apprasal on alex

[m76steve]

when joann gill did my appr. on the 15 ct. alex pendent, she said she had not seen a real alex catseye before-she had all the tools to examine and verify what the stones were and in the process of my appraisal did not rush. she took @ 2 weeks to complete with her consorting with other depenable people in the business. she took her time & came back with a good appr for the stones i had. most of the stones i have r in the 1-2 ct. range with good color change & reasonably clean. one perticular stone i have is just over 2 cts. and changes from green in daylight to a red color by candlelight-amazing 2 c this change just by the light source. size is good but in several examples i have seen, bigger is not better as the old saying goes. recently a jewelery store sold an alex stone for aver $200,000.00-good color change & just over 2.5 cts. go figure-wil keep in touches.....

 

[T L]

If she never saw a cat's eye alex before, I would consider that a red flag that she's not an expert appraiser in colored gems. It is a rare stone, but many experienced appraisers that specialize in colored gems have seen a myriad of rare colored gems, not just your typical ruby, emerald, and sapphire fare. Unfortunately many appraisers specialize only in those and diamonds. You need to seek out someone that really specializes in all kinds of colored gems, like Richard Sheerwood.

 

[m76steve]

i appreciate ur responce & the red flag-this appr. was good enough to question ? any doubts that might arrise when looking at stones other than diamonds or the norm, she called other friends or associates to qualify any ?''s that she had-her ?''s answered she was assured that her appr was as close as possible by 2 das standards-she appraised on of the stones in the pendent-the top stone-at over $15,000.00. this perticular pendent has 4 other top quality stones that have been observed & appraised at similar values. i value ur input-m76steve.....

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 12/22/2008 9:01:42 AM
Author: tourmaline_lover
If she never saw a cat''s eye alex before, I would consider that a red flag that she''s not an expert appraiser in colored gems. It is a rare stone, but many experienced appraisers that specialize in colored gems have seen a myriad of rare colored gems, not just your typical ruby, emerald, and sapphire fare. Unfortunately many appraisers specialize only in those and diamonds. You need to seek out someone that really specializes in all kinds of colored gems, like Richard Sheerwood.

Ditto, I''m not an appraiser and nor have I yet completed my FGA, but I have seen quite a few cat''s eye alex''s.

Are her appraisals for retail replacement, insurance or what???

 

[movie zombie]

interesting topic: so many appraisers and some seem to specialize in just diamonds or ruby, sapphire. the inexperience of some with color stones is scary....even if the appraisal is merely for insurance purposes.

movie zombie

 

[m76steve]

appreciate ur input....

 

[LD]

With the utmost respect Steve and I don't wish to be rude but no amount of phoning friends will educate somebody on what is a good/bad Alex. You really need to see a fair number to understand what makes a good Alex and what doesn't. Describing colour change to somebody who's never seen it before is impossible. The number of people who've told me their Alex has great colour change when in actual fact it hasn't is amazing. If somebody sees any colour change they assume it's "the best" and that honestly isn't the case.

Here is a Cats Eye Alex that I bought for my husband for £150 (about $250) last year. It looks very much like yours doesn't it? It has an excellent cats eye, some colour change (as you can see from the photo) but nothing to write home about and is just over 1.5ct. If you search for Alexandrite on this forum you'll also find pictures of some of my collection that I've posted, including the one I mentioned with excellent colour change.

Hope that helps.

 

[m76steve]

thanks for ur feedback-joann is just one of the apprs. i use & the feedback i get is pretty much the same-sometimes i am a little redundent thats why i have several people to confer with. a terrific amount of misinformation & bad stuff being circulated on purpose & by accident-people just have 2 ck sources a little more closely & have comfort w/their decisions-this takes time & effort-thanks 4 ur input...

 

[m76steve]

by the-u have a very nice stone w/good eye effect-the word is chitoiancy....

 

[m76steve]

im not sure-but most of my apprs. do for insurance repl of the material-the cost 2 repl if lost or stolen-hope this helps a little...

 

[LD]

Date: 12/23/2008 4:35:43 AM
Author: m76steve
by the-u have a very nice stone w/good eye effect-the word is chitoiancy....

Actually the word is chatoyancy! Coined from the French "oeil de chat", meaning "cat''s eye".