Aquaprase (Chalcedony) Designer Cut Cabochon, Designer Cabochons

This unique Aquaprase Chalcedony cabochon has great translucency and interesting subtle cloud patterns. To enhance the translucence, I've given it a slightly low dome, girdled sides and a flat slightly beveled back. This green chalcedony is a newly recognized rare African material and would make an astounding piece of high end jewelry, or a great addition to any collection.

Aquaprase Chalcedony Designer Cut Cabochon
39.6 x 31.6 x 6.4mm
58.25 cts.

I cut this cab by hand and it's been polished to a mirror polish 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.

In 2012, gemologist Yianni Melas accidentally came upon gemstone now known as Aquaprase, during a four-year dry spell of searching for diamonds in Africa. “When I first discovered it, I immediately knew it was something I had never seen before. Something very special. Its color constantly shifted to different shades. It had turquoise-blue clouds surrounded by clear areas as well as paraiba colors that were more translucent and clearer,” explains Melas, who first revealed his find to the world in an Instagram post in 2013.

In 2015, the stone was recognized by the Gemological Institute of America as a new variety of chalcedony. Melas coined the name “Aquaprase” for the stone, drawing from the Latin and Greek words “aqua” (sea) and “prase” (leek). It comes in two colors, he explains: Candy (“which has more transparency and looks like the tropical sea and islands”) and Blue Cloud, (“a variety which looks like crystallized baby blue turquoise clouds,” he says).