Tests of iGem showed that it could increase the value of a rough stone by as much as 23%.

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Graff's wholesale business allows him to cut out the usual middlemen--the brokers, polishers and manufacturers who each take their slice as a rough stone moves up the jewelry chain.

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Greenish-yellow light shimmered on the rough stone walls.

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In addition, the report notes that the original rough stone from which The Vivid Yellow was cut must have possessed an extraordinary intensity and thus required no modified faceting in the cutting process to help bring out the color.

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The unmanned Rifugio Manzini hut, a couple of hundred metres down the mountainside and built out of the rough and beautiful local stone, is slightly more sheltered but conditions are almost as spartan.

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The natural feeling extends to the interiors: aged, smoked-oak floors, double windows to bring the outdoors in, a lot of rough-hewn timber, and stone fireplaces.

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It's the juxtaposition between the rough side of life and the smooth side of life that you can find within a stone's throw, from one street to another.

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The shop also trades in rough diamonds, and the moment Gilmar Campos, one of the owners, takes a look at the stone, he starts to cry.

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