Faceting is a process of grinding and polishing to create a finished gemstone suitable for jewelry. Faceting is frequently called "cutting", but there is no "cutting" involved.
We offer two options for faceting your rough stones.
Overseas Faceting:
Our "overseas" faceting option is a great choice for small and average size sapphires or larger stones that are off-color or have significant flaws. It is also a good choice for quartz, garnet, amethyst, and other semi-precious stones because of the low cost. Prices start at $25 for a single stone and decrease with quantity to as little as $10.00 per stone.
We facet over 20,000 stones per year overseas. The quality exceeds industry standards for calibration and finished polish quality. We evaluate each stone individually and specify the cutting instructions to maximize the size and value of your finished gemstone. Our facet guarantee protects you with a replacement gemstone or a complete refund of the cost of faceting.
The small print about our facet guarantee: We only provide replacement gemstones for rough stones we have sold and evaluated. The refund is only for the value of services and does not include the real or perceived value of the rough stone(s) or potential value of the finished gemstone. We grade each stone individually and endeavor to identify any internal features that may prevent anything but exceptional results. However, rough stones are difficult to evaluate and may contain flaws that are not readily identifiable. Additionally, heat treating may cause small flaws to become larger. If we identify a flaw within the stone we will offer to facet it with "No Replacement Guarantee" (NRG) knowing it will not finish to our high quality standards. Your must share the financial risk of faceting a stone we know contains a flaw. (Basically, if you want that large stone with the big crack in it cut, we'll try, but I'm not giving you a beautiful finished gemstone because your rough stone broke during heat treating or faceting, or finished butt ugly bacause of the flaws. Similarly, if you bring me a rock from somewhere other than Gem Mountain and want a gemstone cut, we'll try it, but if it can't be cut, obviously we can't replace it, and all we can do is provide a refund for the cost of services). Our liability is limited to providing a refund of the cost of services and does not include the value of the rough or perceived vlaue of the finished gemstones.
Montana Faceting:
Montana Faceting is the only way to go if you have a large high value stone or a specific cutting request for custom jewelry. We only utilize highly experienced lapidary professionals who obtain the highest standards of "meet point" faceting, finish polish quality and polished girdles. Montana cut stones truly are better. The cost of Montana faceting starts at $50. The price increases with the size of the stone and the cut selected.
We offer several specialty cuts, including one that features 161 facets of amazing beauty. Most customers with rough sapphires larger than three carats select one of our specialty cuts over the standard 57 facet round brilliant. Visit our facebook page (link on the home page) to see pictures of a 161 facet Portuguese Round Brilliant cut gemstone in the "Most Valuable Stone" photo album. We will post additional photos of specialty cut stones in the near future.
Gemstone Evaluation
Finished gemstones are almost always worth signficantly more than the rough "rock". We create beautiful gemstones suitable for jewelry from rough stones of all kinds.
If you have rough stones that you would like turned into valuable finished gemstones we can help. Mail your rough stones to us for a no obligation review using a small box or padded envelope via US Postal Service Insured mail, Fed Ex or UPS.
DO NOT use a standard envelope.
Include a list of what you sent us, your contact information, including a daytime contact telephone number and $10 to cover the cost of return shipping and handling. We will evaluate your stones and contact you with your heat treating and faceting options and the total cost.