Legend has it that the marquise cut was created for the court of Louis XV, shaped to echo the smile of the Marquise de Pompadour. This 0.650 ct Russian alexandrite from the Malysheva mine in the Ural Mountains carries that aristocratic silhouette and pairs it with the most coveted kind of color change. In daylight the stone is a juicy, saturated emerald green, deep and cool, the classic hue of Ural crystals grown in the same schists as Russian emerald. Under incandescent light it shifts to a deep wine-red at its heart, framed by violet toward the tips. A change toward true red is the rarest and most valued expression of alexandrite, and the one that made Ural stones the historical standard of the species. The marquise is Russian cut, measuring 7.23 × 4.21 × 2.95 mm, and its long, pointed outline gives a graceful face-up length of over 7 mm, lengthening the finger elegantly. The crystal carries natural inclusions typical of Malysheva material, fine needles and healed fractures that sparkle softly within, confirming the stone’s untreated origin. In person the change is striking, a vivid contrast between cool green by day and glowing wine-red by evening light. It is natural and untreated, confirmed by the Marianovich Gems Certificate of Authenticity. A beautiful green-to-red color change in a rare marquise cut makes this a refined collector’s alexandrite and an elegant centerpiece for a vintage-inspired ring, a navette pendant or a bespoke design.
