"African Blue" Chalcedony Pi-Disc #1
$500.00
This is an extremely rare Pi-disc made from pure Nambian chalcedony. It doesn't get any better than this when it comes to the blue chalcedony's. No imperfections, no striations, no inclusions, just pure and glowing. This material is typically sold by the gram. It is very translucent.
Note:
There are many fakes out there, even in the chalcedony world. My Nambian material was purchased in rough form in 2012.
The names under which blue chalcedony appears on the market often reflect its location or source name, or describe the type of formation in which it occurred.
Blue chalcedony nodules range in size and shape. The rough material lends itself relatively easy to small carvings. The shades vary from baby blue to bright blue to subdued tones of light blue. Very high-grade blue chalcedony nodules are found near Eski’ehir, in West Anatolia, Turkey, about 200 miles southeast of Istanbul. Almost all nodules come with a whitish-yellow rind. Some of the material is a beautiful, deep, saturated shade of blue, while others are somewhat pastel in color, and some display beautiful dendrites.
Nodules of exceptional blue chalcedony also come from Namibia, Africa. This material is often referred to as “African Blue.” The uniform color is usually a deep blue without any banding, but may also range to grayish blue.
Cording:
If you want a temporary code you can purchase one on my sight to get you by but I would suggest bringing this one to a goldsmith to have something special made to hold it for a gold chain of choice.
Specifications
Disc Specifications:
Diameter: 429.42 mm
Inner Hole Diameter: 6.03 mm
Thickness: 5.48 mm
Weight: 6.1g
Material History
Chacedony History:
The name chalcedony (pronounced kal’ sed’nee) comes from the Latin word chalcedonius, which is derived from the Greek khalkedon. Chalcedony was found at the ancient Greek maritime town of Chalcedon (or Chalkedon), on the Bosporus straight in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). The contemporary town is named Kad’köy and belongs to the Istanbul district.
Chalcedony is one of the most ancient gemstones; it was carved into cylindrical seals in Mesopotamia as early as the 7th century BCE. Over the centuries, blue chalcedony has been used for cameo and intaglio carvings, as well as sculptural carvings.
Both chalcedony and quartz have the chemical formula SiO2; the difference between the two is in their crystal structure. Crystalline (sometimes called macrocrystalline) quartz typically forms crystals that are large enough to be visible to the naked eye. Its varieties include rock crystal, amethyst, rose quartz, and smoky quartz. Crystals form in the trigonal system and can be terminated, doubly terminated, or twinned. It rates a 7 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness.
Chalcedony is a cryptocrystalline, or microcrystalline, variety of quartz; its crystals are too small to be distinguished without magnification. While chalcedony may be slightly softer than quartz (Mohs 6.5-7), the compact, dense arrangement of its crystal structure gives chalcedony greater strength. It is hard enough to be used for intricate carvings, takes a high polish, and exhibits good wearability, making it suitable for jewelry pieces.
About
Proud to say one of my specialties at Jadedivers.com is making one of kind custom beads found almost no where in the world. Most of my beads are going to have cone tapered ends that are deburred and polished. My photos are taken to show the natural colors without photo enhancements. I believe this will best represent the colors and promote repeat customers.
Branching into Pi/Bi Discs and Bangles, I provide the quality of the best offered. None of my designs are mass produced and material selection is always individually chosen even in the smalles beads. My Discs are unique in that they are mostly done by hand and not be "donut" cutting machines.
** Note: Many items stated to be "Jade" on Etsy and Ebay are not. In many cases, price does not indicate this either so buying an expensive item may be a jade replica like glass. There are many other stones including agate, grossular garnet, serpentine (many forms), aventurine... being sold as jade. To make it worse and more complicated, many jadeite stones are being reconditioned and died to be very attractive so they pass general tests to be real. If you see very clear bangles, odds are they are agate, glass or something else. If you see very bright colors of red, yellow, purple... most likely not real. I say this as many buyers are being fooled on-line by these practices.