Provenance · Six Regions
Cygnet buys stones in the country of their birth. We travel to the mines, sit with the cutters, and choose material on the day it comes out of the ground. Full disclosure of source and treatment is the only kind of dealing we recognise.
Pakistan
Emerald · Ruby · Garnet · Peridot
The marble belt of northern Pakistan — the same geological event that raised the Himalayas — produces corundum and beryl in the tradition of Mogok. Swat emeralds have been worked since antiquity; the peridots of Sapat Gali are cut at altitudes above four thousand metres. We buy at Mingora.
Mozambique
Ruby · Rubellite Tourmaline
The discovery of the Montepuez ruby fields in 2009 rewrote the modern map of the stone. Warm pigeon-blood reds of extraordinary purity, mostly gently heated in the traditional way. Rubellite tourmaline from the same country holds its true pink-red under lamp and daylight both.
Ethiopia
Emerald · Opal
The Ethiopian highlands are a young source with old stones. Shakiso emeralds, discovered in 2016, are bright and blueish and compare favourably with Zambia and Colombia. Welo opals reintroduced fine play-of-colour material to a market long dominated by Australia.
Zimbabwe
Emerald
Worked since the mid-twentieth century in the south of the country, Sandawana produces the small, forest-green emeralds that the trade still measures its melee against. A large, clean Sandawana emerald is a genuinely rare object.
Namibia
Mandarin Garnet
The vivid orange spessartine discovered in the Kunene region of northwestern Namibia in the early nineteen-nineties. Untreated by nature — no mandarin garnet is ever heated, oiled or filled. What you see is what the earth made.
Myanmar
Jadeite
The only source in the world for imperial-grade jadeite. We handle only Type A material — jadeite in its untreated natural state, with no polymer, bleach or dye — sourced from long-established Hong Kong trade houses.
Something in particular?
If you're looking for a specific stone — an unheated Burmese sapphire, a matched pair, an antique cushion — write to us.
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