The composite color brown (a color not found in the rainbow that comes from mixing colors) does not get very much respect in the color stone world. I realize that might be changing with the development of a market for “chocolate” diamonds etc., but dravite, a trade name for browned tourmaline was not highly valued. I have also heard that East Africa, where the rough for this gemstone came from, has produced enough spicy browns to get promoters excited with their potential. Still to call a gemstone, that has a brown (I rather call it mahogany) color that is a desaturated orange a GEM (exceptional gemstone both in cut and gemological properties) is going pretty far into the dark side. I even had a high end dealer call a larger browner round, the ugliest gemstone in the collection. I like it myself. So this emerald cut with an open uniform brownish orange color, that I checked with a piece of furniture that is made of Honduras mahogany and proved to have a similar color, may not be for everybody. So as the sun raises behind me and makes the mahogany go more golden brown, give this old man a break on liking brown and declaring this stone a GEM. This stone is a great addition to the collection and weighs 5.15 carats. A sad note is that after a great period of promising production, I have seen very little material like this available recently (2013).
Bruce
