Good sources for stones

[Mountainguy]

Hello, this is my first time posting. Quite a nice site that you all have here.

I am looking for a or a pair of high-end sapphires or aquamarines. I may do a pendant (one stone), earrings (two), or something like the neat 2-stone lariat I saw a few pages back. Per some of the posters here, I have looked at Cherrypicked, R.W. Wise, Pala Gems, and Twin Diamonds for stones.

Are all of these firms good? Is there anyone else I should try? I am particularly looking at Twin Diamonds, because I seemed to find more stones that I liked in my price range, but I don''t really know anything about them (and I only saw them mentioned once in these forums, Cherry and Wise were mentioned a lot).

Also, some of the stones seem to be certified, but they are usually by firms that I had never heard of, (Tokyo Gem Labs I think was one). Are these certificates useful? Who are the good appraisal/certification firms?

Thanks again for any advice. I''m glad I discovered this site, but I think I''m still about as knowledgable as a 16yr old buying a car. Hopefully, it doesn''t end up costing me that much

 

[movie zombie]

i haven't heard of Twin Diamonds but the other three are highly recommended here at pricescope. they are definitely high end and you will pay high end prices....but you'll have super stones. i have personally bought from richard wise and would do so again. give him a call....he has more stones in his inventory than he has listed at his website.

high end sapphires will be more costly than high end aquas. see as many stones as you can to develop your own 'eye'. the industry considers certain colors premium for certain stones but you may actually prefer something a little different and you might save a little cash at the same time; example: deep blue with no grey cast is the industry preference right now for aquas but you might prefer something a bit greener in color. rich color without grey cast in either case is what you're looking for in high end aquas as well as cut.

if you're interested in blue, you might also consider zircon....there are some lovely carribean blue ones out there! Pala has a few. and blue spinel is also gorgeous....again, Pala has some.

have fun and enjoy!

movie zombie

 

[colorchange]

Tokyo Gem Lab is not a bad one, you can trust them on blue sapphires (I would not trust them on yellow or orange, as I have already seen an obvious Be Treated coming out of TGL with the usual heating mention).
In Thaï labs, Buhrapa Gem Lab (Chantaburi, the only one there as far as I know) and EMIL (Bangkok) are not bad either, and GIT and AIGS are very good.
TGL is often used because especially cheap.

 

[Mountainguy]

Thanks for the replies. Would the exhibition in Vegas in early June be a good place to find stones like this?

Also, if anyone does have any experience with Twin Diamonds (good or bad), I would love to hear it.

Thanks

 

[colorchange]

I''m a French gem dealer so have no idea of what the firm or show is like.
If you like light colored sapphire (as you seem to like aquamarines), you may find some much cheaper ones.
What is your budget, what size and color are you looking for ?

 

[Mountainguy]

My budget includes pretty much any blue stone in the 3-5 carat range (except for non-heat treated sapphires). It really is just a question of deciding on what color I want and then determining where I want to source them. I do want to make sure that I go through someone competent because I really have no ability to evaluate the rocks myself -- except to know what I do and don''t like in terms of color. That''s why I asked about various high-end dealers that I had read about on this forum.

The guys at Twin Diamonds are sending me some close-ups on a couple stones I liked. I still am not sure what their reputation/quality is a I have only seen them mentioned in one post (unlike Wise, Cherrypicked, and Pala who I''ve seen recommended several times by different people).

Thanks again for any advice.

 

[DiamondExpert]

How about tanzanite?