Tucson Report: The Highs and Lows...
This was (and still is) my longest Tucson trip in the 11 years that I have been coming here, and I have consequently explored and seen more than ever before. And it has been very instructive. Let me start with what I think was the biggest news for me: Burmese goods. Or rather, the lack thereof...
While news about the civil war in Myanmar has been eclipsed by other world problems, in the far east things have not changed, and consequently export of Burmese gems has come to a halt, with the reserves having been pretty much bought up. This affects not only the obvious two candidates: Burma ruby and (Burma) Jedi spinel, it also affects one of the lesser known Burmese gems: silver spinel. I had an order for a mixed parcel of 3-4mm in silver colors, not grey, and I scoured the Pueblo, GJX and AGTA show. I also had a friend looking at a few of the other shows. But I came up empty handed and everyone said the same: silver tones are Burmese (grey tones are Mozambique) and there is no export of Burmese goods. So: if you want or need silver spinels you have to buy what is left in the market as the political landscape is not likely to change any time soon.
Vietnamese goods are technically not affected by civil unrest, but everyone tells me that buying in Vietnam is fraught with difficulty as prices are too high, and the flow of merchandise meager to say the least. Spinel has always been less common than sapphire, and the brief number of years during which it was nevertheless cheaper have ended as the supplies of finer goods are dwindling. There are more recent finds, such as Mozambique greys, and Madagascar purples, but they have not yielded any cobalt colors (the Mahenge find is pretty much wiped out as well), no silvers, no reds and the pastels currently available are loaded with grey, similar to Sri Lankan spinel – the least popular of all origins both in my shop and elsewhere. What you can still find are imperial tones but they don’t really blow my mind so I don’t source them often. My shop has very little demand for pastels in general, and almost none for peachy tones.
But there have also been positive developments. I was able to source more kornerupine for example. This is a good thing as demand has increased as well (but also a bad thing as the last big find was in 2022). And I have found a few unicorns, or small unicorn herds, lol. The canary yellow tourmalines in my shop have blown my mind, I loved the flamingo pink morganite that I have listed, and I have sourced a few unusual shapes in other gems.
A side note on purple color sapphires: prices for sapphires are definitely up in general, so all the melees I am bringing back will cost a little more than before. Purples are becoming slightly more difficult to find in the smaller sizes as well, so I matched a few parcels of 3mm and one parcel of 2mm only.
Ruby prices have remained steady in the smaller sizes, and I am going to list more than what is in the shop right now. I have small pears, marquis, tapered baguettes, rounds and I believe some ovals. I have also stocked up on other shapes such as kites, 4x3 ovals, baguettes and marquis (which are selling out fast).
The shape of the year definitely seems to be the marquis, as several vendors commented that I was hardly the only one buying them. My little color changer marquis are nearly sold out, but more are to come including trillions and rounds.
This is all I can report for now, but stay tuned for listings of more paraiba in medium and melees sizes, Asscher cuts, trillions, marquis, bi-color tourmaline, blue zircon in specialty cuts, aquamarine and imperial and pink topaz, among others!
Happy shopping.