A jeweler sent us this black Onyx and diamond pendant which their customer had broken. Black Onyx is brittle.
I suggested that they make the new piece from Black Jade, which costs only about 15% more but is far more durable than Onyx. After discussing my suggestion with their customer, they decided to go with the Black Jade.
At left you can see that the black Onyx carving is broken on the left side and is missing a piece.
This is the piece of rough Black Jade which I chose to use to make the new carving to fit this pendant.
I am holding the chunk of Black Jade by hand to saw off a slab of the right size to be used to make the new carving.
You can see the slab of Black Jade which I will use for the carving.
This is a nice solid and flawless piece of Black Jade.
You can see me carving the new piece to match the broken Onyx carving.
I continually measure the piece to make sure that it is the exact length, width, and thickness to fit into the mounting.
You can see that we left a matte finish on this piece because the old Onyx carving also had a matte finish on it and was not polished.
You can see different views of the shape of the finished carving.
→ Take me back to examples of Carving gem materials to match a sample . . .
Denton Anderson,
Gemologist & Gem Cutter
click photo for Video
Graduate Gemologist, GIA, GG
Over 20 years of experience.
