These are lab created purple-pink to peach laser garnet facet rough. Smaller pieces can be purchased by weight range and larger pieces are labelled with their gram weight and letter in the photo and they can be purchased individually.
This is a very cool gem, a type of lab-created garnet grown for use in lasers, Neodymium+Cerium YAG (Yttrium Aluminum Garnet). It has the same structure as a natural garnet but a composition which could never occur in nature, allowing it to have a higher hardness (8.25) and greater brilliance. This a next-gen version of the old classic Nd:YAG, adding additional cerium as a booster.
YAG with neodymium has long been used as a laser material, and that basic formula makes a pink to purple stone which turns colorless under fluorescent illumination. These stones, however, are a more refined variety, with other metals such as cerium added to make the laser more powerful. The result is a much more interesting color which varies from purple to pink to peach, color shifts under sunlight and different temperature LEDs and turns light yellow under fluorescent illumination. This gives a very unusual and unique look which has been exciting faceters recently and leading to a lot of comparisons to mahenge or malaya garnets.
YAG is an excellent material to facet, incredibly easy to cut and polish and with a high hardness of 8.25-8.5, an RI of 1.83 and good dispersion which makes for very lively stones even before the color factors in. It is suitable for use in all kinds of jewelry.
