Making New Out of Old: Restoring Antique Jewelry

I’ve been infatuated with antique jewelry lately.  It has a delicacy and detail that you don’t find very much in the mass produced styles of today.  Last fall I started collecting and converting antique stick pins, and a month or so ago I began looking at rings.  But working with antique jewelry can be challenging.  Here’s an example of how I refurbished an old Victorian ring.

Finding antique pieces that are nice, interesting, and reasonably priced, is difficult.  Good antique dealers, especially the ones on 47^th street, often know what they have and price accordingly.  Auction houses can be the same.  So I went to eBay instead.  After much sifting, I found a dealer who was selling off a bunch of busted up 1890s rings, and the one in this photo caught my eye.  I like how the cluster creates the layer of color.  This style is different from the current trend towards micro pave setting, which can only be done with diamonds anyway (other gems break and are rarely cut in that size anyway).  It’s also not like halo rings, which simply surround a (cheap) center stone with a lot of tiny diamonds.  Cluster rings are a nice “middle of the road” style that allow you to use more expensive gems in smaller sizes, but large enough not to require hours of setting labor – a reason why so much micro pave setting is done in India.

Anyway, this little ring, although dinged up and with missing stones, had a lot of presence.  It’s only 9 kt gold, which is very common for that era, but still, bidding went to over $100 before I managed to grab it.

Original Victorian Ring

When I got the ring, the first thing I did was loupe it very carefully.  After some thinking, I determined that all the stones had to come out. I know that antique pieces have the most value when they are left untouched, but obviously this wasn't an option. All the rubies were scratched, one was busted, one missing altogether.  Some pearls were missing also and the rest were scraped. Since pearls darken with age, finding the perfect color to match those was out of the question. The pearls didn’t appear to be glued, and they seemed genuine, which was too bad, but the gems I used instead made the ring look even nicer.

The setter almost had a heart attack when I showed him the ring and asked him to remove the gems, but insisted that the ring be left unharmed.  He had to drill out the pearls for the most part, and move the prongs that held the center cluster very carefully so they wouldn’t break off.

After that, I had the ring re-polished very lightly.  Polishing removes the outer layer of gold, and in the worst case scenario can decrease the weight of the ring.  This ring was so light that a serious polishing job was going to make it too thin.

I then began to search for replacement stones.  The settings for the pearls did not have prongs and no opening in the back, so any faceted stone was out of the question.  It would just fall out, or the setter would have had to drill holes into the ring to set them.  The tiny Burma ruby cabs that I found – which are also several decades old, did the trick, and they fit perfectly.  My setter carefully pushed the remaining gold over the cabs to hold them down, and he managed the feat without using any glue.

The center stones match the tone of the outer ones.  They are faceted, about 2.5 or 3mm, old mine cuts, which means fewer facets.  They have less brilliance but more of a glow.  Together with the outer row of rubies, they create a sea of color and make the ring look bigger than the initial ruby-pearl combo.  The result is extremely eye catching. The setting job, again, was a major challenge, because there was not much prong left in the original setting, but re-tipping them would have been visible because the gold is a funny color and 9 Kt is pretty much unavailable on the market.

Refurbished Ring

From the point of view of antique value, the ring probably has less than it did before.  It just has to be seen as its own thing.  Antiques are considered the most valuable when they are intact, and this piece has had a complete makeover.  On the other hand, it’s now a one of a kind, nearly impossible to replicate.

Outsourcing: What you Can – and Shouldn’t Do at Home

I produce an average of 20 items of jewelry per week, and if you assume that one item takes an hour, you can do the math of how long it takes to make everything from scratch.  If you then add the time to make listings, photos, convos, pack orders, shop for gems and supplies, it adds up to this: not gonna happen.  Not even if I quit my full time job.  Which I love.

So I do what most people do who have opportunity: I outsource.  Not to China or India, but to NY, where you can find professional casting and polishing services, as well as excellent setters and jewelers.  (And sometimes I outsource to friends and family who like beading…)

Let’s look at outsourcing in the order in which you might use it.

Casting:  When you have items that you want to reproduce in exactly that form, you can have them cast.  I cast my stacking rings and some of my filigree items, for example.  But you have to pay for a mold first, and there is a casting fee, so casting makes sense only when you want to sell the same thing more than once, and maybe also in different metals.  The downside to casting is some loss of detail – and of course there can be no variations.  My casting service, Taba Casting, is certified green, and they also take mail orders, so casting is an option even if you live in the boonies.

Pre-polish: All castings have to be “cleaned” – the sprue is cut, areas that didn’t come out well are polished, and the piece is tumbled.  I use a polishing service for this because they have a better tumbler, large polishing wheels and they can offer other services, i.e. steaming, ultrasonic, gold and rhodium plating.  My polisher also does minor soldering work: adding jump rings, bails and posts to earrings.  By using him I can do many pieces in one wash, which saves time.  Soldering also requires pickling and further tumbling or another round of pre-polish, so it’s a very good idea to do several pieces together.  Some casting services actually offer pre-polish, or polish, you might check into it.

Setting:  I utilize many different setting techniques in my jewelry line: my pieces are prong set, hammer set, burnished, pave set, bead set, etc.  Prong setting is the easiest – I can do it a little – but most of the rest, especially hammer setting and the fine pave and bead work, require lots of practice and training.  After inspecting my pre-polished items and making any necessary adjustments, I take them to the setter together with my stone.  Fitting a stone to the right setting it itself a work of art, but I am very good at that.  Plus I love my gems and I select well.  Most of my customers come to me because of my gems I think, not so much for the jewelry itself (I don’t want to put myself down but I think what I offer design wise is not that out of the ordinary.)

Final Polish: After setting, most items have to be polished again.  Setters often bend the metal, especially silver (which is soft), and their tools leave marks around and inside the bezel wall.  Many a prong or ear wire is bent as well.  Final polish can also involve sandblasting or satin finishes, all of which are done at this point.  So is rhodium and other plating.  This means that after setting, I inspect again, looking for nicks in the stone that the setter might have missed (that would spell a do-over), spots on the jewelry that need extra TLC, and take my stuff back the polisher for final polish. 

I also outsource my CAD designs to Belenki Girl Designs (Brandy lives nearby), and my fine jewelry work to Goldmaster on 47^th Street.  Vasken from Goldmaster does all my lazer settings and anything that requires fine jewelry work and gold soldering, where no mistakes can happen – he has nearly 40 years of experience, he’s worked all over the world, and he’s a great guy as well.  Both fine jewelry work and CAD work are expensive though.  Prices are fixed per piece but they are calculated by the hour, and a $100 per hour fee is not a-typical.  Fine jewelers have to pay for their shops, tools, and they have to take out extra time to discuss designs for you, all of which has to be rolled into their fee, or they can’t survive.  Just consider what you pay a plumber to come to your house for an hour or two, and you get the idea.

Casting and polishing work is the least expensive to outsource, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.  Setting is tricky, setters can charge anywhere from $2-$200 for a job, depending also on difficulty, stone size, and their own degree of expertise.  Expensive diamonds for expensive stores (like Tiffany's) can cost a couple hundred to set and not every setter is cut out for it, but if you want a quick prong set job with a replaceable stone, it should only be a few dollars.  The main reason I can offer such variety in my shop is because I have a couple of setters that are very reasonable in price, are willing to work in silver (many aren’t because there’s less money to be made) and who are very skilled.  Much of my appreciation for what I can do goes to them.  When you set as many unusual stones as I do, your relationship with your setter becomes essential, because I often ask them to do risky stuff for a low price (i.e. setting a large tanzanite in sterling silver).  The risk is one we have to share, and a broken stone can cause money but also heartache with the customer when it’s a custom order.  My setter needs me as much as I need him – when you do many pieces they count on the income from you and possibly turn down other orders because they know they need to set time aside for you.  Broken stones and botched orders strain the relationship and cost money.  Gold is replaceable and can be melted down, gems are often one of a kind.  Especially mine.

Making a Melt: Selling Gold Straight to a Refinery

When you sell gold on 47^th Street, there are two ways to go.  You can sell at any one of the small gold dealers (or the larger ones), or you can go straight to a refinery that melts it for you.  Prices are often in the same neighborhood, but when you have scrap that’s not identifiable, or that you suspect is thickly plated over silver, or lots of individual pieces that would have to be tested individually, going to a refinery and “making a melt” is best. 

This means that your gold scrap is melted into a little blob, or bullion, and then analyzed electronically for gold content.  You then get paid out the exact value of your melt in cash, and you are given a copy of the elemental analysis for proof.  You should bring a few grams at least (I’m sure there’s a minimum but I think so), otherwise it’s not worth doing.

Gold Bullion

 During the process, you actually stay with your gold the entire time.  First, your scrap is weighed on a karat scale to the last 1/100^th of a pennyweight and the weight displayed on a screen that you can verify, and you get a little receipt with the weight printed on it.  You bring the gold, in the aluminum bowl it was weighed in, together with the receipt, into the room where it is melted and give it to the person doing the melt.  You hold on to your receipt.  The melt takes about 5-7 minutes and you can watch the process.  The gold is heated to about 2000 degrees F, liquefied and melts into a blob shape.  So this is nothing you can do at home!  The guy doing the melt uses huge tongs and wears a special non-flammable glove.  For privacy reasons, I’m not disclosing any names or identifiable pictures of persons, but I was chatting with the guy, and he showed me he got badly burned a day earlier on his finger.

Making the "Melt"

When the melt is done, you bring the bullion to the next room for analysis.  The weight is checked again.  Then a tiny scraping is taken out and analyzed electronically.   The analysis shows the exact % content of every metal, including silver, copper, nickel, and zinc.  This particular melt was 40.57% gold, so it averaged out to 10 karats.  I got paid $131.61 for 4.1 dwt (6.38 grams), so that’s very close to the daily gold price (within a few %).

The analysis is then printed out for you and you take to the cash register to get paid.  You also get a receipt, and now it’s done, there’s no return, no coming back if you changed your mind.  The place I go to is for businesses only, you have to provide your business name, address, and bring ID, which is photocopied.  The melt is invoiced, and I believe it is kept for 24 hrs before it gets shipped out.  All this helps reduce the chances that the gold is stolen, but of course it doesn’t completely eradicate it.

Guest Blog: The Search for a Classic OEC

Guest Entry by Anya

If you read Yvonne’s entry on Vintage diamonds – OMCs (Old Mine Cuts) and OECs (Old European Cuts) – you will have noticed that she called them the only “truly rare” diamonds on the market today. That is because diamonds with this type of cut are no longer mass produced. Old-cut aficionados like me have to get creative to find the perfect stone.  Here are some tips on how to go about it.

There are several places one can look for a vintage diamond. Some vendors specialize in selling old stones, such as Jewels By Erica Grace and Old World Diamonds. Then there are vendors who specialize in cutting modern, perfected versions of OMCs and OECs, such as the people at Good Old Gold; but newly cut vintage-style stones are usually sold at a premium. Old cuts can also be found in estate and vintage jewelry shops, though nice stones are usually few and far in between. Lastly, an educated buyer can try her luck on eBay.

Buying through eBay has its risks and rewards. It’s risky because most sellers are not very good at taking photos of their diamonds, the color and clarity grades are often  overestimated, and the return policies aren’t always straightforward.  But the reward is finding a really good deal on a nice stone, if you know how to look.

In my case, I wanted to find an OEC that would be at least 7mm in diameter, one that would face-up white (most OECs available today tend to be on the warmer side, probably because the whiter stones were re-cut into Modern Round Brilliants), eye-clean (anywhere from VS2-SI2), and with the classic OEC characteristics of a small table, high crown, open culet and neat kozibe effect (when the open culet reflects around the center of the diamond). Lastly, I wanted classic OEC faceting that creates a flower or snowflake-like pattern in the center, and beautiful petal-like facets on the periphery. And all of this on a tight budget!

After weeks of searching, I found a potential candidate. The photos weren’t great, most of them taken at an angle and with a flash. But the description read well, there was a lab appraisal (you can’t really trust the specs from an appraisal, but it’s a good start) that indicated that the stone met my requirements. Most importantly, the seller was willing to give me a several-day inspection and return period.

When I received the stone, I checked for several characteristics. The most important thing is how well a diamond is cut. I  looked for any outright negative optic qualities, like the much-dreaded fisheye effect (usually seen in shallow stones, this is when a reflection of the girdle is visible inside the stone, creating a kind of hazy circle, or “fish eye,” around the table) or nailhead (when the central facets are dark and have no light play). Then I checked for general “wonkiness” or poor symmetry. Lastly, I used my 30x loupe to go over the diamond (which was set into a ring) as closely as possible to check for chips or cracks.

Once those were ruled out and I was comfortable with the quality of the diamond’s cut, I concentrated on the color. The appraisal stated the stone was K-L. Having seen OECs in whiter and lower colors, I judged the appraisal to be close to accurate.  Just to be safe, I thought maybe the stone could be a bit lower – perhaps L-M as opposed to K-L. OECs are known for facing up white in settings.

Once I decided that I would keep the ring, I immediately shipped it to Yvonne so she could run it by the guys in the NYC diamond district. The stone needed to be unset, polished (to clean up the tiny nicks on girdle after years of wear and tear), and set into a new setting. A great big thanks to Yvonne for helping me out with this! Not every eBayer has this kind access to the professionals in the diamond district.

eBay Photo of Anya's Ring

When the stone was loose, it was weighed, and turned out to be quite a bit lighter than the appraisal estimated. The estimated weight was 1.85ct, but the real weight only 1.78ct. Polishing the stone took a few points off, so the final weight clocked in at 1.75ct, and around 7.5mm in diameter. A pretty good size for me!

An additional step I could have taken at this point was to send the diamond to get graded by one of the major labs. A GIA certificate would have been great, but it takes at least three weeks and I was impatient to have the ring on my finger, so the stone remains un-certified for now. If I ever should want to sell this stone, a cert will definitely be a must.  A GIA cert would be best, since that’s the most trusted laboratory for diamonds.

Another thank you to Yvonne for setting the stone into my favorite 6-prong yellow gold setting, and shipping it back to me. I now have it on my finger, and can’t stop admiring it! 

The Finished Product

How to Sort Through Diamond Prices

Diamond pricing is tricky business.  You may have noticed this when you browse different listings and you see two stones that look just about the same, yet their pricing is totally different.  So how can you know what is a good price?

Diamond prices already start out artificially inflated.  Diamond is one of the most abundant gemstone in the world.  But diamond suppliers keep prices high by controlling the market:  most mines are owned or co-owned by the same supplier (de Beers), new mines are bought out and shut down or production slowed, and diamonds are stowed away when prices are too low so that supply is choked off.  Even independently owned mines in Australia and Canada adopt similar strategies because it is not in their interest to lower the retail market value. 

Because diamonds are a controlled market, it is easier for industry to then establish “list” prices, available to wholesalers via trading networks like Rapaport and other diamond exchanges.  These keep track of diamond sales and adjust prices accordingly – despite lists, prices do fluctuate, in other words.  This is how the price lists look:

http://www.ajediam.com/diamond_price_scope.html

In industry, gems are then traded at various “discounts” off “list price”.  Common discounts are just a few per cent, however.  Retail pricing is calculated by doubling list prices (or more).

There is also a market in used diamonds.  When old gold is sold (i.e. through pawn shops, or companies that collect old gold and pay out cash to consumers), any gem contained in the jewelry is broken out.  Refineries buy gold, not gems.  Some shops collect them and then resell unsorted parcels of colored stones at pennies.  Or the occasionally valuable gem at more.  Diamonds are sold to dealers and setters for cash, which is anywhere between 20 and 50% off list price. 

Your objective, when you buy a diamond, is to get as close to the Rapaport list price as possible.  For this, you need very exact information: the per ct size down to the last point, color and clarity.  This is because a half ct diamond for instance can cost a couple of thousand dollars if it’s flawless and colorless, and it can cost $50 if it is totally dead.  Many list prices stop at M color, I3 clarity, but there much is worse stuff out there.  When you decide what you want, see what color and clarity grade you can live with before you shop around.  I would be very happy with a G/H color VS2 when buying a fine diamond, but if I wanted a brown or yellow diamond, I might take an SI2 or SI3 – visible inclusions that is.  The most important thing in a diamond, for me, is brilliance.  Even an SI3 can be very brilliant and I then won’t care that it has bubbles in it.  

The next thing you need to find is a price list.  This is the trickiest part.  The above link is very useful, it’s not up to date but that’s ok (and I think it’s not entirely wholesale either).  You can also go to sites like Price Scope to see what their list prices are – or try to look around and get an average, then figure that wholesale is half of that.  Current Rapaport prices are a well kept secret, I don’t have access either but all the diamond dealers I know do, and so do the labs, so I can request a list price at any time.  You can average yours out over several websites.

When you are making a larger diamond purchase, you should definitely get a certificate as well.  Most 1+ carat diamonds are traded by the cert, meaning only the cert is shown around, not the actual stone.  GIA is the most commonly accepted, and the strictest in terms of rating.   EGL is also used (especially for vintage diamonds because they use a different scale for those, whereas GIA uses the same for all white diamonds, regardless if the cut is vintage).  With a non-GIA certificate, smart buyers assume a less stringent rating and can thus expect to get a lower price.  So, if I want a fine diamond and only an EGL is available which rates the stone SI1, I might assume GIA rates it SI2 and try to buy the diamond at the SI2 price.

Two last observations: many diamonds are irradiated for extra color, and white diamonds lazer enhanced to get rid of inclusions.  These treatments need to be disclosed by law.  Still, you should ask.  Someone may have “forgotten” to tell you, but when you ask, they can’t forget to respond.

Second: vintage stones and colored diamonds are often traded at a premium.  Vintage gems cost up to 30% above list, and colored diamonds are all over the place depending on what color and size.  Browns and champagne colored stones cost less than white, but natural yellow, pink, and on the extremely rare end, blue, green and red, can be very expensive.

What to Consider When Requesting Custom Jewelry Work

I get requests for custom work every week, and, of course, sometimes there are fiscal surprises on the part of the customer.  I might quote $250 just for labor, not counting silver, gold, or a gem.  Here are some things that help avoid the surprise and let you calculate ahead of time, starting from the least labor intensive to the most.

Using a finished piece and popping in the gem: a number of my jewelry pieces are actually finished as is and hold a specific size stone.  All I have to do is have it set.  My stacking rings are an example, so are many of the gold pendants with a fixed bail.  This is the cheapest you can do in terms of labor, because I just call in the casting or buy the finished piece.  Minor and doable modifications are changing the bail, adding one in a different place, soldering posts onto earring settings, or switching out ear wire.  With these jobs, I can charge very little for labor.  But major modifications, including changing the gem size, are impossible.

Rose Gold and Silver Castings

Basic assembly: many of my other rings use finished stone settings and silver wire, which comes in almost any mm size, square, flat, or half round, and sometimes with patterns (you can also get rings with 2 settings for side stones and an opening in the center for your main gem, so all you do is solder one setting).  Some of my dangly earrings are the same.  I buy settings and components (like ear wire, or basic metal shapes) and solder them together.  I pickle and tumble the piece, pre-polish it to get rid of soldering spots or smooth over seams, then I have the gem set and pay out for a final polish under the large wheels of a professional service (which includes ultrasonic and stem, plus rhodium plating for white gold).  My basic ring charge is $70 (without the stone), in silver this includes the materials unless they’re heavy, it includes all my labor, or hire out for, setting and final polish.  I often don’t have time to do the assembly myself, so then I put the materials needed, i.e. wire clipped to size, setting, stone, and any instructions in a jewelry envelope and drop it off with my jeweler (and then setter and then polisher).  But when I do them at home, figure on an hour to make a piece, not counting other labor (convos, photos, shipping…).  One limit to these designs: it is nearly impossible to solder together several parts.  Adding the gold balls is tough, soldering settings side by side between ring shanks nearly impossible without it looking uneven or the settings being in each other’s way (the setter still has to get in there, too).

Silver Wire and Settings

Wax design: my melted rings and flowers are made from wax, and I usually charge $90 for one of those if I make one from scratch.  My wax work is not precision work, it’s done by hand with sheet wax which is then passed over a candle for a melted look.  The wax then gets cast and pre-polished.  I can then add beads, or prongs, or even a setting.  Then I have the gem set and final polish done.  By contrast, making a gemstone setting in wax requires a different technique, using burrs and wax files, and it takes a lot of practice and time, possibly all day.  (Nowadays all that is done by computer.)  I love wax work, but often no two items come out the same.  The rings have to be made to size, though some of my flowers are now castings (why do the same thing over and over?).

Bezel making: settings for odd shaped rose cuts, pieces of rough or cabochons often have to be made, the commercial settings don’t come in that many sizes and only fit rounds or ovals.  For this, the bezel wire has to be shaped around the gem, soldered, then refitted (to make sure it still fits) or reshaped, then soldered onto back plate, the plate cut and filed down, then a bail or ring soldered on, filed again, pickled, pre-polish, then stone setting, … If I am very fast I can make 2 in an hour, but usually I set aside an afternoon to make 5 or 6.  I usually charge $70 plus materials.  And for gold, I hire out, because periodically I still botch a bezel, and you need to be very precise to cut down on metal waste.

Bezel Set Emerald Ring, Made from Scratch

Advanced metal-smithing: channel setting, and more elaborate ring designs in gold require metal-smithing techniques beyond my expertise.  Also, the channel setting requires lazer soldering, and a lazer machine is about $40,000.  A good channel setting job takes about an hour, but you also pay overhead and machine use, so the jeweler I use charges anywhere from $50 to $120 – my cost, for channel setting, not counting ear wire, jump rings, or other materials.  He charges anywhere between $80 and $200 for a ring. 

Channel Set Diamond Pendants

CAD design: do you like the halo rings that I now have?  Those are made in CAD, computer design software.  You can scan in the gem you want to use, or enter the dimensions, and you can make just about anything.  (Imagine someone carving the tiny prongs for diamonds out of wax, or worse, soldering them all together – it’s just about an impossibility).  For CAD designs, I have to hire a designer.  It can involve a lot of back and forth, but the results are often perfect.  3-D printing gives you a piece of plastic, which then has to be cast.  The cost is $200 minimum for design and plastic.  All the other steps, and costs, still follow (casting, pre polish, setting, etc etc).  But if you want the perfect ring, this is the ideal way to go, of course.

6mm Cushion Halo Ring, in Production

The Confusing World of Garnets: Varieties and Availability

Garnets, to me, are some of the most “disorganized” gems available on the market today.  Their sheer variety, but also their names, can be very confusing to the uninitiated, leaving the connoisseur not far behind.  Here’s an attempt to cut through the confusion.

“Garnet” really refers to a variety of gemstones that are related but not identical in their chemical properties.  In terms of their chemical “species” (if that’s a good name for it), there are Andradite, Almandine, Grossularite, Pyrope, Spessartite, and a couple of others.  Different websites (and books) group the chemical varieties together in different ways.  I.e. Sometimes Grossularite is listed under Andradite, sometimes they’re separate.  Many garnets are actually mixtures of these different chemical compounds (meaning the molecular structure is not exactly one or the other), so what goes with what seems to be more of a matter of how you like to group (and market) your gems.  So let’s sort them by using the names you would most commonly encounter when the gems are marketed to you (in a store, on a website, etc.):

1.      Red: yep, just “red”, I don’t know another name.  Those are usually a mix between pyrope and almandine, or either.  The “Ant Hill” variety is found only in Arizona.  It’s a pretty variety that’s a little more bright red, but like all red garnets, it can appear sooty in evening light and has to be cut well so it’s not blackish.  Any red garnet is easily available on the market and very inexpensive.  The lowest wholesale price I’ve seen is about $1 per carat.

2.      Rhodolite: also a mix between pyrope and almandine, it’s less common, especially in larger sizes (over 10mm).  Rhodolites are any form of pinkish and purplish garnet, and sometimes appear under names such as “cranberry”, “raspberry”, or “rose”, depending on the whim of the gemdealer who sells them.  Rhodolites come from just about anywhere in the world, with Tanzania producing some of the nicest ones.  It’s also readily available in smaller sizes but carat prices are more like $10, wholsale, sometimes more (and on occasion less).

3.      Spessartite: chemically it falls under Andradite, but the name comes from the Spessart forest in Germany, where it was first found.  Nowadays spessartite comes mainly from Tanzania and Nigeria.  It is a brownish orange, with the cleanest and brightest, most orange stones usually termed “Mandarin” garnet.  Spessartite, especially larger pieces, can be quite expensive, and it is almost never as clean as rhodolite and the reds, both of which should be totally without inclusions.  Prices are anywhere from $20 per carat for tiny sizes to $1000 per carat for huge chunks.  Or more.

4.      Tsavorite: a grossular subvariety, which also falls under andradite, tsavorite ranges from yellowish green (which is less expensive) to a dark rich almost emerald green with secondary hues of blue.  It is named after Tsavo national park in Kenya, but the mine is on the border to Tanzania, so the latter mines Tsavorite as well.  Gems over 3 carats are extremely rare, and in recent years Tsavorite production has decreased drastically, so you are going to see an increase in price.  Last year I was getting small stuff starting at $40 per carat, that price is long gone.  Large pieces are a few hundred per carat to a few thousand.

Tsavorite, Merelani Mint and Color Change Imperial Gernet

5.      Merelani mint: also a grossular garnet, and really a light colored Tsavorite without any secondary yellow, Merelani’s are named after the Merelani mine in Tanzania, the only place in the world where they are found.  Production is extremely small for this reason, and as of late I’ve hardly seen them on the market at all.  Prices have skyrocketed accordingly, whereas a year or two ago, nobody cared about this minty color.  Prices are all over the place, and since they’re nearly unavailable, it’s hard for me to say anything concrete. 

6.      Demantoid: the most famous of the greens, it’s another andradite garnet.  It is a very clean stone with a high refractive index, and usually has an olive color (though more apple green ones have been noted for their extraordinary beauty).  It traditionally came from Russia, but now it is also mined in Africa.  Demantoid is very scarce.  Price per carat: if you pay $100 for tiny sizes, you are lucky.

African Demantoid Garnet

7.      Mali garnet: this is a mix between grossular and adradite, a very clean stone, medium priced, and comes in yellow, brown and reddish brown, with the most expensive color being a light green.  It is named after Mali, where it is exclusively mined.  Right now it’s not nearly as pricey as Tsavorite and less than Spessartite also, but not as cheap as rhodolite (think between twice and 4x as much).

Mali Garnets

. 8.      Umba or umbalite garnet: a red or reddish pink garnet named after the Umba valley in Tanzania, where you also find the Umba sapphires.  It’s not too expensive yet, it’s basically a fine quality rhodolite garnet.  But I’ve also seen it cost 2-3 times as much, depending on cut. 

9.      Malaia garnet: the name (I looked this up) is Bantu, and the name is usually reserved for any light pinkish, peachy and peachy orange color garnet (sometimes also orange, which makes it confusing because spessartite is also orange), mostly of African origin.  It is mined in Tanzania and Madagascar at present.  Malaia garnet can have various chemical compositions, so I’ve not seen it classified except in a thread on Pricescope, where it was deemed as a mixture between pyrope and Spessartite.  Some Malaia garnet can be expensive, but I think that’s just hype.  The pricing should be more or less like Mali garnet, except for larger stones.  I’d personally say the rosy and peachy colors (imperical colors, or padparadscha colors) are the most unique and interesting.  I’m not sure about prices.  I’d say somewhere between Mali and Spessartite but it really depends on the piece and on the seller.

10.   Hessonite: this garnet is also orange brown like Spessartite, but usually not as bright.  It belongs with the grossular family and is neither particularly beautiful nor expensive.  Lately I haven’t seen it marketed much though.  So perhaps other names for the variety have superseded it.  Small sizes are cheap, like red garnet.

11.   Color change garnet: first of all, color change is observed in almost any variety of garnet: red, orange, pink, green, and blue.  In other words, some rhodolite, some malaia, some umbalites and some pyropes all change color (but tsavorite, spessartite, and demantoid don’t).  If you have a nice garnet of this variety, try looking at it under different lighting conditions, perhaps you see a change that you never noticed before.  The most expensive color changing variety, by far, comes from Tanzania and Madagascar, and it is blue, blueish green, or green in color (though dark green, not like Tsavorite), with changes usually from the blue or blueish green varieties to purplish and pinkish tones, whereas the green ones change to red.  I’ve only seen a red-green changer once, though.  It was cool.  Many of the blue and dark green color changers are dark in color, especially the larger sizes, and they can have grey mask.  Over 1 carat, they are nonetheless very expensive (think Tsavorite for comparison).  But they are largely very clean stones, and when you have a bright blue one, you have a real winner!  Prices can be $100 starting if you are lucky, but anything over a carat is more like a few hundred.  Anything over 2 carats is very rare.

Tanzanian Color Change Garnet 1+ Carat, Blue and White Light

Gemstone availability changes constantly, keep that in mind when you collect.  A simple rule is that larger stones are rarer than small ones, and that you want as clean as stone as you can get for the variety you are looking at.