The Museum of Faceting Technology

The Museum of Faceting Technology project began in February of 2018. At first it was devised as a personal collection but the scope quickly changed as more machines were acquired and donated. As the collection grew, it began to become a tangible representation of the worldwide culture of gemcutting.

In five years, the museum has acquired 106 machines, faceting heads, and handpieces from 24 different countries. The end goal will be to have at least one style of machine from each country that has a history of faceting. In some cases, such as the United States and Australia, there are dozens of types of faceting machines going back at least 100 years. In these cases, care will be taken in selecting machines for their uniqueness and antiquity.

We hope to put the museum collection of public display soon but for the time being you can experience the collection through the museum catalog. You can click to download a copy of the catalog here:

Catalog of the Museum of Faceting Technology

Machines that the Museum of Faceting Technology is looking to acquire:

American

Early American Mast Machines (Pre-1960s)
-Johns Gem Cutter
-Clinefelter and Larson
-Phase Advancer
-Hillquist
-Rockateer
-Handy
-Featherweight
-Simplex
-Orcott
Mercopon (Maine, USA, 1920/40s)
Alpha Taurus (American)
Facetron SCM (American)
Facette Gem Master or Gem Master II (American)
Graves Mk 5XL(American)
Willems jambpeg head (American, 1960s)
Addexton Jambpeg (American, 1980s/90s)
StoneTes Faceting Kit (American)
Patriot (American)

British

British Jambpeg Head and Handcrank Bench
Concord (British)

Australian

Little Jewel (Australian)
Hall (Australian)
VJ (Australian)

Asia

Indian-style jambpeg
Sri Lankan Hanaporuwa
Imahashi Base and Handpiece (Japanese)
Antique Sri Lankan Handcrack Bench with Handpiece
Burmese Foot Powered Bench

Other

Brazilian-style jambpeg
Israeli-style jambpeg
Antique German Handcrack Bench with Jambpeg
Large or Medium Size Idar Sandstone wheel and bench
Pre-1900s Czech Handpiece
Russian Arm Style
18th Century French or English Quadrant (Cadran)

Special Thanks

This collection could not have been assembled without the generosity of our donors. The majority of these machines have been donated for free. Some have been offered at extremely low prices in order to support this project. We thank each and every one of our friends and machine donors:

Allan Lindberg, Baier’s Enkel, Blake, Christopher Kirfman, David Harucksteiner, Dennis Bodily, Dmitri Petrochenkov, Allen Whitehead, Anders Lyckberg, Chas Ma!hews Ltd, Derek Katzenbach, Don Williams, Douglas Sawchuck, Doyle Boyington, Ed Perry, Ernie Hayes, Farooq Hashmi, Gary Kratochvil, Gerd, George Seremetis, Gil Yuda, Herbert Schmidt, Instituto Gemologico Espanol, Ivan Andrasi, Jayamini, Jayesh Patel, Jayamini Karim Guerchouche, Jon Sauer, Lou Pierre Bryl, Luana, Mac, Mark Oros, Maxime Ruelle, Michael Krautkremer, Nastasya Mironova, Nicolas Francfort, Patrick Aldridge, Pedro Novaes, Philippe Ressigeac, Ray Metrick, Rojana, Simon Bruce Lockhart, Somsit, Sterling Gems & Lapidary, Thazin Han, Thiebault Leclerc, Tom Moore, Vesta Group, Waqas Ahmed, Matthew Vilhauer, Mike Jones, Jordan Wilkins, Michael Gray, Greg McGinnis, Tim Davison, Jordan Price, James Southard, Douglas Sawchuck, Jim Edmondson, The Bristol Lapidary Club, Meg Barry, Van Diem Gems

Special thanks to Michael Holmes for the catalog design and layout and to Victoria Raynaud for the continuous support in this project.