Excalibur Blue Zircon & Diamond Necklace

Excalibur Blue Zircon & Diamond Necklace

The Temperature Was 96° in the Sun
Sitting with The World’s Finest
Colored Gem Cutter

The first time I met Philip Youngman, it was a hot sunny day in Tuscon, Arizona. He was on the second floor of a downtown building, glass windows floor to ceiling. Behind Phil, through the glass windows, were the mountains that surround Tuscon and the Arizona sun was pouring in through the windows. Phil was back to the windows sitting. There were two seats on our side of his showcase.

Although it was close to 40 years ago, I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember walking down the line of showcases and stopping before Phil’s case. Color brilliance, color shape, color…electric color, color…other worldly color. There before me were gems in a performance of color and brilliance I’d never experienced before.

I sat down; I didn’t ask for permission. I knew the man on the other side of this showcase was about to become a best friend for life and that I had a lot of discovering to do to understand who he was and how he had created all this impossible beauty.

I’m going to skip the hour-and-a-half we sat there looking, selecting, sorting, choosing gems. I would have to admit, I was giddy with excitement. Nothing, nothing, nothing that I had ever seen in gems in 15 years began to compare with what we saw that first day.

And yes, Phil has become a great friend. He is mostly retired now, and cutting some of the most beautiful Zircons in the world.

The Hope Diamond
Worn by Marjorie Merriweather Post
The Last Private Owner of the Gem

The Hope Diamond, on display at the Smithsonian, is the World’s most famous blue diamond.

A well-cut blue Zircon looks remarkably like a blue diamond. A gem Zircon achieves its particular shade of blue by strategic heating and cooling. Phil does his own color adjusting in addition to the gem cutting.

The 3.27 carats, cushion cut, blue Zircon in our necklace is surrounded by a halo of brilliant white diamonds, and could be the younger sister of the Hope in color.