It tested as garnet, tourmaline or iolite. When I first got it, it had this rough coating over it. I buffed the coating off, there seems to be some left around the edge. but there are still ridges and I may have ruined it because I left the polisher in one spot too long and it dug into the stone - or whatever it is.
Did you ever get a satisfactory answer about this stone?
What did you use to polish it. If it dug into the stone that might give a clue what it is. It looks like it has a polished surface so maybe you could use a refractometer on it.
I used a hard felt pad with the Dremel. It was very dull before I polished it; almost looked like it had a coating on top of it but then it polished up shiny. The top RH portion of the stone is an opaque purple and the bottom LH portion is an opaque brownish color with slight striations throughout the brown. Various cracks within the stone itself. It was a custom made ring but I have no idea what the stone could possibly be. Any help is appreciated.
Not tourmaline or garnet, could be iolite, although if so not a great quality as should have more transparency and more blue. The colour is within range though, at the violet end.
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Thank you!! I just looked up iolite and that looks like it and I agree, it’s not a very pretty stone. I suspect that it was “found” while rock hunting and made it into a ring? I really appreciate you taking the time to respond and solving this mystery for me.
Could it possibly be epoxy. It sounds like its very soft. Fingernail polish remover (acetone) will dissolve epoxy. Might try a cuetip with nail polish remover on it and see if it comes off on the cuetip.
Thank you. It did test as garnet, tourmaline or iolite on my Presidium gem tester, but I appreciate your suggestion to weed out the epoxy that I’ve seen around that mimic a stone.