Glen R. Hahn: One of North America’s First Amateur Faceters

by Jay Meredith on May 25, 2020

in Gemology,History

Read Article Here

The art and craft of faceting did not appear out of thin air; there were pioneers in the field.  One of those North American pioneers was Glen. R. Hahn, who faceted in the mid-1930’s. He made his own faceting machine, invented a composition lap from a phonograph record, and only cut the standard round brilliant, mostly in quartz.

Bill Atwell, President of the North York Faceting Guild in Toronto and author of the carefully researched article on Hahn wrote, “Imagine staring at a cut gem and trying to figure out yourself how the facets were placed on a transparent mineral with no previous knowledge.  Could we, on our own, have considered the value and utilization of angles and bearings?  Similarly, would we have determined the process of grinding and transferring?”

This article provides an historical view into faceting and Greg Hahn’s mindset. Thanks to the North York Faceting Guild for sharing this knowledge with us.

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: