Fiddlehead Green Maine Tourmaline Ring

Cross Family Fascination
The Fiddlehead Ring

It’s March 26, 2022. I’m sitting by my stream. Clear cold water is running by at 100 gallons a minute. Today it’s a wasteland of tan-yellow-cream cattail stalks bordering the stream. I’ve cut the cattails back two feet on either side of the stream. I can see thirty feet up the stream, water gurgling, water flowing fast, curling, swirling down. Bubbles at the first waterfall where the water drops five inches, not a spectacular drop, but adds to the character of the stream. The stream comes down, makes an almost 90° turn at the edge of my lawn. The turn is not natural, I had something to do with that, it looks nice, though.

The stream flows five feet, then comes to the big waterfall. It’s the biggest fall as the stream makes its way to the ocean. The water plummets, cascades over and down a full eight inches. The drop is significant enough to make splashing sounds. The waterfall is probably 70% of the reason I will log a dozen hours of sitting by the stream in April and May. No one fully understands my fascination with this watercourse.

Here’s what I know, in four weeks cattail shoots and fiddlehead ferns will begin to show. In eight weeks ferns waist high will arch over the stream. In twelve weeks, some of my twelve varieties of ferns will tower four, five, six feet and cattails will be seven and eight feet high. By then the stream will completely disappear until March of next year.

I’m from a family that loves fiddleheads and ferns as a design detail. As you read on you will read about my great-great grandfather in 1918 or 1919 making a Maine Tourmaline Fiddlehead ring for his 16-year-old daughter. We remade the 80 years later. This is the Cross Family Fiddlehead Maine Tourmaline ring. It’s one of the prettiest rings ever made. Some question all the engraving as too fussy. Trust me, on the hand it looks amazing. You’ll never want to take it off.

The Original
Fiddlehead Ring

The Fiddlehead was hand-crafted by our founder, William M. Cross in 1919 for his daughter’s 16th birthday. The original Fiddlehead was set with a green Maine tourmaline, also cut and polished by William.

The Fiddlehead Ring was passed down through generations of the Cross family and was most recently given to William’s great-great-granddaughter. Because there were two great-great-granddaughters, we made another. It came out so beautifully we made more. And as they say, “The rest is history.” Choose this ring, share in its history and you and your descendants become part of the Cross family.

Maine Tourmaline, A Maine Story
An American Gem

First discovered in 1820 and in subsequent finds over the years, these early discoveries put Maine on the world map as a source for high-quality tourmaline gems. A major discovery in 1972 on Plumbago Mountain in Newry, Maine established Maine as a significant world source of fine tourmaline gemstones.

Cross recognized the historical significance of this find and began working closely with the miners of these magnificent gems. The close partnership continues today with the ongoing discoveries in Maine’s western mountains.

100% Natural

We go to Maine’s gem mines. We know the miners. We know the gem cutters. We guarantee our tourmaline to be from Maine and is 100% natural. Cross maintains the largest collection of fine Maine tourmaline jewelry in the world.

Window of Opportunity

Fifty years have passed since the major 1972 tourmaline find in Newry, Maine where they found 3.5 million carats of tourmaline crystals. Over the years we bought more than we sold knowing that gem finds don’t last forever. There are now colors, sizes, and shapes that are extremely rare and, in some cases, no longer available. If you see something you love it’s best to act quickly. There’s no guarantee another gem like this one exists.

Case in point: In 2007 there was a find of tourmaline in Newry, Maine called Eureka Blue. People loved the color. The gems sold quickly, but the find was small and the mining only lasted a few seasons. Within three years of the discovery, all the large Eureka gems had sold. We still get calls from people who are now ready to buy. What they want, however, simply no longer exists from that find in 2007.

Gem finds are rare, especially in North America. Maine tourmaline is a piece of Maine and American history, it’s a connection to a place we all love, an exquisite creation of nature. Today, there is a rare opportunity to own a bit of Maine/American pride and heritage, and history in choosing a piece of Maine tourmaline jewelry.