News and gossip from the gem trade

The Dragon and the Alexandrite:

An extraordinary piece of jewelry deserves attention from gemstone connoisseurs and jewelry lovers.

The above shown ring was crafted out of platinum and weights nearly 50 grams. The eyes of the dragon are made from custom cut red Burmese spinels of best quality. The center stone is a stunning Ceylon Alexandrite, also custom hunted and re-cut from 2.5 carat gem.

In daylight, this Alexandrite displays deep rich ivy green and then surprises with a dramatic change to berry red in tungsten light. Intense luster and greatest clarity make this gem a rare dainty.

It work was commissioned from Asia. The hunt for the Alexandrite, the design and production took over six months to conclude.

Why are many gem mining countries so poor; and do not profit much from their natural wealth?

Because their governments choke off local business by regulations that were intended to support the local trade. The main value of gemstone is not in mining itself but in the work that lies behind it. Namely cutting, setting and marketing of gems and jewelry. Strangely though, this part of the value chain is always located in countries that have no natural gemstones, like Thailand, Hong Kong or Germany. Why?

We have seen this in many countries, but here is an example from Sri Lanka:

To obtain a license for the legal export of gems from Sri Lanka one needs first to cut through much red tape. Compared to the red tape we may bemoan in the west this red bared wire. (Many miners do not even have an ID)

If you have a license (and a costumer to ship to) you will spend at least one day in the "Gem Authority" where your export is examined, registered, certified, valued, packed, and finally is sealed with 6 wax seals and six (no kidding) different signatures on twelve documents with double copies. If something went wrong in this paper orgy or somebody didn't show up to work you will have to come back next day and next.

Finally, when all is done, the package goes into the Gem Authorities safe and stays there until DHL, and only DHL, comes once a week; and charges you double than Fedex or 50 times more than normal airmail. (There is rumor that the boss of the gem authority is a close friend of the boss of DHL but who knows?)

Hence all shipments from Colombo are made in big parcels, preferably pre-shaped, to Bangkok or HongKong, where they are split up, cut, set in jewelry and or marketed as gemstones. Bang, like that, 75% value creation has left the country. The miners are left with digging in the dirt. A few whole sale traders do OK but thats it.

Thus, Sri Lanka shots itself straight out of the moste valuable part of gem business.

Why does the government do this? No bad intention. Actually they intended exactly the opposite. They wanted to control rough from leaving the country to be cut elsewhere. But, as governments tend to do, they got it wrong; and far too late.

USA cracks down on Irradiated Gems

The US government has finally started to worry about irradiated gemstones.

For starters, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NCR) has targeted the $1+ billion sales of "London" blue topaz into the USA.

Though the laws regarding irradiated gemstones are as old as 1986, the trade has so far mostly ignored the testing requirements. Blue topaz with excessive radiation levels can be found in any corner jeweler.

But the winds have changed: In a meeting on the 26^th of July, the NCR stressed a renewed determination to protect consumers from radioactive jewelry.

As a result, retailers are already pulling blue topaz off their shelves. Further enforcements are scheduled. It is expected that diamonds, cat's eyes, beryl, tourmaline and kunzite are going to be included as well.

The NCR states clearly that any unlicensed sale of irradiated gemstones in the USA is illegal. Read the original NRC document here.

We think: Right so. Well done!

"Incomplete Gems of Life!"

Don Ames in California has finished and sold, for an undisclosed sum, his first work of art based on gemstones.

Congratulations Don! Great project.

The "mirror" contains over 1000 carat of rough tourmaline, sapphire, ruby, aquamarine, topaz, spinel and other gems, as well as gold (river of live) and faceted diamonds.

See a detailed picture here and read the artists comments (allow some loading time)

Contact the artist (we will forward your comment).

Tucson: From material to gemstones

Semi-precious is dead - long live semi-precious.

This year, Tucson has shown what all connoisseurs know: There are no "semi-precious" gemstones! A gemstone is per definition precious. If it is not, it is no gemstone.

The true measure is called "price per carat". Somewhere below fifty, ten or five dollar per carat, depending on where you stand, comes the transition from "gemstone" to "material".

Topaz, tourmaline, garnets, kornerupine and spinels finally get the attention, numbers and calls they deserve. Who will doubt that a fine color change garnet has more to offer than a treated and calibrated blue sapphire? While the former will draw crowds, the latter is sold as commodity, unseen in big parcels. If this trend continues, Tucson 2025 might be free of "material".

Hence we welcome and applaud the increasing diversity in the gemstone market. Over are the times when the jewelry buying public raised eyebrows and asked: "I thought sapphire is blue?" Over are the times when only hard-core-gem-junkies knew that chrome diopside is not a car cleaner.

With the big old three falling victim to treatments, the rise of other varieties sheds light in the tunnel.

And behold, educated consumers with choices are powerful consumers! Those in pursue of the quick buck in sapphire treatment will soon have tears in their eyes. Prices of what they contemptuously called semi-precious will easily outrun their "material", but by then Tucson will be for gemstones only.

Edward Bristol