Tucson: The Aftermath

Initially, it looked like our office had been bombed by dozens of small gem jars, miniature plastic bags holding valuable gems, loupes, tweezers, camera equipment, invoices, and of course shipping envelopes and boxes, as Karen tried to make her way through the myriad of delayed shipments because the inventory was with me, or with Debbie who came back last week, or Brinks. 

As we dig ourselves out from under Etsy orders and a few inches of unexpected snow, we have come to the conclusion that this trip has been a nice success, both in terms of sales and purchases.  It will take us weeks to list all the pretties we have brought back: parcels of sapphire melee in different shapes (much of which has already sold), spinel melee, small alexandrite and small demantoids.  In particular, we picked up shapes for some of our models for which it's hard to find the right gems.

Mixed Sapphires

1.5mm Ruby Melee

2.5mm Blue-Grey Melee Spinel

4x3mm Yellow Sapphire, Madagascar Sapphire

We also brought back a lot of slightly bigger sapphires: blue and purple and pink matched pairs, purple and lavender singles; as well as blue green tourmalines as per popular request, more larger spinel from Vietnam (from a new source) and several unoiled Afghani and Russian emeralds that have this awesome minty blue green glow.

3.6 Russian Round Emeralds 

5x7mm Vietnamese Lavender Spinel

I also scored a number of Australian opals, both boulder and black ones, that many of you have seen on Instagram and Facebook.  Here are some of them:

Australian Black Opal

Mixed Opals, Paraibas & Diamond beads

Paraiba and Opal

As those of you who have seen my little videos know, there's no more benitoite on the market, or hardly any!  I have two suppliers for those and both were sold out before the show even started.  This has actually prompted me to plan next year's trip differently: I will be flying in 3 days before the AGTA show starts.  Many of the other shows, among them the 22nd Street show, the Pueblo show, the JOGS show and the Inn Suites show actually start before AGTA and GJX and some of the good stuff can sell out.  In fact, I lucked out with my opals because I bought smaller pieces.  Had I been interested in the larger ones from my Aussie vendors, I would have been out of luck.  This time I visited all those shows after GJX and AGTA, next year I will hit them before.

In a forthcoming interview with Jaimeen Shah from Prima Gems (forthcoming when we get the rather longish video off of his phone and onto my drive), you will learn that there's some new and very gorgeous sphene, and more Montana sapphire available.  There will also be an update on the Mahenge spinel situation but more about that later.

I also owe you the latest on the constantly changing paraiba market.  As it happened, I had two calls for matched pairs, a 6mm round and a cushion set (the client actually wanted a match to one of the ones I have in the shop but that's always close to impossible).  So I kept an eye out, which I always do, for anyone, at any show, who has paraiba.  What I found this year however is that that the market had shrunk considerably.  The Brazilians that used to have two large booths now have only one small one, and many other vendors who had only small stuff asked astronomical prices.  Essentially double and triple compared to what I have been paying.  Needless to say I couldn't fill either order, the rounds I didn't find at all, and the cushions were too expensive for the client.

As a result, on the last day of the show I negotiated a couple of deals for paraibas to be purchased in the next couple of months which I can pay off over time. So it's not a memo where I can give back what I don't use, but a purchase with "terms" as they call it.  Those goods will arrive next week or the week after and I will be showing them and listing them slowly or upon request as I'm not in a huge rush to sell what I can't replace.

Related to this, I did memo a string of tumbled Brazilian paraiba beads which I may or may not keep. I would actually like to find out if theirs interest in them before I commit because the price tag is expectedly high.The average price will come to $30-$40 per bead.  Any morsel of paraiba, sadly, commands a high asking price these days, and the sellers were only willing to part with the beads because they had not yet been able to move them.

Finally, I made another purchase of a gemstone that will be paid up over time.  It's a gem that I had considered buying for about 8 months and I finally pulled the trigger after getting feedback from other vendors.  I'm not yet sure that gem will be available for immediate resale.  I need to love it for a while first.  But then again I am a gem seller and in the long run, I have to be willing to part with anything.

More about that some other time...

Upcoming Vegas Show: The Culture of the Gem Trade

This summer marks the 9^th year of Cecile Raley Designs, and in August, I will have been on Etsy for 8 years.  As many of you know, I started out with beaded necklaces, only slowly moving to more fine jewelry, but from the start, I was attracted to working with real gemstones, no glass, resin, or other materials.  I almost never buy opaque stones like agates, jaspers, or turquoise.  I like faceted, glossy, vibrant, eye catching beauty that you can spot from afar in a gem tray – or on someone’s neck for that matter.

I went to my first real trade show in 2009: Jeweler’s of America in New York.  I love going to trade shows.  Not just because I love gem shopping, I also enjoy the interactions – the gem talk – and I love studying people and behavior.  The gem trade, to me, has its own unique sociology.  Its culture is ancient and many families have been in the trade for generations.  They size up buyers in a matter of seconds, and they trade information among one other. 

To read more please visit our website at: https://www.cecileraleydesigns.com/blogs/cecile-raley-designs/upcoming-vegas-show-the-culture-of-the-gem-trade

Preparing for Tucson

Even though right now I am sitting in small hotel in France, sipping red wine and enjoying the holiday markets and wintry atmosphere during a much needed break, I am already thinking of warmer weather and of purchasing gemstones.

My Hotel Sitting Room in France

Holiday Spirit in Alsace, France

On February 1, when my home town New York will be in the thick of winter, I will be leaving for my annual trip to Tucson.  I am doing my final budgeting this month, and I've already placed some phone calls to check out who's there an who has what.  I'm mainly visiting the AGTA and the JCK shows, but I may try to browse others.  With over 60 gem, jewelry and mineral shows, there is a lot to choose from, but the two shows I attend are the main attraction for gem buyers.

Presumably, some of you need prepping as well, especially if you plan on making a purchase through me, so I need to get you acclimated to what's there and what isn't.

A longish phone conversation with one of my main suppliers who works out of Colorado has increased my expectations for some nice quality sapphire.  D. said that despite heavy buying competition in Sri Lanka, the family he has been working with over the past 30 years had collected quite a selection for him to choose from when he visited in November, and he purchased a lot.  He said there were not many rounds (so keep that in mind) but there are some matched round pairs for earrings, and there are more of the yellow Kenyan pieces that went in such a hurry last time I bought (last Tucson JTV just about bought them all).  I plan on grabbing what I can in blue matched pairs, and if I see matched purples I will buy those (last summer he had only one pair and I got that one).  I want some lavender pairs also if he has them at all.  D. also said he bought some nice star pieces. Some larger pads are also available, and some no heat rubies.  From my past experience, the main cuts will be ovals and cushions, almost no pear shapes, but some modified trillions and perhaps also some octagons.

Bright Yellow Sapphire from Kenya, Bi-Color Teal

Regarding larger purchases, if you plan on making any through me I prefer to know ahead of time. I can't front a huge amount of cash for you and buy stuff for you to choose and then maybe return, I'm simply not big enough for that - creating those types of choices requires a huge cash flow.  But I am going to bring my better camera and I'll be happy so let you see what I see through my eyes and thus limit both your financial exposure and mine.

As some of you may also remember from last year, I got these gorgeous emerald cut spinels from Burma, and some small melees (1.5-2.5mm).  D. purchased some more rough and is trying to have them cut in time for Tucson, but there will only be 1/2 tray and there are NO larger pieces.  He was offered but the prices were hideous so he passed.  And if he passes he is usually right.  Last year already, I saw extremely little Burma spinel and nothing in larger sizes.  

Burmese Spinel Emerald Cut/3x2mm

Cobalt spinel was also unavailable, and there was little from Vietnam.  I do have another source and maybe he fared better - I won't know until I'm there - but don't expect any more cobalts, I bought what D. had that I liked the last couple times I saw him, 

The same goes for Mahenge spinel.  I buy that from my NY source and right now there's very little new material.  I don't expect to see anything in Tucson, and certainly not at good prices because I was told by various sources that nothing good is out there and the mines are not producing much at the moment.  Half of it is, in fact, shut down until further notice.  

And the same goes for Tsavorite, though Mandarin and Spessartite Garnet are being mined again.  I may have good access to that as well as possibly some nice mints.  I should know that later in January.

My hauynite source from Germany is going to have some fresh cut materials for me.  Again, the largest size, and very hard to cut, is 3mm.  Expect more in the 2mm range.  Last October he was in New York but we didn't meet because he sold out in Hong Kong.  I may have to get to his booth early then again I want to go to ALL booths early and that's naturally impossible.  Selection takes time, and I can't and don't want to spend all my money the first day.  If you like some hauynite, please keep in mind that the material is very brittle and you need extra melee.  Also please let me know ahead of time what you'd like so I can put it on my list and purchase without having to go back and forth a lot.  Prices are $1400 per carat for medium blue with slight piques (that's the material I mostly buy) to $2000/ct for the cleaner and slightly lighter stuff.  If there are any 4mm pieces those will be priced individually.  But I kind of recommend against it since if that stuff breaks during setting you and I will both be disappointed.

Hauynite from the Eiffel in Germany

Paraiba Tourmaline Melee

Now on to my last topic, the famed Paraiba tourmaline.  First of all,let me explain how I got that material last February.  Last year I happened upon the brother of a dealer I knew from New York, and he had four trays of old inventory at ridiculously good prices by comparison even to Brazilian sellers in Tucson.  I bought a few pieces, stuck them on Facebook, and customers went wild.  So I bought and sold and bought and sold all week, bought some more before I left, and bought up the rest of the good stuff in the following few months.  There is literally nothing affordable left, and I didn't see anything anywhere else.  This dealer's brother may have some rough cut in melee sizes and I told him to let me know.  But don't have any expectations regarding other sizes at good prices.  That was a stroke of luck and the material is gone.

In melee I may do better.  At the GJX show last year there was a dealer from Brazil who had a lot of melee. The price was high and I wasn't overwhelmed with the quality, but there will be some more this year and if I can, and get enough demand for it ahead of time, I will buy a couple of carats in the 1-2 mm range.

This is it for my plans so far.  I am still investigating.  

I could use the following help from my readers at this point.  If you find particular gems of interest and would like me to look and see what's out there, let me know - this would help me decide what gems to concentrate on for stock items and purchases for the next few months.  Secondly, if you are seriously interested in something, let me know too, but you would help me greatly if you could research what I need to know to buy and trust me with your budget. I won't clean you out.  The Tucson gem show is 5 days, it is very busy and there are over 1000 booths for me to look at (booths, not gems, not gem varieties).  I select 8 hours a day, and some gem dealers are only in Tucson and never anywhere else.  They collect all year just for that show.  I am more than happy to purchase for you, but I need to know if I am really looking or just browsing, and keep in mind that for the most part, returns are not possible for me.

Tucson, for a gem buyer like me, can be paradise.  And it can be a gamble that can cost you your business.  Here's a simple example.  Say you have a budget of 10K - just to pick a number. That's a small budget for Tucson but it's roughly where mine is at.  Now say you see some things that YOU think are just amazing and rare and the price is great and you spend a lot of your budget on that materials.  Then it turns out that only you like this stuff and nobody else.  And then requests roll in for other gems, but you are out of money.  As I said above, for the most part gem buying in Tucson has no return options so if your buyer returns you are in the negative.  Here's another example.  Say you get a "call" for xyz but you don't know if is "a serious call" (that's our lingo for that type of thing).  So you act, spend your budget, and then the buyer loses interest, finds something better, or just doesn't like what you bought. Now you sit on the merchandise (also our lingo), being unable to buy more until you sell that material.  

This happens all the time!

So, I have to follow rules. Here are the ones I take very seriously: never spend all your cash on one thing.  Or on the first day.  Be willing to risk to lose an opportunity, others will come later.  Diversify and try to sell while you're there so you turn money over quickly.  Know which customers are serious, know their tastes, know them well.  Be conservative.  Develop good business relationships with sellers you can trust and with buyers who trust you.  Avoid disappointing either.

And here is my final rule - this one I have observed since day one and I can only pass it on to anyone who wants to be in this business, either for fun or for generating income.  NEVER buy goods on borrowed funds.  Never never.  Unless they are already sold (no returns) or you trust that person with your life.  If you borrow, then buy, and then can't sell, you're done.  So you have to say no to yourself, and sometimes lose a sale.  But it's the best protection you can have in the end.

Happy planning!

My Upcoming Las Vegas Show

Given how successful – and fun – the Tucson show was for me, I have decided to tackle the next largest U.S. gem show, the upcoming JCK and AGTA show in Las Vegas.  I’ll be there 5/27-6/2 while my dad is holding down the fort here in NJ (he’s visiting for a couple of months, and in between baking apple cakes and cheesecakes, he is enjoying learning about the jewelry and gemstone business).

The JCK show in Vegas is wholesale only and there’s a bit of a registration process, but in the end it wasn’t hard to get in since my business has grown quite a bit.  The show takes place at the Mandalay Bay Resort and is known for its opulent jewelry – I’ll try to take some photos but many sellers are very protective of their stuff.  Some jewelers consider this show to be the main jewelry event of the year.  The AGTA (American Gem Traders Association) piggybacks with its own show in the same place. 

The JCK show has hundreds of participants, and I already checked for some of my favorite dealers that are not in NY, many of which will be there. 

Here’s the show website: http://lasvegas.jckonline.com/Home/

And here’s the link for the AGTA Gem Fair, which starts a day earlier: 

http://www.agta.org/tradeshows/gemfair-las-vegas.html

Vegas Strip

Gem dealers take a long time to prepapre for these types of shows.  Dealers who don’t have show rooms or websites collect their best gems for months and display them only at these shows.  They hope to make revenue in the hundreds of thousands, since they may only do a dozen shows a year, which are intended to generate their main income.  Markups are low in this industry, but turnover and volume has to be high to justify this.  The gem trade is a very competitive business with many well kept secrets.  Who buys where and who trades with whom is something few gem dealers share.

My main goal at the show is to score some new sapphire material from Dudley B.  He is the one from whom I get all the well cut Ceylon material (no heat).  He also had some cobalt spinels, I got the demantoids from him, and a few of the Luc Yen pieces.  I am happy to take suggestions for what else I should look for.  My Mahenge and Mint Garnet source is in NY, so I won’t be going to Vegas for anything specific in that regard.

If you want me to buy something at the show, there are some things you should know.

1. For me, gem purchases have no returns (this explains why I offer you such a short return period). I can sometimes memo material but not all suppliers allow this (I can’t memo at a show).  Memo deals require a well developed relationship between buyer and seller. Terms are strict and usually short unless you are specifically borrowing to sell on someone’s behalf.

2. Desirable material moves quickly and I don’t like to aggravate the sellers I work with, so I don’t haggle or argue.  I take what I need and check out, or I browse for a day or two, then buy.  I take some photos but only for serious buyers because I run around a lot in a short period of time.  I get great prices because I am a low maintenance shopper, so I have no reason to push for further discounts.  In turn, almost none of my buyers argue with me over prices, for which I am eternally grateful.

3. Gem shopping is time consuming.  It is fun, lots of fun, but can be overwhelming too.  If you want to help me find you the right thing, tell me exactly what you want, what your budget is (a range is ok).  Cut, color, size, acceptable treatment, sample photos.  The earlier the better so I can make a list, and/or tell you if you are looking for unicorns – I am a good unicorn search predictor at this point. 

4. Most importantly, as you probably already know, the gem trade involves a great deal of trust.  My suppliers trust me to pay, pay on time, trust me not to haggle (because they usually make me their lowest offer anyway and haggling at that point is offensive), and they trust me to know my stuff or ask when I don’t.  Many of the best deals are made without any paperwork (or with paperwork coming later on).  The sellers themselves usually trade before the show and pay after the show with the money they made.  I’m not in that category because I don’t exhibit at these shows, I am considered a small buyer but a safe one.  I do have a reputation in the industry, and one I am proud of.  So I make sure not to disappoint.

By the same token, when I sell to you, I need to you be honest, direct, when I buy for you at a show you need to be quick, and when you can’t afford it, let it go.   You can’t have gems for lunch anyway and it is often hard to recover ones expense if one is in financial trouble (the longer you can wait to sell a gem the more likely it is that you can make money).  I rarely buy for myself and I pull myself together not to push you.  In fact, I am often concerned that a trigger happy buyer gets himself or herself into financial trouble, which can backfire for them and for me.  Since there are no returns for me, a return of a large purchase made on your behalf can be a setback for me and prevent me from purchasing again.  I will bend over backwards to get you the best for your money, but understand that I have to live off this trade.  :)

Diary From My First Tucson Show

As I reported a couple of blogs ago, this year I took a big step forward for me in my gemstone endeavors because I went to Tucson for the first time.  Hosting over 55 shows with more than 20,000 vendors, the relatively small Arizona town turns into a theater of tents, cramped with visitors from all over the world, buying and selling gems, fossils, minerals.  You have to plan your trip carefully, otherwise you get totally overwhelmed.

AGTA Show Video From Outside the Show

I mainly visited two shows, the AGTA (American Gem Trade Association) Gem Fair which consists of about 200-300 mostly American dealers, and the GJX (Gem and Jewelry Exchange) show in a big tent across the street from the AGTA, which has several hundred foreign vendors.  Just walking up and down all the aisles of each show takes a couple of hours, and because I had a limited budget, I took notes, photos, and collected business cards before I started shopping.  That is, with the exception of Dudley B.'s booth, a wholesale and show dealer only (no web presence, phone calls only, and no retail), who travels all over the world to collect unusual pieces.  I immediately stocked up on unheated Ceylon sapphires from him because his booth, as usual, was overrun with sapphire buyers within 30 minutes of the show's opening - in fact I couldn't get my invoice written up till the end of the day so they just took my business card and stuck it into a baggie until they had time.  Dudley also had some tiny cobalt spinel, demantoids and Vietnamese lavender spinel that I looked at (and bought throughout the week).  Dudley, who is pictured in the photo below, is the small, athletic, health food type, generally quiet until you ask him an interesting gem question ("interesting" being the relevant term here), then he'll open up and chat (mostly about the properties of the gems, the mining, how much can be gotten at what prices, and so forth).  Dudley does all of his own buying and he is connected to families in Sri Lanka and elsewhere who have been supplying him for decades.

Dudley B.

Pretty much by the end of the day I realized that I would not have enough spending money, which is why I started selling Brazilian Paraiba Tourmalines right away (thanks to my FB fans who promoted my link, sent me new customers and requested custom listings).  The owner of the booth with the Paraibas, Jerry, was pretty happy - and impressed I will admit - because every morning I would show up, buy another piece or two of the items I had eyed and photographed before, then sell it and show up again.  It was pretty funny actually.  Because Paraiba prices are astronomically high, buying a bunch for stock was out of the question for me.  According to Josh L. from my lab, I made some nice purchases there (I am currently getting some of the Paraibas certified for copper content).  Sadly, filming was not allowed in either show but I took a brief clip from the gallery at the AGTA show from the top, outside of the actual show floor.  These shows are heavily guarded and everyone worries about thievery (makes sense...).

Brazilian Paraiba Tourmalines

 Another interesting vendor was a small team of Israelis operating out of Thailand, whom I met at the GJX pavillion.  These guys mine almost exclusively spinel (you know how much I like those) but only from Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Burma (not Tanzania).  Their collection of Vietnamese spinel from the Trumchum mines was incredible, they said it took them 3 months to collect about 200 pieces, and they do not display those until they get to Tucson where they hope to sell them all in one shot, directly to jewelers and other gem dealers.  All single pear shapes are set aside until a match turns up.  Consequently, there were about 10 sets of matched pear pairs of which I bought three. Some of these spinels also have color change properties, they exhibit soft hues of pink in incandescent lighting.

 Vietnamese spinel

 Vietnamese spinel

On my last day, I got to chat with some German dealers that featured Hauynite, a (super expensive and tiny) gem that is only available in one place in the world, the Eiffel in Germany.  The gems are a strong cobalt blue and don't require treatment.  They are soft though.  Anyway, I did buy some melees. 

Hauynite

My final treat was a visit of my friend Jochen's show at the Arizona Mineral and Fossil Show at the Hotel Tuscon City - an indoor outdoor show where vendors set up in their hotel rooms with the lower rows sprawling onto the yard.  Jochen, a seasoned and well traveled geologist with a weathered appearance, doesn't sell fine quality or cut gems, he mainly deals in rough and specimens that he buys directly from Tanzania, Madagascar, Kenya and even the Congo.  Aside from knowing just about everything there's to know about mineral specimens, Jochen also speaks French and Swahili, so he can get around the more isolated parts of the world with ease.

Arizona Mineral and Fossil Show, Outside and Inside the Shop of Jentsch Mineralien

My only regret about my visit is that I didn't get to see much of the Arizona landscape except from my hotel room at the Westin (I got two free nights as a VIB - Very Important Buyer).  But I will go again next year, and I'll try to stay an extra two days during which I will (force myself to) go to some of the national parks, or maybe visit a ghost town and an old copper mine.

My First Trip to Tucson

I am so excited.  On February 2^nd, I am leaving for my first Tucson show ever.  I will be there for the entire week, working part time and shopping part time, making new connections and getting a better sense of availability and pricing of gems.

For those of you who don’t know that much about Tucson, it is the largest gem show of the world.  It takes place once a year, from mid-late January to mid-late February.  Actually Tucson isn’t one show, but consists of approximately 40 different shows, all taking place in various hotels and convention centers.  There are gem shows, bead shows, mineral and fossil shows and more, some are wholesale only, others are open to the public.  Some of the hotel shows are actually taking place in the hotel rooms themselves, so the dealers display their wares during the day and they sleep in the same room at night.  Someone told me this tradition arose because so many dealers would sell out of their rooms at night, or before and after the shows.  Therefore it made sense to just sell out of the rooms, period.

Here’s a link to the Tucson gem shows taking place this February: http://www.tucsongemshows.net/coming.html

The show I’ll mainly be attending is the AGTA Gemfair.  That is one of the largest, maybe the largest show; it takes place at a convention center, and it is wholesale only.  I got free tickets because I am working for two days for my favorite gem dealer, Prima Gems, and then roaming around the rest of the time.  My friend Jochen Hintze from Jentsch Mineralien will also be exhibiting but at one of the mineral shows, so I will look in on that as well.  I doubt I’ll be able to go to all 40 shows though, lol.

A lot of gem dealers actually go to Tucson a few days before their show and make wholesale appointments to sell out of their hotel rooms, so it is said that many important trades and deals happen before any of the shows start.  I’m not big enough to participate in this, but I may nevertheless benefit through my gem dealer friends.

Budgeting is very important when you go to Tucson.  People spend hundreds of thousands of dollars there, and I have nowhere near that kind of cash.  I have to decide on a number, and I have to be very careful.  I have trained myself to be willing to walk away from a good deal and think about it first, and of course I can ask people I know there for advice before purchase.  Thanks to the survey I just ran, I have some ideas about what you guys are interested in, but more suggestions are welcome.   

You may see a gem sale in my shop around the time I am gone, which Debbie will manage (she will also manage my kitties while and house sit my wares).  That sale will allow me to raise some more money if I see interesting stuff.

Here’s the AGTA exhibitor list, as you can tell, there are a few hundred there, and that’s just gems.

http://www.agta.org/tradeshows/gft-exhibitors.html

What will I buy?  In a way, I don’t know.  One thing about these shows is that you need to be open minded.  When I go to the JA Show in NY, which has maybe 20-30 gem dealers, I go with a list, I meet my regular sellers, and then I just look around for deals.  I will do some of that in Tuscon also, but additionally I will want to find some unusual and rare stuff.  Unheated Ceylon sapphires are something I always chase after.  They are in my mind among the best long term gem investments that one can make.  Even low heat sapphires are ok, so long as there’s no other treatment, and of course the best color is blue, then purple or bi-color or purplish blue.  A nice star sapphire cab might be good, and of course, if I had the money, the bigger the better.  Meaning like 2-3 carats (if I have to buy I top out at that price range).  Mahenge spinels are another good investment, or Burma spinels, but I already have the source for the former.  The latter are hard to find.  The rest is just, well, whatever turns up.  Tsavorites are a bit dark for my taste, and I do have a source there as well.  So I will probably focus on Ceylon sapphire and Burma spinel, and then see what else is out there.  Someone mentioned I should look for Paraiba tourmalines, the problem with those is that you cannot determine origin on the spot, and many sellers price Afghan or African material very high so you don’t know what you’re getting unless you go straight to a lab.  For stuff like that, it is best to clear the source with other gem dealers, get references, and then make a more cautious purchase – insofar as that’s possible with Paraibas given the price.

African Tourmaline Rough (from which my unheated Tourmalines are cut)

I will keep you posted and will try to take some little videos for you that I’ll put on Facebook.