weight - size - face up - price

[minousbijoux]

the use of "honey" and "sweetheart" bothers me more.

Weren't you known as "Chrono-dude" or "Mr. Chrono" by a poster for a while there? I remember it was pretty funny...

 

[chrono]

Dude's too "chummy" but I don't mind Mr. Chrono at all, other than it sounding a bit too formal.

 

[jstarfireb]

Dude's too "chummy" but I don't mind Mr. Chrono at all, other than it sounding a bit too formal.

Mr. Chrono reminds me of Samwise in Lord of the Rings saying "Mr. Frodo!"

 

[PrecisionGem]

Guess I'm not as sensitive as others; the use of "honey" and "sweetheart" bothers me more.

Gene,
Going off a tangent here since I think the answer is quite clear for gems in the $1k price range. Would you still have the same opinion if the item is $1000/ct? $5000/ct?

Actually I was trying to get general opinion of group here. If I were to cut a stone for my own use, or my wife, then certainly I would always go for the most beautiful stone. Weight really would mean nothing to me or my wife. I'm sure she has no idea what the sapphire she wears weights, nor does she care. But she does like how it looks.

I'm not sure if you realize that very often jewelers or dealers will send native or commercial cut stones out to be touched up to improve performance. Recently I saw a ruby that was around $400,000 that had some work done it to improve the beauty of the stone. Some weight was lost, but it was sold at a higher price. Size isn't everything. Last year in Tucson I had lunch with some people who do cutting in California, they only worked with very high end stones $50k and up, and everything they touched were clean ups or recuts they were doing. They were in the business to make money not loose it.

To me it's a lot like beer and other things in life. I don't drink much, but when I do, I prefer a nice micro brew. I would rather pay $15 for a 6 pack of quality beer, then $15 for a case of Bud. I know I can be a PC with the speed processor as my Mac for less, but I enjoy the quality of the Mac and will pay more per MB for it.

 

[chrono]

The jewellers in my neck of the woods obviously did not get the memo to touch up or recut their coloured stones. Just a handful are precision cut whilst the rest are obviously commercial cut.

 

[PrecisionGem]

I know your neck of the woods. It a bit more civilized than mine, but I would guess a lot of your jewelers are out in the woods shooting at deer like mine are! I have never sold a stone in 100 mile radius of where I now live.

 

[Starzin]

Here's an interesting question. As a cutter, we are always faced with compromises when cutting a stone. One is often weight. So the question is, if you had a choice of a stone to be cut and yield 10 cts for $100 per ct or $1000 total, or the same stone cut, but the weight would be 8 cts and the price $125 per ct for a total of $1000. Which would you take. Now the face up size would be exactly the same, but the 10 ct stone would have excess weight in the belly and maybe a keel pavilion, where the 8 ct stone wouldn't, and would have a nicer cut and performance.

Hmmm... I read this a little differently to most I think. So I will make some assumptions based on how I understood the question.

Assume the cutter is faced with a nice piece of rough (perhaps a well saturated seafoam tourmaline) and he knows he can use one of two patterns to cut it. Both will be well cut and attractive stones when finished. Same face up size, same price.

However - one will be lovely - it is NOT native cut or sloppy, it's still a precision cut (presumably).
One will be more sparkly and have that "WOW that looks great!" factor.

Now which do you choose as the cutter? If you do the weight cut presumably you can do it quickly and easily but it might sit in inventory for a year. OR do you do the other cut which takes more time (hence the increased price per carat) and results in a slightly less weight but will sell inside a week/month or two?

Which do you choose as the buyer? The one that's lovely or the one that's oh so sparkly? Same price, same face up size - you only know it weighs 2cts more because the seller told you.

Gene you're playing with my head!!! However I think because I can't SEE the extra weight, I'm gonna choose the sparkly one. Unfortunately, I think this has more implications for the cutter than the buyer, we're like magpies we're attracted by sparkly things

Whew! I'm glad that decision's made