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.
People Love Our Jewelry Discovery Emails
16,000 people receive our emails daily. If you would like to join our email friends and be up to date on the latest trends…
It’s easy to sign up and it’s quick to unsubscribe if you ever choose to.
click here to join
About the Trade Wind Collection:
Where does inspiration come from? Where do the creative sparks for design begin? For Cross’ new Trade Wind Jewelry Collection, we find ourselves drawn into the story of Captain John Henry Drew, from Gardiner, Maine. Born in 1834, he grew up the son of a Ship’s Carver, and went to sea at the age of 15, eventually becoming Captain of a series of clipper ships, and traveling from New York to China and back home, when that voyage took more than seventeen months.
Instead of carving or knotting or other hobbies that were characteristic of sailors, this mostly self-educated man read books, memorized details from newspapers, and wrote about his journey—his literal and his inner journey. His hand-written and personally illustrated journals tell us of his longing for Maine, for his family, and for “making something of himself”. He is very much like you and me, and it makes his story that much more compelling. He savors apples from home, as tasting better than apples from anywhere else. He imagines the scene he might see looking in the window at home, where his family sits, and he chastises himself for not getting more done at home when he was there.
The jewelry in our Trade Wind Collection is made by his great-great-great grandson, Keith. This young man went to sea as well, at age 18. As part of his service to the US Navy, his travels took him to many of the same places his great-great-great grandfather’s clipper ships visited. Keith also had a hobby unconventional for sailors— he had a fascination for gems and he studied gemology. He studied so that when his service was completed, he could become a jeweler. As Keith traveled the world, he collected exquisite gems, and after leaving the service and returning home, he mastered the art of fine jewelry making.
It is now decades later. We met Keith for the first time in March, 2014. We were impressed with his jewelry, and as we talked further, discovered he had a clipper ship sea captain ancestor and became intrigued with the parallels of his journey in life with that of his sea captain forebear.
The parallels in the two stories are expressed in the jewelry itself—the exotic colors, the flow of the designs, the attention to detail which is something passed down in this family—whether it is to protect the ship, its cargo and its crew, or to create a design that will last and protect its valuable gems, giving the wearer the same pleasure we experience when a ship at full sail goes by. You can’t help but stop and exclaim, “Isn’t that beautiful?”
We were hooked by this story, and by the jewelry. We think you will be too. In fact, we’re posting pages from Captain Drew’s journals from the Voyage of the Franklin in 1868. Take a few minutes to join in the journey, and think of those you love most, and rejoice if they are right there with you.
Read the Captain’s
Clipper Ship Journal Entries
Read Keith’s Gem Expedition Dispatches
