Hunting Season
Green Trees – Silver Flash
Many years ago, a cross customer had been cleaning out the estate of a great aunt. She had many very fine pieces of jewelry. Within her jewelry collection was an old, perfectly preserved, Cartier jewelry catalog. As one jeweler commenting on another jeweler’s designs, the 1925 Cartier catalog represented the finest collection of diamond jewelry designs I’d ever seen. Clean, classic lines, impeccable craftsmanship, ideal relationships of center to sides, grace, harmony, and balance, everything about the designs shown impressed us immensely. The customer gave us the catalog. We studied it closely. What impressed us most were shapes of the accent diamonds. We had never seen these shapes used in jewelry. Sounds like Cross is recommending the 1925 Cartier, we are. They were and are a very fine jewelry store.
Back to our store and the ring which was shown in that nearly 100 year old catalog. The side diamonds are referred to as bullet shaped diamonds. The women in our store have told me we shouldn’t use the word bullet, but it is the name diamond cutters traditionally use for these sparkling shaped gems. Bullet shaped diamonds are not commonly used in contemporary jewelry and represent a rare touch of white brilliance at the side of our oval SparHawk tourmaline center. This ring in all platinum is stunning.
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SparHawk Maine Tourmaline
Now to the gem. It’s a native natural gem of Maine, SparHawk mint green teal Maine tourmaline. It’s from a gem mine 28 miles north of our store, cut by a Maine Irish guy who is totally obsessed with gem precision and perfection. There is symphony and harmony in the balance and flow of light within the gem. It’s color and brilliance whispers Celtic beginnings.
I’d like to go back 3,000 years and show the ring to one of my ancestors. They would get it. They’d understand. I’m absolutely certain they and everyone around would all approve of the ring, and if I said to a group of Celtic villagers my minimum price is 16 sheep, two rams, and 3 oxen, there would be stiff competition among all assembled.
Gem Find of a Lifetime Video
World Famous Discoveries
Treasure Trove of Gems
I’ve always dreamed of a gem find like this. To have this mine be so close to home, just 28 miles north of our store in the mountains of western Maine, is amazing. Gems so fine, so pure, with colors so vivid. It’s important someone documents this historic gem find here in Maine, because it’s a history-making discovery in the world of gems.
The video above is 1 minute, 43 seconds. It gives you a good idea of the excitement we feel for the gems we are discovering here in Maine.
Maine has been world-famous for the tourmaline gems mined here for over 200 years. The geology in our western mountains has yielded a treasure trove of world class gems. Cross Jewelers has been the Maine state leader, bringing fine Maine tourmaline jewelry to all of America for over 100 years.
We have over 200 pieces of Maine tourmaline jewelry from both the SparHawk mine and other Maine mines.
Maine’s Crescent of Gems
Consider this…If they found a tourmaline mine in 1820 that is still producing today; if they found $50-million worth of tourmaline on Plumbago Mountain in 1972 and thirty-seven years later, struck Eureka Blue tourmaline 250 feet away. What else is waiting to be found in Maine’s Crescent of Gems?
The SparHawk Tourmaline Mine is Just 25 Miles North of Portland
This is about the Silver Dollar Tourmaline Pocket
Saturday night.
Standing in line to buy a theater ticket. Phone rings .Voice says “this is Jeff, we hit a pocket this afternoon, thought you might like to come up.” I said “What time?” He said “8:30.”
Sunday Morning at the mine. The Silver Dollar Pocket
Day breaks gray, over cast 64 degrees, humid. Later, spots of blue sky appear. Some sun with shifting shade. First photographs of SparHawk Tourmaline and Watermelon Crystals and a 1924 silver dollar for size reference. After that the day just kept getting better.
A small crowd gathers, a scientist, a gem cutter, a jeweler, and five of the state’s best gem miners, drifting in and out throughout the day. Some stay all day. Sounds: jack hammer separating rock. Sounds: mine pump water washing rock and rubble clean. Every one looking for color. Talk: speculation. Talk: certainty. Talk: crystals held to the sky. Talk: wonder. Sounds: dogs barking, dogs running with sticks. Young guys working, old guys watching.
June 8 & 9, 2013
At the SparHawk Mine
As the day progressed the sky cleared and the gem mining proceeded. It was an awesome day.
On Another Day
I Was the First One There
I arrived at the mine early. I was not sure if I had misheard our meeting time or if Jeff was late. I liked the sense of space, the openness without any other consciousness to interfere. The space felt different than my years of visits with other people around. Thinking minds are so powerful that one can feel others’ thoughts guided by arrows and pre-established pathways. Here with nothing but cliffs and trees, it was just me with a pen and paper. I am not alone but free to see and sense.
I heard a plane take off from the airport several miles away. I heard the wind in the pines and spruce, faint and up high. The cliffs that surround, the rubble that litters, and the rock below are all frozen in time. I’ve seen what this place produces. I’ve seen the crystals loosened and pulled from the white clay. I’ve listened to the people who come for the unveiling. I’ve heard their gasps; I’ve seen their wonder. This moment, on this mountain, may be as close as anyone ever gets to true magic in their earthly existence. – R.H.P.
A Treasure Trove of Gems
Found Under the Road
We know we are lucky. We know that any jeweler in America so close to a buried treasure of gems would be so excited to have treasure so close and to have the opportunity to acquire cut gems and then offer finished jewelry to the public. It would be like a gift from heaven. The crystal shown above weighed 62 carats. The person holding the crystal is Sean Sweeney, who is America’s best tourmaline cutter. He was there that day at the mine. He excavated this gem from under the road leading into the gem mine.
The Cross Maine Tourmaline
SparHawk Collection
Yes, we have over 100 pieces of SparHawk Mint-Green-Teal Maine Tourmaline jewelry on our website. All of our Maine tourmaline was mined in Maine and therefore never has had a tariff. There will never be a tariff or duty imposed on any of our Maine tourmaline gems.
He Didn’t Know It at the Time…
His purchase of the land and this
lost gem mine would make world history.
Jeff bought the land. His original intent was for house lots. His research showed that a hundred years before, it had been a successful gem mine. So successful, it made national news for the tourmaline that had been found there. Others came, searched, and found little-to-nothing. Because he was in the foundation business, he had digging machines, had trucks, and knew about blasting rock and how to move rock. He decided on weekends to do some amateur exploring. He worked on and off for several years. Then he hit a soft place in solid rock that was filled with tourmaline, it was a fine green color with an open c-axis. The c-axis is jeweler talk for an outstanding property that makes the gems shine extra bright. If that was all that he found his discovery would have made the Maine gem mining history books, and his discovery would have been told in stories of legend and lore a hundred years later.
With this initial success, Jeff continued the search. Over the next dozen years he opened gem pocket after gem pocket. We, Cross named his new tourmaline color SparHawk Mint-Green-Teal. The open c-axis allows light to do some truly magical things.
Choose a Piece of Jewelry
From America’s National Treasure
Many Americans are choosing one of our own national gems. We are fortunate to be so close to Maine’s tourmaline mines. The gems are beautiful. The jewelry we create is exquisite and comes with our solid Cross Guarantee for performance and beauty.
Our goal is to make your selection easy and shipping a breeze. We ship to all of America – Fast, Safe, and Free.
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