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- Feb 17, 1999
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GEMSTONES FOR 2004
In 2004, a rare and valuable organic gemstone, designated the official gemstone of the Province of Alberta, made of the fossilized shells of ammonites, it is one of the three biogenic gemstones, and is found only along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains of Canada.
WHAT IS AMMOLITE
In 1981, ammolite was given official gemstone status by the World Jewellery Confederation, the same year commercial mining of ammolite began.
Composed primarily of aragonite, an iridescent opal-like play of color comes from interference with the light that rebounds from stacked layers of thin platelets that make up the aragonite is shown in fine specimens, mostly in shades of green and red; all the spectral colors are possible, however.
KNIFEMAKERS FOR $1500
A CANADIAN KNIFEMAKER HAS CREATED THE ONLY TWO KNIVES USING AMMOLITE, ONE OF WHICH RESIDES WITH A CANADIAN COLLECTOR
Red and green are far more common than blue or purple due to the latter's fragility (see properties). There are also certain hues, like crimson or violet or gold, which are derived from a combination of the primary colors, that are the rarest and in highest demand. The most valuable grades have roughly equal portions of three or more primary colors or 1–2 bright and even colors, with the lowest grades having one comparatively dull color predominant.
WHO IS THOMAS HASLINGER
http://haslinger-knives.com/ click on the image to open an informational page. click on more views.
Value of the ammolite is based upon a number of factors including the number of primary colors displayed, the way colors shift when the ammolite is shifted and rotated in relation to light and the iridescence of the colors.
here we have a stabilized piece of ammolite with Thomas' knife resting in front and on it with a closer view of the inset ammolite dots. In the lower inset, one of the dots has a red/green color but in the upper image, due to different angle of view, the inset appears to be totally green. Also from those same images, one can readily see the differences of the purples, blues and torquoise (very rare to find) along with some green.
The windows that Thomas chose to fill with Ammolite amazingly have pieces that are almost all identical and to find these in the rare blues and purples is quite remarkable.
ODIN'S EYE
The knife is created with Cryogenic Tempered Damasteel and is 6 1/4" overall with a blade of 2 11/16" with the typical Haslinger sweeping grindlines. All angles are smooth and the fit and finish is superb with no play in the blade and perfectly centered. The knife also has interesting bevels at the rear of the frame in a side slope and curve of the bottom of the frame which is Odin's Eye.
Ammolite is considered the rarest organic gem material. It is soft and delicate, most often requiring special processing techniques known only to a few experts specializing in this commercial industry. Thomas is now ranked as being one of these experts.
Ammolite is impregnated with a clear epoxy or other synthetic resin to stabilize the flake-prone ammolite prior to cutting. The ammolite layer is usually mere fractions of a millimeter in thickness, most ammolite gems are in fact composite stones of doublets or triplets although there are some natural stones.
During the past few years, we have purchased ammolite jewellry from Creations Lobel (Arieh)
http://www.creationslobel.com/pages/accueila.html
This image
shows some of Phyllis' ammolite pendants, two of which have the traditional red/green tones and the other has the more rare blue/purple tones.
The search for a knife with Ammolite began from the initial purchases of Ammolite jewellry and a knife was originally planned to be part of the collection as shown in the next image.
Unfortunately, both the bolo and the ring were stolen in the breakin at our hotel in Amsterdam the end of July when we were travelling. Now the job of finding or having created another ring and a bolo begins. The goal, this time, will be to find stones that have a full spectrum of color from red to green, to yellow to blue.
In 2004, a rare and valuable organic gemstone, designated the official gemstone of the Province of Alberta, made of the fossilized shells of ammonites, it is one of the three biogenic gemstones, and is found only along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains of Canada.
WHAT IS AMMOLITE
In 1981, ammolite was given official gemstone status by the World Jewellery Confederation, the same year commercial mining of ammolite began.
Composed primarily of aragonite, an iridescent opal-like play of color comes from interference with the light that rebounds from stacked layers of thin platelets that make up the aragonite is shown in fine specimens, mostly in shades of green and red; all the spectral colors are possible, however.
KNIFEMAKERS FOR $1500
A CANADIAN KNIFEMAKER HAS CREATED THE ONLY TWO KNIVES USING AMMOLITE, ONE OF WHICH RESIDES WITH A CANADIAN COLLECTOR
Red and green are far more common than blue or purple due to the latter's fragility (see properties). There are also certain hues, like crimson or violet or gold, which are derived from a combination of the primary colors, that are the rarest and in highest demand. The most valuable grades have roughly equal portions of three or more primary colors or 1–2 bright and even colors, with the lowest grades having one comparatively dull color predominant.
WHO IS THOMAS HASLINGER
http://haslinger-knives.com/ click on the image to open an informational page. click on more views.
Value of the ammolite is based upon a number of factors including the number of primary colors displayed, the way colors shift when the ammolite is shifted and rotated in relation to light and the iridescence of the colors.
here we have a stabilized piece of ammolite with Thomas' knife resting in front and on it with a closer view of the inset ammolite dots. In the lower inset, one of the dots has a red/green color but in the upper image, due to different angle of view, the inset appears to be totally green. Also from those same images, one can readily see the differences of the purples, blues and torquoise (very rare to find) along with some green.
The windows that Thomas chose to fill with Ammolite amazingly have pieces that are almost all identical and to find these in the rare blues and purples is quite remarkable.
ODIN'S EYE
The knife is created with Cryogenic Tempered Damasteel and is 6 1/4" overall with a blade of 2 11/16" with the typical Haslinger sweeping grindlines. All angles are smooth and the fit and finish is superb with no play in the blade and perfectly centered. The knife also has interesting bevels at the rear of the frame in a side slope and curve of the bottom of the frame which is Odin's Eye.
Ammolite is considered the rarest organic gem material. It is soft and delicate, most often requiring special processing techniques known only to a few experts specializing in this commercial industry. Thomas is now ranked as being one of these experts.
Ammolite is impregnated with a clear epoxy or other synthetic resin to stabilize the flake-prone ammolite prior to cutting. The ammolite layer is usually mere fractions of a millimeter in thickness, most ammolite gems are in fact composite stones of doublets or triplets although there are some natural stones.
During the past few years, we have purchased ammolite jewellry from Creations Lobel (Arieh)
http://www.creationslobel.com/pages/accueila.html
This image
The search for a knife with Ammolite began from the initial purchases of Ammolite jewellry and a knife was originally planned to be part of the collection as shown in the next image.
Unfortunately, both the bolo and the ring were stolen in the breakin at our hotel in Amsterdam the end of July when we were travelling. Now the job of finding or having created another ring and a bolo begins. The goal, this time, will be to find stones that have a full spectrum of color from red to green, to yellow to blue.
