelf stone for a collection or a very high end piece of jewelry.

Rare and gorgeous Red Howardite from Jeffrey Hill’s recent find which yielded only a limited amount of material that will no doubt be snatched up quickly by lapidarists, jewelers and collectors. The original Howardite source is thought or rumored to be from northern Nevada, but is not known for sure. What seems clear is that it has been mined out, if not lost for good. Jeff Hill describes this new Red Howardite material as being “opal with agate fill”, which pretty much seems in line with the original Howardite which is an agatized/silicified/opalized Tuff (porous rock formed by consolidation of volcanic ash). Considered some of the rarest agate/jasper lapidary material available, it truly is hypnotic, especially up close and in person.

Red Howardite Designer Cut Cabochon
55.5 x 22.5 x 6.6mm
53.94 cts.

Note that there is a small pit on the back of this cab and also on the girdle. Neither detracts from or affects the cab's visual impact.

I cut this cab by hand and it's been polished to a high sheen both front and back with slightly rounded bottom edges for easy setting.

Note that all my photos were taken using full spectrum lighting, which does fairly well in replicating natural sunlight. However, almost all cut stones will look best and brightest in direct sunlight.