STONE HUNTER
Treasures of nature, gems are Mazet Joaillerie’s inspiration. Since the seventies, Jacques Mazet has developed an entirely original facet of his profession. Passionate about stones and their vast diversity in terms of color, brilliance and hardness, he became a stone hunter.
He travels the world on the hunt for the rarest and finest specimens. Exceptional tones, atypical shapes, extraordinary weights… he selects unique gems directly from the mines and brings them back to the creative studio in Paris. This allows the stone hunters and jewelers Jacques and Charles Mazet to offer you some 30 families of gemstones on a permanent basis, a selection that is virtually one-of-a-kind in France.
Depending on their hardness, gems vary with regard to their resistance to scratching. This property also influences the ease or complexity of the jewelers’ work, especially when it comes to setting the stones. It is evaluated from 1 to 10 on the Mohs scale. A hardness of 10 makes diamond the hardest natural substance in the world.
These fine jewelry treasures fall into three categories. The four precious stones are well known: diamond, emerald, sapphire, and ruby. Their weight is appraised in carats (1 carat = 0.20 g). Fine stones, previously known as “semi-precious stones,” group together other translucent colored stones. Decorative, ornamental stones or hardstones are also colored, but their appearance is almost always opaque.