About Larry Woods - World Famous AGTA Gem Cutter.

With almost 40 years of gem cutting experience, Larry Woods is internationally recognized as a master gem cutter and artist having won many prestigious awards for his original gem cutting, carvings, and gem designs. “My passion and love for colored gems and gem cutting is in revealing the most beautiful, most brilliant gem from each rare piece of gem rough. I am very grateful for the opportunity of expressing creativity and craft in the fashioning and evolution of these rare and precious expressions of nature.” Woods cut the Havey Tourmaline from a terminated crystal taken from one of the 2013 pockets. The original crystal weighed 75 carats (approximately 15 grams). Like most gem-quality tourmaline from Havey Quarry, it was a rich blue-green and featured fine fractures lining its surface. The interior of the crystal, however, was flawless. Woods recognized the potential of the stone the first time he saw it during a visit to the quarry in the fall of 2013:

[Morrison] brought out flat after flat of beautiful blue green tourmaline crystals and gem rough. One piece stood out far and above all the other specimens in his collection, an exceptional 15 gram gem tourmaline crystal termination. The clarity, color, size, and shape of the piece made it a perfect candidate to be cut into a world class gem, and was to that date, one of the largest and finest pieces Jeff had ever found. I realized immediately that this was a very special piece. …My inspiration for cutting the piece followed a fairly traditional formula—a Barion style facet pattern—designed to produce the most brilliant finished gem while maintaining the greatest weight retention from the rough crystal. I especially wanted to bring out the beautiful blue green color of the material. I also decided to add a modern twist to the design: engraved, carved, high-polished grooves in the pavilion of the stone to increase the overall brilliance and light reflection in the finished gem. I am truly grateful to everyone who had a hand in this project, and I am honored to have received the opportunity to work with this incredible gem.Woods and Jeffrey Morrison credit Francis Seay’s generosity for bringing the gem and crystals to the Smithsonian.

AWARDS