My Favorite Color Combos

Going gem shopping, for me, isn't only about chasing down the nicest and most unusual gems.  It can also be about finding colors that work well with my designs or my other gems.  I get very exited when I find a bright 1.2mm melee gem that still pops, like the amethyst I recently added to some of my designs.  Amethyst may not be an exiting stone, but having purple melee IS exciting.

So one thing I'll be looking for, both in Tucson and other upcoming shows, is more melee for my halos, petals, and earrings that take smaller gems.  I'm also going to look for gem colors that complement the colors I love.

Here are some color layouts I have been playing with that I really like.  The first shows some possible layouts for my nine stone ring, using zircon, tanzanite chrysoberyl and tsavorite.  The second is a mix of four different color sapphires, a mint, a tsav, and a tourmaline.

Tsavorite, Zircon, Tanzanite, Chysoberyl

Sapphire, Tsavorite, Mint Garnet, Tourmaline

Another interesting color to work with is purple.  I like seeing it with greens or pinks.  The first layout pairs a tanzanite with color change garnets, then two sapphires, then with hauynite and rhodolite.  Then I added spinel and then purple sapphire and alexandrite.

Tanzanite and Color Change Garnet

Tanzanite and Sapphire

Tanzanite, Hauynite and Rhodolite

Spinel, Purple Garnet and Tanzanite

Unheated Tanzanite, Alexandrite, Purple Sapphire

And here is a pretty blue, green, and purple combo that I recently made.  This is spinel, emerald and amethyst. Then Tsavorite garnet and Zircon. And more...

Spinel, Emerald, Amethyst

Tsavorite, Zircon

Zircon and Mint Garnet (or was it emerald?)

Zircon and Demantoid

Burmese spinel are also a fun design challenge.  Aside from yellow, you can add a chrysoberyl or a minty stone (I think that was a lighter Paraiba).

Spinel and Paraiba

Spinel And Chrysoberyl

Or you can go all out and mix every color. Can you guess what they are?

Tucson: The List

I don't think I've been this excited about a trip in a very long time - not even my Christmas trip home to Germany and France.  Going to Tucson is just different.  And expensive, lol.

I am slowly assembling a list of gems I want to look for.  Here is my progress.  Additional suggestions are welcome - if you have a specific order, let me know, suggestions are just that, I won't hold you to buying anything.  :)

Paraiba: Anything reasonable, but only from Brazil.  Melees.1-2mm rd.

Paraiba and Spinel

Emerald and Hauynite

Hauynite: 1-2mm round melee, maybe one larger piece (meaning 3mm or so).  They break easily so the investment is not a good one.

Burma Spinel: Melees and small baguette, there isn't likely to be anything larger that's good but I'll look.

Vietnamese Spinel: Matched pairs, elongated pear shape, lavender.  Maybe a color changer.  They also have pinks from Vietnam, nice color, no grey but less vibrant than Mahenge.  With Mahenges disappearing from the market, at least for the moment, I may buy though.

Vietnamese Cobalt Spinel: There isn't likely to be much, I heard there was little or no production.  But I will look.

Sapphire: Blue pairs, always. rich purple, color change, cool shapes.  Maybe stars (I could use thoughts on that, I'm iffy about whether I should buy).  Only no heat Ceylon of course, probably no other sapphire for me.  Melee - last year I got these nice lavender melees that I use a lot.  I will look for that seller, he also had the teal green rounds.

Purple Sapphire and Paraiba Tourmaline

Ruby: Maybe one or two pieces.  Madagascan has a nice blood red color.  So that's a thought.  Maybe a ruby star?

Aqua: Looking for nice baguette shapes.  At the moment aqua supply is low.  Prices have jumped up a bit.

Sphene: I'm totally out, but I will probably have to go for Sri Lankan stuff, which has more orange tones in it.

Tourmaline, other: not high on the list but if I see something nice I'm game.  Indicolite would be good.  Or a light seafoam color.  Afghani material.

Other: anything matched elongated pear (i.e. tourmaline).  Any other cool baguette shapes for my new pieces, larger ones for earrings.

What I'm not prioritizing: emerald (my supplier is in NY and last year nobody in Tucson had anything reasonable), Mahenge, Tsavorite, Mint and other Garnet (my supplier is also here).

There are three people I want to get to on the first day (tall order).  There is always a mad rush for the booths with more rare goods or good prices.  I remember one booth where I know the owner was over run.  You couldn't see anything.  Lucky for me that I knew them, so I put aside a small tray for myself and told them to do the invoice the end of the day.

Larger companies,like online retailers, often show up on the first day and buy a lot. They buy in big gobs and they seem to prefer to grab entire productions of something to corner the market.  That's what I saw in Tucson last year anyway.  Other companies send scouts, or hire gem buyers, to get them their goods.  So for certain things, there can be competition among buyers.  Other things seem to hang out the entire show and nobody buys them.  The trick is not to get caught up in the mad rush.

Vietnamese and Burma Spinel

Red Tourmaline

Again, let me know what, if anything, might be on the list.

Yvonne

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!

Holiday Shopping on Etsy

I don't know how many of you do holiday shopping via Etsy but I do my bit every year to promote some fellow shops that I like.

A big fashion item for me this year were leggins - they are just so comfortable, and I bought from two different shops both of which I was very happy with.

For the lower budget item, you can go to LazyDaisyLeggins, they ship quickly and their leggings are only $18 each.  I bought the skull leggins for Debbie and three more pair for me.  The leggings are super soft and stretchy.  Shipping was very fast.

If you like workout and yoga leggings, I recommend Narais. Sara also designs for bags and pillows, among other things, but my eye fell on the cat leggings which are just phenomenal.  Those took longer to ship but another set of leggings shipped right away.

For another snuggly winter item, I bought woolen slippers from MiasFelt 

From her I got blue woolen slippers which fit really nicely and shipped surprisingly fast from Lithuania (2 weeks I think).  My favorite are these here:

But for personal purchases and gifts, I went with the more conservative ones.

Next weekend I am going to a friend's pot luck wedding and I was tasked with making a cake.  I love baking German cakes, but I'm not so good with decor, so I went to Sugar Robot  and I got these incredible sugar butterflies, they look amazing.  Sugar robot also has leaves and other holiday decor items for cup cakes.  Shipping was next day, so there is still time.

Like most of you, I love holiday baking (though not the calories).  I think I recommended this shop last year, but I will do it again this year.  Go to Oma Gisi's bakery and get the Stollen confection

They are a taste of the real Germany, and they were a hit with all my friends. The shop does not ship quickly I'm afraid (my order took two weeks to make), but I realize the difficulty in baking to order, having it fresh, and meeting holiday deadlines.  It can't be easy.  I think Oma Gisi's stuff can be enjoyed anytime though.

Last but not least, I am going to blatantly advertise my aunt's shop - but for good reason: Silver Designs by Gitte. My aunt is a learned goldsmith.  In the late 1960s she was one of very few women in the industry, but she gave it up after experiencing the difficulty of working jewelry shops that mainly live off repairs and having to work assembly line under time pressure.  She had always hoped to make her own designs but it was far too expensive for my family to help her start her own shop, so Gitte looked for a regular ("money") job doing book keeping instead.  Now that she's retired, she's gone back to her roots. Every piece she produces takes an entire afternoon, and she charges essentially nothing for her labor (her pieces should cost $200-300 each).  She makes practically ever bezel, every accent piece, and sets all her own stones.  Here are some photos from her shop.

Silver Designs By Gitte - Shop Tools and Drawings

Before, After, and in Between

My Aunt's Work Bench and Some of her Silver Pieces

I'm really proud of Gitte for having found her way back to her girl dreams, and I only wish my grandparents could see it (Grandpa passed a few years ago and Grandma is in a home with dementia, she's still really lovely and misses us, but she can no longer retain what my aunt learned or did when she was younger).  Go Gitte.  Please help me promote her shop. www.etsy.com/shop/SilverDesignsbyGitte

My Aunt's Studio where Creation Happens

Happy holidays everyone!

Yvonne
+ Cecile Raley Designs Staff

What is Your Jewelry Worth?

I've been wanting to revisit the topic of jewelry appraisal for some time, especially since I see a lot of people now selling their gems and jewelry on Loupe Troop and other websites for "pre-loved" items. Most of the time the items are being sold for less than their value.

So as you probably all know, valuing gold is easy.  You just need an accurate postal scale to weigh it, and most online calculators for scrap gold will tell you what each gram of each particular carat weight costs.  To get the most out of your return, don't sell gold to a jeweler, try to mail it to a metal refinery directly, or to anyone else who gives you at least 95% of the scrap value.  I have a wholesale account with a scrap dealer so I can sell it for you if you like, I get 98.5% of that days's spot value, and I trade in old gold as part of payment for items in my shop.

Here is an online 'Scrap Gold Calculator' by grams

Scraped Gold

Diamonds are also not that hard to evaluate - in principle at least.  You do need to know the color (G, H,...) the carat weight and the clarity (VS, VVS, SI...).  Then you can look up comparable diamonds on eBay.  Remember too that diamonds can get chipped over time, and those can devalue the gem.

Diamond melees fetch very little in the market.  They are bought at 1/2 or even 1/4 of list price (they're called "breakout diamonds" and the price is "breakout price").  Diamond setters buy breakouts fairly frequently.

Most difficult to evaluate are colored stones, especially the most well known three: ruby, emerald, sapphire, and even more especially, when these were bought at department stores or jewelry chains (excepting high end retailers such as Tiffany's, Cartier, etc.).  Most of the colored gems in commercial jewelry are treated, and not just heated but also diffused, glass filled, resin filled, etc.  Only a lab can tell you if that's the case, and that's why I, for instance, will not buy any such items except for the gold value - and most jewelers do the same.

On the other end of the spectrum, citrine, pyrope garnet, amethyst, peridot and topaz have little to no value per carat and are usually scrapped because once they are worn a few times, they'll scratch and chip.  In the market, their values is treated as basically zero, even if they are "master cut".

However, since many of my customers are savvy gemstone shoppers, you should know that if you bought a collector's gem from a reputable source and it is in good shape and good size, you don't need to undersell yourselves.  Don't take that stuff to a jewelry store, most retailers are not familiar with collector's gems because that is not their business.  So you will buy below value.  Go to eBay, Loupe Troop, or any other site that lets you sell your stuff, describe it accurately, add disclaimers if need be (i.e. that you are not a jeweler or that it is pre owned), offer a return period (make it short but DO offer it), and you have the best chance at recovering your value - or at least more value than you would have gotten elsewhere.  Take your time though.  If you are desperate for cash you have to sell lower.  Case in point: many gem dealers answer the a customer's question "what is this worth if I sell it" with "are you in a rush to sell?".  And a "yes" or "need money now" answer yields a low ball offer.

Finally, are there some gems that I think you might consider holding on to, at least at present.  Right now, I would recommend that if you're not desperate, you hang on to any Mahenge spinel, even small, if it is that neon color and even reasonably clean.  Half the mine is shut down now for lack of production, and the other half is producing very little, and only 5% or so neon color.  Tsavorite production is also down.  Sapphire is worth keeping if it is heated only or not treated, eye clean, at least 1/2 carat, and a nice saturated medium to a more saturated royal blue, or a color changer.

Neon Mahenge Spinel available on my Etsy Shop.

What about other gems?  Well the spessartite mine is only not producing right now because of local unrest, not because of lack of material (the story is more complicated, but I'm skipping it here).  Other gems, i.e. chrysoberyl, are not known enough right now, but they are not declining in value.  Neither is tourmaline, and chrome color or bright blue or bright pink are always desirable.  Obviously Paraibas are worth keeping.  Other tourmaline colors have much less value and production is constant.  Right now there is a shortage of aqua, but I don't know why and it might be temporary.  Heat treatment doesn't affect aqua prices. Emerald I don't know enough about.  It is my understanding that emerald rough is being mined steadily, but the mines are controlled by investors and/or government.  Good material is available only with connections.  I see very little that's both good and untreated on the market, so if you have a gem that is both, and you haven't scratched it, then you might consider holding on to it as well.

Personally, I keep very few gems.  In the end I always sell because that's what I do.  Sometimes I keep smaller pieces of rare gems because I like having something left that I like.  But I have kept some Mahenges, and I am keeping some sapphires, some mint garnet and some tsavorite.  But spinel (Burmese red, Mahenge pink) and sapphire (blue) are my strongest bet.

Jewelry 101 - How Stuff Gets Made

I have blogged about this topic before but in light of the never ending string of convos I wake up to every morning, I think it might be useful to review my production process, what I do and how long it takes, step by step.

1. Design: I design all the pieces in my shop, and I work together with my CAD friend, Brandy, to turn these into 3-D models.  I rarely have anything done in metalwork - the cost is often the same anyway, and with 3-D you have the option of changing the design if you don't like it.

After the CAD model is designed, it is printed at my casting service, Taba Casting, in wax.  They use a solidscape printer (amazing), printing is charged by the hour.

CAD rendering of Cecile Raley Designs  "Edwardian Ring"

The printed piece is then cast in sterling silver.  If I see that it needs a good polishing job before we go to molding and casting in the final metal, I will drop it off for pre polish or "cleaning" first.  For example, I might want the shank to be a hair narrower, or some detail brought out, or get rid of grid lines (3D printing is layered printing so sometimes the layers produce grid lines). The higher the resolution of the image before printing, the longer the printing takes but you also have fewer grid lines.

Cost: Anywhere from $100-300 depending on the complexity of the job (i.e. a hex setting is maybe $80 with all steps, a big cocktail ring maybe $300). This is my cost, no markup.  I will probably have to change that for custom designs in the future since these take a lot of time talking with the customer, and those hours right now are not really billed for.

Silicone Rubber Mold of a ring. This is used in the casting to metal process

2. Casting: the casting process takes about a week from when I place the order.  There's a casting labor fee of $3-6 for my pieces (big bracelets might cost $20), my molds run about $15 but they only need to be made once.  For custom pieces that's a disadvantage because the customer bears the cost for my design fees.  Printing and molding are distributed over approximately 10 pieces.  Sometimes I sell way more than that (i.e. the hexes) and sometimes less (my nine stone ring).

Once the casting comes in, I inspect it, and drop it off for pre-polishing.  The sprue is cut, the piece is tumbled, smoothed out and cleaned.  This also takes a few days.

This is a silver casting of an old Cecile Raley Designs ring with the 'sprue' still attached

Cost: the cost is calculated by taking the metal weight multiplied by metal cost (which varies by metal) with a markup from casting service which is in turn multiplied by my wholesale formula.  Polishing costs are $10-40 depending (this already includes my markup).

3. Jewelry work: If anything needs to be soldered, this takes place after pre-polish, i.e. if jump rings have to be added, or bails, posts, lever backs or a chain.  Again, I drop off then pick up a few days later.  I have to supply all parts so I need to shop for those.  I try to keep an inventory of the main things I need and stay on top of what needs replacing, but often we need parts we don't stock, so we shop during the production days between our stops.

Cost: This depends, just a pair of posts is $20 (with my markup), but more complex jobs (i.e. 6 soldering joints or channel wire) are more.  Often the math is done by soldering joint, so it just multiplies out straightforwardly.  Say you want an eternity necklace with 6 pieces, that's 12 joints.

4. Setting: That too is a separate job, so after pre polish and any jewelry work, the piece is dropped off with my setter.  I supply all the gems, leave instructions (pave, millgraine,....).  Pierre knows most pieces but special requests (ball prongs for instance) have to be clearly communicated and he has to remember them when he does the piece.

Pierre Prong Setting a Ring

To read more on Stone Setting please refer back to http://cecileraleydesigns.blogspot.com/2015/01/stone-setting-by-pierre.html

All my pieces are in "jewelry envelopes" with all steps listed, and special instructions on the back.  Sometimes going over instructions takes just as long as setting.

Complicated setting jobs take a few hours, but just setting a pair of studs maybe 10 minutes.

Again, the cost is by the piece.  A small pave gem will cost $10, a big 5 carat gem might cost $100 (again with my markup).  So my big cocktail ring for instance has 9 gems and takes a lot of cutting prongs and millgraine work, so I get charged about $120 for it (that's what I pay).

5. Final polish: after setting, the piece needs to be buffed and the dirt removed from the setting tools.  Any tool marks need to be smoothed out.  Pierre works hard to avoid them but that's not always possible.

During final polish, a piece can be rhodium plated, plated with another color, or a silver piece can be blackened (they call that "antiquing" in the trade).

And yes, the cost is again by the piece at $10-20 (with my markup).

Here's what you might take home from this breakdown:

1. The more production steps, the more time it takes to produce a piece.  A simple ring that just needs to be cast, polished, and set can take a few days, but a multi piece creation that needs soldering and maybe layout and going over with the jeweler in detail can take a bit longer.  Each person in this chain wants a few days, and 3x a few days is less than 5x a few days.

2. Most of the costs are labor, unless you use more expensive gems and material.

3. Costs are linear (so setting 3 stones costs 3x the price of setting 1 stone) because labor is linear (you can't set 3 stones faster, or polish more pieces faster).  Discounts are rare, unless you produce 100 or more of the same piece, in which case the jeweler might just offer a discount because he has guaranteed work for a while, not because it is less work.

4. The more parts and steps your design has (or my design for that matter), the more expensive it is.  When you get work done overseas, where setting and jewelry costs are a fraction of what they are here, the story is different.  But local labor is high (think of what you pay your plumber or electrician for their skilled labor, and you have a good comparison base).

About Those Pretty Grape-Purple Garnets

There's been much buzz about these grape-purple Rhodolite garnets lately.  Well, actually they are closer to Malaia garnet than Rhodolite - my friend Josh Lents from GAL (Gemological Appraisal Laboratory of America: http://www.gemlab.com/) did a microscopic analysis.

Grape Garnet Ovals and Emerald Cut

But let me back up.  Purple-grape colored garnets have been around for a bit, but the material was generally from Tanzania and that stuff isn't quite as bright as these newer finds.  From what I can piece together, they first showed up at a gem dealer's office in Tanzania who is a big buyer over there (I can't disclose the name) and ended up in the hands of two US gem dealers who get many of their supplies through the Tanzanian dealer.  One of these gem sellers deals in rough, and that's how it most likely made it to some of the US cutters.  The other seller deals mainly in faceted materials, and that's how I got mine (though I buy from the other seller on occasion also).  Talking to both tracked back to the source in Tanzania, and neither of them knew of anyone else who had the material.  The actual origin of the garnet is Mozambique, however, and the market in Mozambique is not very controlled.  So even if you are a big buyer and put word out that you'd like an exclusive, the material will most likely be sold elsewhere.  This means it may turn up with other sellers in the US.  

Larger Grape Garnet Pieces from Mozambique

You should know however, that there are really only a few hundred good gem dealers throughout the US, and many know each other because they buy from each other and they vend at the same shows (i.e. the AGTA, the GJX, the JCK).  So it is ultimately a small world.  

Anyway, given the fact that these gems have not shown up anywhere so far but these two dealers, I surmise that the finds are very small.  

So what is unique about these gems?  Well, both Jaimeen Shah at Prima and Josh Lents from GAL have never seen this stuff before.  Nor had the other seller I talked with.  And that says a lot.  The color is a bright grape purple (purple with "notes" of red).  The material is clean, most pieces are smaller, and those have the best color.  

Why the name Malaia, and not Rhodolite?  Well according to Josh, Rhodolite is Pyrope and Almandine garnet.  But the microscopic association of this material isn't typical, Josh says, which is why he believes there's some spessartine in it as well.  And that would qualify it under Malaia.  He says that "Reviewing both spectral and microscopic analysis, it is interesting to note the association of apatite and rutile inclusions present in these samples, which is highly characteristic of mixed garnet crystals of pyrope, almadine, and spessartine."

Here's a look inside these pretty pieces:

Micro images of Mozambique Grape Garnet

And what about the most important thing, availability?  The honest answer is that nobody knows.  I would surmise that some locals sold these gems, and they got here through the chain I described.  Who else has it, where it is located, nobody traced that back as of yet.

For the time being, all the rough that I know of (from the original purchase) has been cut.  The larger pieces my supplier had are already all sold, so there's just what I have (the two smaller emerald cuts are also sold).  I may be able to get more 6x4 ovals.  Word has been put out for more, and some will presumably show up sooner or later.  Usually however, when "word is put out" and there's not a ton of stuff, prices will be higher next time.  For the miners and brokers that have to live hand to mouth, long term planning or relationships with gem dealers are a luxury.  If you can sell for more today and feed your kids, you will.  Prices are calculated from there on up.