When I first started buying cut gemstones in 2008 and 2009, gemstone prices were vastly different from what they are now. In just a few years, gemstones went from near obscurity to becoming vastly popular around the entire world. The vast increases in price are due to the fact that none of this material ever existed in quantities that could satisfy any mass market.

Colored gemstones have made significant progress catching up to the diamond market in the jewelry world. With lab grown diamonds steadily gaining market share, the value of diamonds is plummeting. Meanwhile the opposite is happening in the colored gem markets, especially when it comes to the most popular higher value gems: blue sapphire, ruby, emerald and Paraiba tourmaline.