A faceted purple-pink Diaspore gemstone from Nangarhar province, Afghanistan.

This Diaspore variety is fairly new to the market and the amount which will be recovered from the mine is not yet known.

Unlike the popular yellow-green gems from Turkey, the gems from this recent find have a distinctly pink to purple-pink daylight colour and only a moderate colour shift, in this case from purple-pink to a violet-red shade when exposed to incandescent illumination (image 2).
In household LED light it reverts to a paler and more uniform pink colour (image 5).

It's distinct light yellow and purple pink dichroism can be seen when examined with a dichroscope and the gem also displays a chalky yellow-green fluorescence when exposed to SW ultraviolet illumination.

The gem has few visible internal features, other than a series of delicate Rutile needle inclusions.

weight:  2.00 carats
shape:   Mixed oval cut
dimensions:   9.29 x 7.29 x 4.06 mm
treatment:  None