TorusRing™ Gemstones—Out of This World!

From the moment he held in his hand a cut crystal given to him by his brother, Glenn Lehrer was inspired, fascinated by the idea of carving stones. With no established tradition to follow here in the United States, Glenn simply picked up a tool and dug in, testing the possibilities and experimenting with various methods for carving and shaping stones. The result? An impressive succession of breathtaking examples of the lapidary arts—many of which have found homes in museums and galleries.

Glenn's latest creation, the TorusRing^™ gemstone cut explodes the familiar model of the "expected" gem cut. Inspired by the torus, one of nature's most prevalent forms, this cut itself creates a torus—and just what is a torus? The torus is a geometric form that appears throughout nature—picture in your mind’s eye:

A galaxy as viewed from the Hubble telescope,

or a hurricane on Earth as viewed from space,

or the water in a whirlpool,

or the brilliant iris of your own eye.

And, just this morning, caught behind a red traffic signal, look what was right in front of me:

So prevalent is this form that even manufacturers mimic it. All of these are torus forms; none of them, however, can be held in your hand like the Lehrer TorusRing^™ gemstone.

Each TorusRing^™ gemstone is hand-cut and hand-faceted to draw light from outside the stone and capture it within, endlessly multiplying, flowing from curved facet to curved facet. This unique cut takes about five times longer to create than a traditional round brilliant and features not only the "eye" at its center—a white diamond bezel-set in gold—but an inverted, faceted cone painstakingly carved into the back of the stone.

This cone is the heart of the torus effect and, in the finished stone, the effect is hypnotic, heart-stopping and utterly heavenly. Visit riogrande.com and see the amazing TorusRing™ gemstones today.

Also, don't miss the exclusive-to-Rio TorusRing mountings made especially for the gemstones. The gemstones and mountings will inspire your most cutting-edge designs, you’ll see! (and we’d love to see, too, when you finish yours!)

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