Somebody's Gotta Buy This Stone!

[minousbijoux]

Yes, but the second one was $0.00, so of course I "bought" it

 

[VapidLapid]

oh well, it was an error. but all is not lost because I had an email from a lapidary who just finished the pavilion of a stone he is cutting for me. May even be finished tomorrow!

 

[JewelFreak]

The first one from Gene's drop, the cushion, is SO beautiful. 9 cts of fantastic! Yeah, 6.5K is nothing to sneeze at but I'd trade it (if I had it) to look at that beauty on my hand all day every day. Close to my dream gem.

What are you having cut, VL? I hope we'll get a peek at it when it's done.

--- Laurie

 

[chrono]

I'm sorry VL.

Gene's 9 ct green garnet is painfully beautiful to look at. Now, where did I stash my excess $6K? Better start looking under the sofa.

 

[JewelFreak]

Your 6K & my trust fund ran away together, Chrono.

--- Laurie

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Tourmaline prices have gone through the roof lately. They are easily double what they were a year ago. I had major sticker shock when I got my last parcel.

 

[chrono]

Tourmaline prices have gone through the roof lately. They are easily double what they were a year ago. I had major sticker shock when I got my last parcel.

Lady D,
Do you mean all colours of tourmaline or only specific hues?

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Tourmaline prices have gone through the roof lately. They are easily double what they were a year ago. I had major sticker shock when I got my last parcel.

Lady D,
Do you mean all colours of tourmaline or only specific hues?

I was looking at pinks and greens, specifically. However, the dealer told me it was pretty much across the spectrum.

 

[T L]

I'm sorry VL.

Gene's 9 ct green garnet is painfully beautiful to look at.

Do you mean his 9 carat green tourmaline? Now I'm looking for a 9 carat green garnet on his blog, which I can't find.

 

[chrono]

Do you mean his 9 carat green tourmaline? Now I'm looking for a 9 carat green garnet on his blog, which I can't find.

Looks like I have not been reading carefully enough this week. Yes, it is a tourmaline, not a garnet. I need to slow down or take a PS break.

 

[T L]

Do you mean his 9 carat green tourmaline? Now I'm looking for a 9 carat green garnet on his blog, which I can't find.

Looks like I have not been reading carefully enough this week. Yes, it is a tourmaline, not a garnet. I need to slow down or take a PS break.

Nah, I do that too. Besides, they look a lot like green garnets in those photos.

 

[OTL]

dreamy color and saturation for a mint garnet.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221321364071?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

 

[JewelFreak]

Agreed, but I'm not crazy about those areas of extinction, or are they shadows? It's gigantic, but holy mackeral, $40 grand? Eeeeyow!

--- Laurie

 

[PrecisionGem]

I think most of the stones typically shown and talked about on Pricescope are smaller stones, and less expensive stones, so the larger stones seem to carry sticker shock. One thing that everyone might not know is that rough prices change, and often dramatically as the sizes get larger.

Most rough dealers sell by the gram, and stones will be sorted according to size depending on the type of stone. For example you may see a stone sorted like this:

.5 to 1 gram at $100 per gram
1 to 1.5 gram at $150 per gram
1.5 to 2 gram at $250 per gram.

Now lets look at what can happen. For each example we will assume a 30% recovery from the rough to finished stone.

Stone 1: .99 gram x $100 per gram = $99 Finished stone 1.48 ct.
Stone 2: 1.01 gram x $150 per gram = $152 Finished stone 1.51 ct.
Stone 3: 1.51 gram x $250 per gram = $377 Finished stone 2.26 ct.

If we sold the first stone for $100 per ct, that would be $148 with a $99 investment. The second stone we would actually loose $1, and the third stone would loose over $150 if both priced at $100 per ct.

An often loose rule of thumb that works sometimes, is to charge the per gram rough price as a finished per ct price. If applied to the above example, then Stone 3 would be priced at $250 per ct for a total price of $565

With more exotic stones, the prices can get even much higher as the sizes go up. I have seen small pieces of green garnet offered for $35 per ct, and larger (and I don't mean really big) tones for $500 per ct in the rough.

For some stones such as amethyst and blue topaz, the price difference is not very great as the size changes, and actually very large cut stones can sell for less per ct then somewhat smaller sized ones.

 

[T L]

Agreed, but I'm not crazy about those areas of extinction, or are they shadows? It's gigantic, but holy mackeral, $40 grand? Eeeeyow!

--- Laurie

That's known as a "bow-tie" which is common in pear shaped stones. Nice color, but out of reach price wise for the mere mortal.

 

[Niel]

Agreed, but I'm not crazy about those areas of extinction, or are they shadows? It's gigantic, but holy mackeral, $40 grand? Eeeeyow!

--- Laurie

That's known as a "bow-tie" which is common in pear shaped stones. Nice color, but out of reach price wise for the mere mortal.

but what a stinkin' cute pear shape.

 

[minousbijoux]

For me, personally, I lose interest when stones get too large. They may be collector's items and all that, but they often just come across as, well, too big and almost - dare I say - fake!

I agree with Niel that its a nice shaped pear, and I wouldn't kick it out of bed for eating crackers, but that's waaaaaay too big for my lifestyle; I'll leave it to the rest of you to fight over that one.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Seriously, someone buy this and post pictures!

2.41 ct, AGL unheated, blue sapphire in a precision cut modified cushion at a price that's affordable by mere mortals? YES PLEASE

Hmm, am I missing something, is there a reason you think this hasn't sold yet? It's 1000$/ct, I'm actually considering it myself, but the fact that it's still for sale makes me wonder if I'm missing something...

 

[JewelFreak]

MTG, I've looked & looked at that stone & wondered why nobody snapped it up! I'm not in the market for a sapphire, but it looks gorgeous to me. Please order it & take a look at it -- or ask, at least, whether it has any problems you should know about! It seems too darn nice just to sit there.

--- Laurie

 

[GregS]

I see color zoning, that may be a reason...

 

[distracts]

So admittedly I don't know much about blue spinels, but this one at Art Cut Gems looks nice. 2.2 cts, $479. Will fit in a calibrated 7x9 setting.

http://www.artcutgems.com/item.php?item_id=541

 

[chrono]

Idar Oberstien 17 ct mint garnet pear
Gorgeous and truly rare at that size, hence the price. Price per carat increase of gems as the size increases isn't linear but exponential. Considering the size, I would have expected the colour to be much richer though.

Litnon unheated blue sapphire
I think colour zoning is why it is priced so low. The cut looks great and could still be a bargain for someone who isn't too particular about evenness of colour. You can see a stronger purple component at the lower half of the sapphire that is more (or less obvious) in a few pictures.

Blue spinel
This is for someone who likes shifty and grayish stones. Looks like it might "close up" times though.

 

[PrecisionGem]

I don't think that's zoning at all, just reflection in the picture. After taking thousands of pictures of gems and seeing the stone in person you get a knack for being able to "read" a picture.

 

[chrono]

I don't think that's zoning at all, just reflection in the picture. After taking thousands of pictures of gems and seeing the stone in person you get a knack for being able to "read" a picture.

Gene,
Any guess as to why it's so inexpensive?

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I don't think that's zoning at all, just reflection in the picture. After taking thousands of pictures of gems and seeing the stone in person you get a knack for being able to "read" a picture.

Gene,
Any guess as to why it's so inexpensive?

Looking at the photos on lit on again it looks like it might have a stronger purple component than I thought. Might even be a color shifter?

 

[iLander]

I don't think that's zoning at all, just reflection in the picture. After taking thousands of pictures of gems and seeing the stone in person you get a knack for being able to "read" a picture.

Gene,
Any guess as to why it's so inexpensive?

Looking at the photos on lit on again it looks like it might have a stronger purple component than I thought. Might even be a color shifter?

I don't think so. If it was purplish, AGL would make a note of it on the brief. On my brief, for my sapphire, it says "violetish blue". AGL is very much "into" describing colors accurately, and if they saw a lot of purple they would note it.

 

[PrecisionGem]

Maybe he got a good buy on the original stone, and got a good yield when recutting. Some people price stones based the market price, some based on what they paid for the rough, and are willing to pas on a good buy. I don't know the dealer at all, so I can only speculate.

Some of the people I see while in Tucson selling rough, will keep the rough price for older material at the old price, others will ask the going rate for old material. You can't fault people either way, everyone needs to make a living, and let's face it, these stones are strictly luxury items so it's not like anyone is getting raped like the pharmaceutical companies do. No one has ever died because they didn't get their stone fix for the day!

 

[JewelFreak]

No one has ever died because they didn't get their stone fix for the day!

Come darn close, though, Gene! Defibrillators necessary.

I wish somebody would buy that sapphire so we'd know what it's like IRL.

--- Laurie

 

[innerkitten]

Maybe he got a good buy on the original stone, and got a good yield when recutting. Some people price stones based the market price, some based on what they paid for the rough, and are willing to pas on a good buy. I don't know the dealer at all, so I can only speculate.

Some of the people I see while in Tucson selling rough, will keep the rough price for older material at the old price, others will ask the going rate for old material. You can't fault people either way, everyone needs to make a living, and let's face it, these stones are strictly luxury items so it's not like anyone is getting raped like the pharmaceutical companies do. No one has ever died because they didn't get their stone fix for the day!

OT: Don't even get me started about those pharmaceutical companies.

 

[innerkitten]

I've been interested in Montana sapphires lately and purchased a BIN stone from this person on Ebay. He has another nice looking one up for auction though if anyones interested. Light blue and just a touch over 6mm according to the seller. Seller finds them his/ her self.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-28-carat-Montana-Eldorado-deposit-sapphire-/161185393091?pt=Loose_Gemstones_1&hash=item258765e9c3