184ct broken tanzanite
Group of unrecoverable tanzanites, each damaged by a jeweler's steam cleaner. Unfortunately, it's a simple fact of life that tanzanite does not appreciate suddenly going from room temp to the 100C+ of pressurized steam.
Though the damage may look minor in some of these, all of them are unrecoverable as-is. To salvage anything from this group, the visible fractures will need to be removed (or the stone simply split along the fracture), and the remaining pieces treated as rough.
Even if any of these can be divided perfectly in half, the new stones will be around 1/4 of the original size -- so, at best a 50% recovery in the end, plus cutting fees. Given the price of fine tanzanite these days, that's a heavy loss. (In the 2021 market, some pieces pictured here could have retailed in the $800-$1000/ct or higher range before being damaged)
184ct broken tanzanite
Group of unrecoverable tanzanites, each damaged by a jeweler's steam cleaner. Unfortunately, it's a simple fact of life that tanzanite does not appreciate suddenly going from room temp to the 100C+ of pressurized steam.
Though the damage may look minor in some of these, all of them are unrecoverable as-is. To salvage anything from this group, the visible fractures will need to be removed (or the stone simply split along the fracture), and the remaining pieces treated as rough.
Even if any of these can be divided perfectly in half, the new stones will be around 1/4 of the original size -- so, at best a 50% recovery in the end, plus cutting fees. Given the price of fine tanzanite these days, that's a heavy loss. (In the 2021 market, some pieces pictured here could have retailed in the $800-$1000/ct or higher range before being damaged)