Garnets and the other Garnets

January is garnet month, or so the Jeweler’s Association says, at any rate.  And if you are thinking red or pink garnet, then this would be a very short blog entry.  It would end right here.

Luckily, garnet is a lot more interesting than that once you get away from the reds.  While there are, supposedly, a lot of distinctions to be made with regard to red garnet - pyrope, almandine, rhodolite - in the words of my favorite gemstone dealer, D.:

“It’s all the same stuff, it comes from the same places and it gets mined by the truckload.”

The good stuff, in my opinion and in that of many others, are Spessartite and Mandarin garnet, Tsavorite, and Demantoid.  Most of these are found in Africa, mainly Kenya and Tanzania, but now also Nigeria (Demantoid and Spessartite also occur outside of Africa).  And all of them are recent additions to the gemstone market.  Insiders think that these garnets are now where Tanzanite was thirty years ago: they are already fairly hard to find, but still reasonable in price because the mass market is barely aware of them.  But give it time and this will change. 

Garnet is also interesting is that it is never treated.  It doesn’t need it, for one, and secondly, none of the treatments that have been tried have actually enhanced the way it looks.  So there hasn’t been any point.

1. Spessartite and Mandarin garnet: the distinction between these two is fluid.  The lighter more orangy stuff is called “Mandarin,” the darker, more brownish gems are Spessartite (named after the Spessart forest in Germany where it was first found).  I’ve only ever seen Spessartite and some very heavily occluded Mandarin.  But garnet should not have a lot of inclusions, consequently, that stuff is very cheap, starting at perhaps $8 a carat.  The nicer stuff trades for 10 times that or more.  Larger sizes (say 3-10 carats) are around at the moment, but as with all gems, the price per carat changes with size.

Tsavorite Parcel from Nigeria

Anecdote: when I bought my first larger Spessartite parcel last fall (see picture above), the dealer quoted me a ridiculously low price.  I saw that his tray contained rather a large number of bigger size pieces.  So I asked if he was sure about the low price.  He said “yes” and so I took out all the big and clear stuff.  I could tell he was not happy, but a price is a price.  At the end of the transaction, he said: “you know you got a good deal.”  He was right.

Periodically, I list Spessartite earrings and rings on my site.  They all come from that dealer.  If it is at all your color, I recommend these to you as among my very best buys.

2. Tsavorite: these belong in the Grossular garnet variety, where Grossular is the occluded, non-gem grade stuff, and Tsavorite the clean stuff.  It is named after Tsavo National Park in Kenya where it was first found.  Already, Tsavorite is traded at a significantly higher price than Spessartite, and anything over a carat is hard to find.  Considerably more durable and cleaner than emerald but similar in coloring, Tsavorite is a great buy.  The darker colors are more highly valued than the lighter ones, but the medium green ones I offer out in my stud earring sections are a good buy.  The Tsavorite in those earrings are not the very best available, but they are an excellent value for the money.  I will try, this spring, to get some other, larger pieces.  But they will definitely cost more.

Tsavorite Garnet Stud Earrings

3. Demantoid: this is the most expensive garnet variety, and the only color I’ve ever actually seen it in is an olive green.  Demantoid is very clear, and comes in all green varieties from more yellowish green to more emerald green.  I don’t have any because it costs even more than Tsavorite, so there’s no point for me to stock it.  The olive colors are cheaper, but not as nice, the good stuff, again, is the clear stuff with fewer yellow overtones.  Wholesale prices are $100-$150 per carat for the small sizes.



Demantoid Garnet Parcel from gemselect.com



New Ideas for a New Year

After a first full year on Etsy, I have lots of new ideas, and I want to drop those ideas that didn’t work.  Here’s a first stab at my plans – any suggestions and ideas are most welcome!

1. More gemstones and gemstone designs, fewer wire wraps.  Sad but true, wire wraps and beaded designs don’t sell very well on Etsy.  So I’ve deleted my wire wrap earring section and replaced it with a hoop and dangly earring section that will focus on set stones, not beads.  I’m actually very exited about this, because it lets me use my gemstones in a whole new way.  I will work with both 14K and sterling hoops, and I will provide several design options for most listings.

Blue Topaz Hoop Earrings

2. Free earrings with wire wraps.  I’m not a matchy matchy person, but insofar as my wire wrapped earrings have sold at all, they have sold as complements to the necklaces.  So I’m giving them away.  Consider it a “wire wrap stimulus package”.

3. More squares.  My single best selling gemstone cut last year has been the princess cut, with baguettes running a close second.  So I’m going to try my best to find more of those.  I have some amethyst ready to go, and green tourmalines in the works for earrings.  Garnet, peridot, and citrine are fairly easy to get in princess cuts,  and I think I can also find another princess cut emerald.  And baguettes for rings.  Soon to be listed are a pink tourmaline, an aquamarine and a blue zircon ring using baguettes and emerald cuts. 

4. More rings.  Rings are my best selling item on Etsy, right up there with post earrings and of course, the never ending tie bars.  So more rings it is, low end to high end price range.  I’ll go for some larger stones as well, as many of you like those.  But note that this will either mean higher prices or less interesting gems.  Emeralds, rubies and sapphires, untreated and natural, are pretty affordable in the larger sizes.  I am also working on some more melted rings – I love them, and I’ve gotten a few sales (as well as many complements) out of them during the holiday season.

Blue Zircon Baguette Ring

5. More 14K gold.  Prices for gold are through the roof, so this is going to make some items more expensive.  But my main idea is to use some 14K gold beads as accents, and 14K gold bezels or settings for the rings.  That will keep the cost manageable.  But note that a 14K setting can cost me anywhere between $15 and $50.  Prong settings cost less than baguettes, and full bezels are the most expensive.  The 14K gold beads are not so bad in price, but they take time to add.

6. Clearance items.  What doesn’t sell must go at a lower price.  I’ve lowered the price on some of the items that have been on Etsy the longest.  It you want something out of that section but still think they’re too expensive for you, make me an offer.  I’d rather see the items worn than wasted.

The Ten Things I Learned in 2010

It is snowing outside, and the wind is howling.  So long as you don’t look down at the cars, Jersey City feels a tiny bit like a Winter Wonderland.  The year is drawing to a close.  This is when we reflect on what was good, or bad, about the year that has gone by, and make New Year’s resolutions.  I’m not the reflective type, however, not in that sense anyway, and I make resolutions whenever they occur to me.  My new year begins in September.  But taxes have to be filed, which means I have to sort through tons of receipts in the coming weeks.  And all those pieces of paper yield a picture of sorts, from which I can draw conclusions.

1. Tie bars are back in style.  Alternatively: I am one of very few people who still makes them.  In philosopher’s lingo, these two hypotheses are empirically equivalent: I sold over 250 tie bars this year.  240 of them (or something like that) were plain, which is too bad given how much I love gems.

2. December is not the busiest time of the year on Etsy.  I have to count this out, but I don’t even think I sold more tie bars.  I just sold them individually, as opposed to 5 or 10 at a time to a summer wedding.  In terms of other jewelry, business was about the same.  November, in fact, was better.

3. Sales do not slow down after the holidays.  Ok, it is a bit early to tell.  But I still have 10 custom orders pending.  And I’ve had six sales since December 24.

4. Etsy success tips don’t work.  I tried the gift certificate, I changed my shipping options, and I did a few other things that the Etsy success emails suggested.  Nobody bought the gift certificate, nor did sales increase from any of the other tips.  This makes sense: send a good tip around to everyone, a large number of people follow it, thereby diluting its success.  That’s why business success secrets are, well, secrets.

5. Craft shows are a two edged sword.  You get up early, pull out your shoulder from carrying your stuff, set up for an hour or two, and then you hope that someone comes by and wants your items, and not those of the other dozes of competing jewelery tables.  If you get busy, that’s awesome, if not, you feel that you've totally wasted your day.  Time does not grow on trees, and the German in me hates nothing more than to throw it away.  I may have to rethink some of these shows.

6. Etsy sales and craft show sales don’t overlap.  I’ve sold perhaps 50 pairs of wire-wrapped briolette earrings this year.  Only one pair was sold on Etsy (to a local customer).  It was the same with wire-wrapped and beaded necklaces: the ratio was perhaps 1 in 5, Etsy to craft show.  I think that stuff just gets drowned on Etsy.  Everyone and their mother knows how to string, and anyone can now buy beads at wholesale price from India over the internet.  On Etsy, meanwhile, I sell post earrings and rings with hard to find gemstones.  And - yes - tie bars.

7. I have too many beads.  That’s definitely a lesson learned.  I’m going to have to join Bead Hoarders Anonymous.  Or sell down, which is the plan.  So the wire wrapped and beaded stuff I will make in coming weeks will be more opulent and “wasteful”.  I plan to keep prices low and just sell sell sell.

*** And now for my top three – what I've gleaned from a year in the diamond district ***

8. The guys there told me this in the beginning.  If you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll get cheated.  I didn’t believe it.  Not in America, with all those consumer protection laws.  I take it back.  The Street may be one of the easiest places to get cheated in America.  Now this lesson should take up an entire blog entry, so you’re going to have to wait.  I had to analyze why this is, and I’ve come up with what I think are some good hypotheses.

9. The Street is dying.  Slowly.  Two reasons come to mind.  The obvious one is the economic downturn, and jewelry, after all, is not an everyday use item like food or clothing.  The second reason is the internet.  Companies like Blue Nile are killing the diamond trade, and other companies offer beads and gems to the public at near wholesale prices (about double the wholesale prices is my estimate, where retail is 3-5 times the wholesale price).  Gem sales on TV are doing their own bit to pretend to the public that they are getting good deals (hint) when buying gems direct.  I personally don’t think there are very good deals to be had that way, but evidently enough other people believe it.

10. This last lesson follows from the previous two: once you get past the steep learning curve with high end gems – and it is steeper than I had thought – and once you have made some trustworthy connections, you can get great stuff at a great price.  Sometimes you have to buy parcels, mostly you pay cash by way of making the deal immediate and non-refundable, and very often you have to take your time to sift through unsorted material.  But it pays off.  I had a hunch about this before, and I am certain now that the emeralds I have, to give just one example, can’t be gotten anywhere else, or at anything like the price that I paid. 



A little selection from my Columbian Emerald Parcel



Holiday Rush in the Diamond District?

There’s certainly a noticeable change in the diamond district these days.  But not all of it is for the better.  As my tie bar orders are going through the roof (I thought I was selling jewelry, but ok), I found myself having to rush into the city on short notice to get more wire.  A great opportunity, I thought, because there are some other things I could get done the same day.  It’s now or never, after all.  I have two more shows this year, and then that’s it until March.

I had wanted to get my favorite setter, A. to burnish some diamonds into tie bars for me, but I couldn’t even get near him at first.  Three other guys were surrounding him, waiting for their jobs to get done.  A half hour later I found him busily setting away while chatting on the phone; Armenian music was blasting from the computer in front of him.  But at least there wasn’t anybody else waiting.  “Too busy,” was the response to my request.  And did he do the order from last week?  “No, got sick.”   At least he did that one on the spot for me, though. 

The other outfit I use was overwhelmed as well, so I asked my polishing service if they knew someone.  “Maybe,” the polisher said, and took my stones and tie bars.  Four hours later, I received my first real rush job: two totally unusable pieces of junk.  The stones looked like they had been jabbed into the silver by someone in bad need of glasses.  I returned them to the polisher, to go back to whatever setter he had dug up for the job.  “Maybe they can be fixed,” the polisher thought.  I doubt it.  It was a dumb idea on my part, really, with Christmas just around the corner.

Since I had to wait for several last minute engravings, and for two rings that I wanted to have set, I decided to make good use of my time.  I borrowed a hammer and mandrel from a jeweler to hammer a pattern onto a ring that is supposed to be my aunt’s Christmas present.  There I was, dinging away while sitting at D’s gemstone booth, when I got approached by a woman working for the silver dealer in the back.  “Are you going to be done soon?  This is giving me a headache.” “Yes,” I said.  Why was she annoyed?, I wondered, since this is a loud exchange and there are always jewelers at work.  But I don’t rent a booth there, so I guess I had no right to ding.

Other than that, the day was peaceful.  Way too peaceful in fact.  The number of people wanting to buy D’s gemstones aside from me that day?  Zero.  Nobody buys gemstones in December, unless it’s an emergency.  So all the gemstone dealers are broke – just in time for their own holidays, which are correspondingly meager.  Money doesn’t start flowing again until early spring, when jewelers are stocking up on new inventory.  One hopes, anyway.

One person did show up.  He needed a stone cut to fit into a setting, within the hour, so D. shaved it down on his cutting wheel.  He shaved a little too eagerly, as it turned out, because he cut the stone too small.  So much for that rush order.  D had to cut an entirely new stone. 

Aside from that, another dealer misplaced a $30,000 parcel of diamonds that was supposed to go to the GIA lab for a certificate.  (Even a $30,000 parcel can be really small.)  I don’t know if it got found, I only know it hadn’t turned up by the time I left.

I got home late.  By the time I was all done it was nearly 6:00 p.m.  And then I spent another few hours shipping out tie bars.  Tie bars without gem stones, that is.

December Birthstones: Is Tanzanite a Good Buy?

As most of you who read my blog know, I don’t think much of birthstones.  My own birthstone is pearl, with alternates of moonstone and alexandrite, but my favorite gems are emerald, sapphire and tsavorite.  All of these go well with my skin tone and with the colors I like to wear, which should really be more important.

While the association between zodiac signs and specific gems goes way back, the list of birthstones was standardized some time in the last century by the Association of Jewelers in America.  That list only bears a passing resemblance to the zodiac birthstones and the various other birthstone lists that are floating around.  And since Tanzanite was only discovered in 1967, it wasn’t on any of the old lists anyway.  It was only recently added to the December birthstones - for marketing purposes.

Melted Tanzanite Ring - SOLD

When first discovered, Tanzanite, which belongs in the zoisite family, was dirt cheap.  Nobody knew about it, so there was no market for it.  An old time jeweler told me once that he was given Tanzanite for next to nothing in the early 1970s.  Other dealers have told me the same. 

These days, the Tanzanian government controls production, and since Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world, I am assuming that the Tanzanian people profit very little from this.  Prices have risen significantly since the early days.  Tanzania is the only country in which Tanzanite is found, and there are only 4 mines or so in which it is produced.  Serious flooding issues have created difficulties for mining, so it isn’t clear how much Tanzanite is actually available.  Lastly, there’s a government ban in place which prohibits any Tanzanite to be shipped to Jaipur for cutting (many, if not most of the worlds gemstones are cut in Jaipur).

All these factors make it tough to judge if Tanzanite has any true collector’s value.  And there’s one more issue – the most serious one to me.  Tanzanite is a very soft stone.  It can crack during setting – this has happened to me more than once.  If you have it set in a ring, don’t wear it every day, and take it off before doing any chores.  My stone dealer D., who carries very little Tanzanite, which dates to the early mining dates, is no longer buying any more.  His materials consist of smaller, lighter, stones which show no evidence of heat treatment.  His reason for not trading in it is that often, jewelers will borrow a stone to show it to a customer, but they will put it in a mounting first (so it looks really nice).  If the customer turns down the stone, it may come back to D. scratched or cracked.  If D. does not carefully re-inspect his merchandize, he may not notice and then no reclamation is possible.  Or the jeweler will simply claim that he didn’t crack the stone, and these sort of disputes are hard to settle.

Tanzanites are pretty much universally heat treated.  During the earlier mining days, some deposits found on the surface, where they were exposed to sunlight (which provides natural irradiation), were naturally light purple.  Ordinarily, however, the material that comes out of the ground is brownish, and has to be heated to drive bring out the purple.

In terms of color, the most desirable Tanzanite has a rich dark bluish purple.  Lighter stones, the lavender colored ones, are less valuable.  In smaller sizes, however, that may be all that’s available because the depth of a stone is what creates the darker color.  If you re-cut a stone that has a rich dark coloring, you may surrender some of its color intensity.

My evaluation?  Tanzanite is a beautiful stone, you should buy if it you love it.  But if you are a collector, there are better investments out there.

My last pair of round Tanzanite Post Earrings

Rubies for the Masses – Glass Filled!

You might have heard about glass filled ruby scams on the news, they were a big story last year.  Or you read about them in my etsy listings.  Anyway, when glass filled rubies first became big in 2004 and 2005, they also fooled a lot of dealers on 47th Street. Just the other day, an older man approached my gemstone dealer to sell a large faceted ruby.  D. refused to buy.  The old man wanted a $1000 at first, then lowered and lowered his price, until he had arrived at $50 or so.  To humor the old man, D. louped the stone, but still refused to take it.  The old man was offended, so D. took him to another dealer.  The other dealer refused the stone as well.  After some back and forth, D. finally explained to the old man that the ruby was glass filled and not worth much of anything.  The old man’s face literally fell.  He had probably been cheated, thinking he got a large stone for a good price and saving it for a rainy day, when he really needed the money.  And stories of this kind abound on the street – they are infinitely more common than the converse – stories of someone stumbling across a small fortune by accident.

So, what is a glass filled ruby, and why is the process done?  Let me quote from gemselect, one of my favorite online gem stores:

"Small cracks or fractures in a gemstone can interrupt the flow of light through the stone, creating white or "dead" spots in the color of the stone. Sometimes these fractures–if they reach the surface of the stone–will be filled with material that will allow the light to pass through smoothly. Different chemicals are used; oil, wax, glass, epoxy, and borax are common materials. These tiny filled cavities are difficult to see without the aid of optical instruments, so the buyer should be aware of this practice."

(http://www.gemselect.com/gem-info/fracture-filled.php)

Glass filling, also called “fracture filling” (because other fillers can be used) improves both the color and the clarity of the gem.  Rubies are rarer than diamonds, at least in the bigger sizes.  Because of the large market demand, availability of good ruby material is dwindling.  Glass filling allows lesser ruby materials to be improved sufficiently to be used in jewelry.  (Here’s a picture of a glass filled ruby from gemselect, 1.22 ct for $34.83 – gemselect has untreated rubies, but only from Madagascar.)

The most highly prized rubies, still, are Burma rubies.  They have the best coloring and the highest brilliance.  Rubies from Thailand or Madagascar cannot rival the Burma in beauty.  Glass filling can alleviate this problem.  To a degree at least, for no matter how good the process is, an experienced dealer or buyer will notice that glass filled rubies are duller than natural ones.  Under the microscope, glass filled rubies will show tiny bubbles, untreated rubies will only show their natural inclusions. 

Thai Rubies, Completely Untreated

In terms of pricing, there is a huge difference between glass filled rubies and natural rubies, even compared to rubies that have undergone slight heat treatment (which can also make the stone duller, incidentally).  According to Richard Wise’s Secrets of the Gem Trade, “eye flawless ruby, particularly untreated, is extraordinarily rare…. Because of the gem’s extreme rarity, the collector-connoisseur may find that otherwise beautiful stones with a few eye-visible inclusions are acceptable.” (P. 180)



3mm Burma rubies, completely untreated and not yet set, nearly eye clean

A natural Burma will wholesale anywhere from $250 to $2500 per carat, depending on the size.  A 2 carat Burma will be at the top of this scale (and I’m not even going into rubies that are larger than that).  A 2 carat glass filled ruby will wholesale for $5 per carat, and at a recent gem show I saw glass filled cabochons from Madagascar for $1 per carat!  (Here’s a link to a Burma ruby listing from wildfishgems: http://wildfishgems.com/inc/sdetail/11720.  Note the price.)

Regarding disclosure: heat treatment is not always disclosed, but you should assume that any ruby you buy is heat treated.  Completely untreated rubies will be marketed as such, because a dealer can demand a further premium on those.  Glass filling, or fracture filling, should be disclosed, even if the buyer doesn’t ask.  But note that many jewelry chains employ untrained personnel, especially during the holiday season.  So you must ask, and if the seller doesn’t know then ask for someone who does know.  Don’t blame the sales person, a lot of this gemstone information is tricky.  Each stone is different and you should not expect someone who is hired to help out during the busy season to know.  If you are going to a reputable jeweler, however, and they don’t know, that’s not good. 



Same gorgeous ruby suite, different angle



Gem Show Bounty

Since the holidays are coming around, I thought I’d do something different this time.  I was at a jewelry and gem show last weekend – had a blast – and bought a bunch of gems in preparation for December sales.  I am going to have about 4 local shows, one or two private parties, and of course I’m going to sell on Etsy.  To those of you who read this blog, I want to offer first dibs, however, before the crazy time starts.  So below is a list of (most) of my gem purchases, some prices and suggestions.  Comments and requests for further pics and info are welcome.  Contact me via Etsy or email if you want to lay claim to something.  Sales will be on a first come, first serve basis, and yes, I can set an item aside for a later purchase as well, as long as you promise me you’ll come through.  Leave a couple of weeks time for setting of your gems.  No last minute Christmas custom orders please. 

I got a lot of ovals at the show this time.  I try to get round gems when I can, but ovals seemed to reign the day for some reason.  I match them so I can use them for earrings because those always go, but this doesn’t mean you can’t have just one if you prefer a pendant or a ring. 

Note on pricing: I’m going as low as I can with my suggestions (and in the last section, I tell you a little about what I do in order to arrive at prices).  That makes it very hard for me to run sales or offer further discounts. 

1. Chrome Diopside

What you see here are two 7x5mm ovals, perfectly matched, rich color, about 1.6ct each pair.  No matched rounds, save for one pair which a customer is looking at.  If it becomes available, it will be on Etsy in a week or two.  The small round in the photo is great for a stacking ring.  The 7.5mm marquis would be nice in one of my necklaces (the round twig necklace, for instance).  The earrings will be $48 each pair.

2. Andalusite

A 7x5 matched pair ($50 as earrings), reddish from the side, greenish from the front, and a 4.5mm round, for a ring maybe.  There were hardly any andalusites at this show.

3. Tourmaline

On the left, two 5mm princess cuts, which I’m hoping will go into my princess cut ring.  I’m waiting for the castings right now.  Those rings will be $68 each.  It is tough to find stones that fit this ring, so this is really my preferred way of using them.  Above the princess cut are two round matched pairs (the lighting makes them seem uneven).  They are about 3.8mm and 4.5mm (prices will be $40 and $50).  The bluish pair is hard to find.  The little baguettes in the center will make at least one pair of earrings, which a customer has requested to see.  I don’t have those settings yet, the only thing that fits here are tourmaline settings that grab the stone from each end.  Price is $50 for the earrings if this design works out.  The rounds on the right are for stacking rings or other designs, the two baguettes I thought for rings also, but I have no concrete plan.  The large one is 2.66 cts and 13mm long, any design with that will run a good $120-$140.

You should know that tourmalines often cost more than the other stones I buy, except for alexandrite and the “precious” ones.  But they are also more easily available.  Tourmaline is mass marketed and popular, and that drives up the price.  So I keep a very low margin on these. 

4. Kyanite

Boy that was slim pickins.  You always see them cut as a cabochon, but rarely faceted.  I think they break easily during cutting, and the stone is not well known.  The oval is 8x6 (1.58 cts) and it cost 1.5 times what the tourmalines cost.  It is a very beautiful stone, a slight inclusion on the right, but that’s it.  I see this one in a ring, personally.  There’s one matched pair, 4mm ($48 for earrings), and three little ones for rings or something.  The lighter one doesn’t sparkle in the pics, but it will look good in a stacker.  The bezel takes away light, so if the stone is too dark it looks blackish.  I’d price the stacker at $48 also (I might negotiate this if you buy more than one).

5. Mexican Fire Opal

I went for reds, again, because this one guy has a bit of it and they are harder to find faceted and clean.  The trilliant pair is matched, and I really think they should be earrings.  It was the last and only pair.  They’re around 4.5mm, not too heavy (.57 cts).  Trilliant settings cost 3x what the regular settings cost, but I can make these $60.  The 5mm princess pair is also awesome.  Again, unless I miscalculated, they will fit my princess ring.  But the red princess cuts are matched, and I can bezel set them for a true one of a kind set of earrings.  They are larger but the settings a little more affordable, so $65 is doable.  Same for a princess ring.  The rest, the rounds, can be earrings or stacking rings.  They are in the neighborhood of 4mm.  You should know that I practically fished out everything red from this parcel, so unless the guy cuts more, that’s it for my only supplier of these gems.

6. Spinel

I’ve very proud of these.  They’re mostly Sri Lankan, no Burma, but ooooh.  I have more than what’s in these pics, a couple of little purplish pinkish marquis for that twig ring or a twig necklace, and some rounds for stackers (purples and blues).  The matched pairs are slightly under 7x5 and weigh 1.3-1.8 cts per pair.  The red pair is just under 4x6 and might have been mixed in by accident.  (The parcels usually don’t have reds because those are traded at a premium.)  The nicest pair here is the one in the right hand corner, which is nearly round.  It is also the heaviest.  Prices here vary, but $46-$66 is a good range.  The blue round is great for a ring or something, the trilliant and cushion also, perhaps matched with rubies.  Design ideas are welcome. 

This second photo came out poorly.  Trust me, these are just as nice.  Before you commit, I’ll try for a new round of pics if you like.  There are three pairs of rounds, 4mm-4.5mm.  The purple is really neat, I had a tough time finding and matching it.  That will be $48 and I might have it set this week.  The others are $52 and $62 (because that one weighs 1ct).  This set is from a different supplier who charged more, so prices reflect this.

7.  Spessartite

This stuff is from Nigeria this time.  I went nuts here and bought 31cts.  I pulled out one large matched pair which is for a friend, what you see here is the rest.  These pics were not taken in the sunlight, that sparkle really comes from within the stone.  It’s insane.  And I think the dealer spaced out when he priced them.  I got to the show in the morning on the first day, and the trays in his booth weren’t marked yet.  So I had to ask for the price and he gave me a lowball figure.  But when dealers do that, unless the quote was a total accident (made by the sales help, for instance), they stick with it even if they have regrets.  It’s rude to change the offer upwards, and these offers are taken very seriously.

Anyway… the matched pairs on the bottom and center are 7x5mm (2.1-2.45 cts, this stuff is heavy).  The earrings will go for $66-72 because of their weight.  The pear shape is 10x7 and weighs 2.72 cts.  The large clunker in the back is 10x8.5 and it is very deep, so it weighs 5.58 cts.  At over 5 cts, that is a collector’s item.  I kind of see that in a ring, but it has to be prong set because it is so high.  Basically you are looking at a solitaire here, everything else hurts the design.  The pear on the left would make a nice pendant.  We will have to negotiate this one, but orient yourself on the earrings.  You are lucky orange is not my color, or the pear would not be listed.  The other two ovals are a little smaller (the dark on the left is 9x7 and 3.49 cts, the one on the right is also 9x7 and 3.51 cts).  The round looking one in front of the smaller dark oval is 1.7cts, 7x6mm, and actually looks more square when send from the front.

8.  Alexandrite

I got one piece.  And I’m going to tell you the price I paid, because I’d like someone to have it and understand what they own.  This is a .4ct Brazilian piece (which is often better than Indian or Sri Lankan, and it is also a little darker in coloring), cushion cut, 4mm, and has very strong color change.  In terms of color change, and coloring overall, this is top of the line.  The wholesale per ct price is $250, so this piece was $100.  If I make a piece of jewelry, I will price it at $150 and then add that onto my design.  So if it is a simple ring, let’s say, and I charge $50 parts plus labor for it, then you pay $200.  For expensive stones, my markup decreases, because otherwise I cannot sell the items.  Ordinary markup for wholesale is cost plus labor (so let’s say $150) x 2 (= $300).  Retail doubles that, or more, depending on if you are in a designer boutique, in the mall, or what have you.  In short, I generally sell at the wholesale price, sometimes lower, and occasionally when I get a great deal, I can go higher.  And a ring like this, with just a little bit of silver, can sell for $400-600, easy.  Unless you are me and tell the customer your pricing.  Duh.

I’m very proud of my pics of this gem, because I actually managed to capture the color change.  The second pic is fuzzy because I took it in my bathroom with just incandescent light.  But you can see that the entire stone lights up purple.  The stone already jumps over to the purplish blues in my kitchen, which has halogen lighting, so it is “easily provoked,” as opposed to the “where is it I almost had it now its gone” type color change.

As you can see, I had to have this piece.  And I will definitely buy one for myself at a later point as well.  For Christmas, perhaps, set in 14K.  Oh yeah.