PARIS — To the untrained eye, the purple gemstone that landed on the faceting machine of jeweler Dennis Creaser appears small, but not only did it break a state record, it is the largest piece found in North America to date, he said.
On Tuesday, Creaser, who owns Creaser Jewelers on Main Street, showed a piece of purple fluorapatite, more commonly known as apatite, which was mined at Pulsifer Quarry in Auburn.
He said the uncut stone was the second largest in the world. He was hired to cut the gem for a Connecticut mineral dealer, who obtained it after another Connecticut collector passed away.
When the stone came to Creaser, it weighed 65.5 carats. More than nine hours later, after he was done studying and faceting the gem, which he said was challenging to cut because it’s a soft stone and heat sensitive, it weighed 21.53 carats.
He formed the stone into a modified Portuguese cut, which is known for its numerous facets, and said the rock was an extremely rare collector’s gemstone because faceted apatites weighing more than one carat are scarce.
“It will probably end up in a high-end private collection or a museum,” Creaser said.
He didn’t know when the record-breaking gemstone was mined, but he thought it might have been around 1901 when Pulsifer Quarry was established. He said it was started by Pitt P. Pulsifer and is part of Mount Apatite, which was the first place in the world where purple apatite was found.
Stones discovered in this mine, which is off Hatch Road and is owned and operated by Poland Mining Camps in Poland, are known for their deep purple, gemmy appearance and are some of the best-quality apatites in the state.
He said the previous Maine record for a purple apatite was 7.63 carats. The world record for a cut stone is a 55-carat piece mined in Brazil. Besides Maine and Brazil, purple apatite is found only in Afghanistan and a few other locations.
As for the large piece of apatite showing up in Connecticut, Creaser said it’s not all that uncommon.
“A lot of Maine gemstones end up in other places, and you run into them in the weirdest places,” he said. “The best piece of Maine tourmaline I ever bought I found in Tucson, Ariz., at the gem show out there.”
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