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What''s wrong with this stone?

Picabia

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Apr 10, 2010
Messages
147
I''m still learning to build my "adult" rock collection, and I wanted to purchase a Mali garnet since (as I stated before), garnet is my birthstone and I like the yellow and green ones. Anyway, I put a bid on one on ebay just to watch it, and ended up winning it for like $4. Obviously there''s something wrong with it, but I don''t know what to look for. Can anyone give me pointers?
Thanks!

Mali Garnet
 
It definitely has a lot of issues but for $4, it’s better to keep it than to return it.

First off, is the very unattractive yellowish brown colour.
Then, there’s the huge gaping window where it is see-through. It is essentially dead in that area.
The garnet is also inclusion challenged with some obvious white marking across one end, and some other minor lines across the rest of the body.
 
You had mentioned you like yellow and green gems, but that stone is brown! The strange thing is that the photo is also enhanced, and if that''s the enhanced color, I fret to think about what it looks like IRL.
32.gif
. The window is the least of it''s problems.

Well, for $4, consider this a learning experience.
 
Thanks Chrono and Toumaline! I haven't used ebay in a long time, and didn't realize I could just "watch" items without bidding. I wanted to see what mali garnets sell for, not actually buy one. Oh well--$4 is the price of a coffee.

I'll keep looking at the stones you guys post to see the differences between windows, and look for the inclusions when it arrives in the mail so I know what to avoid--although I will say, the color reminds me of a strong 7&7 cocktail, which doesn't bother me one bit!
 
Date: 6/17/2010 2:11:37 PM
Author: Picabia
Thanks Chrono and Toumaline! I haven''t used ebay in a long time, and didn''t realize I could just ''watch'' items without bidding. I wanted to see what mali garnets sell for, not actually buy one. Oh well--$4 is the price of a coffee.

Another thing that is helpful to know is that you can search completed auctions, so you don''t have to watch them and wait for them to end--you could go now and look at garnets that ended last week. It''s an option on the left side after you run your search.
 

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Good to know. I''ll keep reading here, hopefully keep learn a thing or two before making any (more) purchases.
Thanks everyone!
 
I also hope that the shipping does not cost you more than $ 4.00. I once bought a "citrine" (probably synthetic, I never bothered to check) for $ 5.00 on ebay and shipping cost me $ 17.00. The seller never responded to my emails, rather I would get automated response. Ah well...it was also learning experience.
 
I use this link to see what the latest Mali Garnets have sold for on eBay. The results are sorted by ending price, and descending from high to low. The results do include fixed price items, however, some of which did not sell, but it is still useful information. In general, the price of high quality faceted Mali Garnet is rising as demand is there, but new rough is not.

http://completed.shop.ebay.com/items/__mali-garnet_W0QQ_nkwZmaliQ20garnetQQLHQ5fCompleteZ1QQ_flnZ1QQ_scZ1QQ_sopZ3QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em283
 
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