As you’ve probably noticed, Cecile Raley Designs provides certificates with certain gems, or we offer to provide one upon request. With more and more requests for certificates coming in, it’s time to review what these reports do for you and when you should get them.
Gem Identification: This is probably the single most important thing a lab report can do for you. A gem ID provides you with certainty that the gem you bought is what you thought it was. It tells you that the gem is not synthetic or lab grown.
Specifications: A lab report also gives you the details about the gem, its shape, weight, cut, measurements, color, and variety (i.e. the sapphire variety of corundum).
Treatment: Not all treatments are mentioned in a lab report, or need to be. Whether treatments are mentioned depends entirely on the gem and this can get complicated very quickly. Basic treatment, i.e. heat treatment of a sapphire, must be disclosed. But this is not the case for an aquamarine or a tourmaline. Why? In part this is because it cannot actually be determined if an aqua or tourmaline is heated. The heating process does not leave any trace on these gems. Treatment is also disclosed if it can affect the value. So, for instance, if a ruby is glass filled it has little to no value and if it is totally untreated it has high value. Note, however, that to detect different treatments, different techniques are needed. Heat, glass fill, or surface enhancements like oil can be detectable under the microscope but it’s not possible to detect if borox was used in diffusion treatment.
Origin: Origin in gems is often very hard to determine and it is not always certain. Only fairly broad origin regions can be determined, not the actual mine or town where a gem came from, and for different gems different methods are needed. Essentially one determines origin by identifying other trace minerals in the gems and locating its origin. Alternatively, as with Russian demantoid, the types of inclusions can be a tell-tale sign of the origin. With some gems, diamonds for example, origin cannot be determined at all. We only know that certain colors, such as pink, mostly originate from a specific location, Australia in this case. And diamonds come from just about everywhere! By contrast, other gems (like grandidierite and kornerupine) have only one known origin. It is also important to point out that gems under 3mm in size cannot be tested for origin (AGL won’t provide any reports for them at all). These stones are too small to yield useful readouts, or to have any identifying inclusions.
Value: Most labs do not provide a value of the gem on their report. Gem values constantly fluctuate so there’s no point in trying to nail it down. Only appraisal labs, such as GAL, give you a value. GIA, AGL and EGL do not. The point of providing a value is to give an insurance company something to go by in case the gem is lost or stolen. It’s not really to show the client that they got a good deal (or a bad one, for that matter). And how is the value determined? Gem labs find out the value by referencing quarterly price tables that list approximate values. These values, in turn, are based on reported sales. Price lists are only available for the most common stones. For uncommon materials, the lab has to do research, i.e. looking at comparable gems on the internet or calling other labs and asking them if they have recently seen or valued a gem of that type.
2013 Rapaport Diamond Report. You can find more information here: http://www.diamonds.net/Prices/RapaportPriceGuide.aspx
Sometimes, there’s no comparison base at all. Cobalt spinel, grandidierite, benitoite and kornerupine are just some gems that have no prices available for comparison.
What does a lab report cost? The cheapest report I know of is the GAL mini cert which costs about $40 retail, and $80 for the full report. The AGL gem brief is $70 for smaller stones, and a prestige report with origin is $220. And if you have a gem pair each gem costs separately. AGL won’t put both on one report. GIA starts at $160. AGL and GIA have a turnaround period of 3-4 weeks, GAL is faster – at least for me they are because I give them a lot of my stuff.
And now for the most important question: Should you get a report at all? I would say no if your gem cost you less than $500. We US sellers are bound by law to provide you with the merchandise we advertise so if anything is not as promised we have to take it back, and if fraud is suspected, we are in trouble. Plus, lab reports can increase the asking price for a gem because the time and money of the report will now figure into the price. This is especially true for AGL and GIA reports.
That said, when you buy a diamond, it should pretty much always be certified, at least if it is more than half a carat. This is for a different reason, however. Diamonds are easy to identify, so you don’t need the report for that (you can get a diamond tester instead, or hold it to a flame if you suspect it’s moissanite – it will change color). But because diamonds are expensive, a report, and in particular a GIA report, which is a very strict grading, provides you with assurance that you are paying the correct price. While diamonds are not traded on the commodities exchange, they do have fairly fixed values, determined by the Rapaport diamond sheet.
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Anecdote: in late summer I got a call for a 4+ carat lagoon tourmaline of a very specific cut and color, not too dark, etc etc. Unsurprisingly, the potential buyer couldn't find such a stone anywhere. I asked the buyer if they were serious about the purchase because it would be expensive and hard to find. I come across about 100 lagoon tourmalines in that size a year at best and I know who imports them and the source. I know Tiffany likes those stones too and they pay good money for them. Out of those hundred or so stones, which is probably most of the annual production, 99% are not the specified color and cut. Well maybe 98%. But you get the idea. Anyway I borrowed 5 stones to show to the client that came close. No luck. Again another stone, no luck. It took at least a full day to get it all together, plus all the conversations. The buyer grew frustrated, I tried explaining the search was impossible, got impatient with the client, the deal imploded. Mutual unhappiness.
Lesson: I should have not taken on the search and explained from the start that I would not be able to meet the demands 100%. It was not going to happen. The client did not understand - or I failed to make the client understand - that sometimes it's not about the money.
This Cobalt Oval Spinel is old stock, there's currently almost no production
Here are some other related things I've heard from customers:
"This stone is not blue enough. I want to return it and look for a type of stone that's more blue." - said of a Vietnamese Cobalt spinel.
"What is your best price for this?" Question about a hauyne that is irreplaceable.
"I'd like that stone to be .... : bigger." Referring to red Burmese spinel.
I'm not the only one, I've overheard many statements like this at gem shows while I was quietly putting together my stash of purchases.
This is a 7x5mm Certified Hauyne. Clean specimens of this size almost never occur, and when they do, they are insanely expensive.
While I can certainly understand that questions must be asked, and while I know that bargaining is commonplace, when it comes to rare goods, they are based on a fundamental misunderstanding!
Consider the real estate market. Do you ever go to an open house in an expensive community and ask to get something bigger? Or ask for the "best price"? No, because there will be many other potential buyers who are not going to ask that question.
Going back to the gem market, here's an anecdote related to me by a gemstone dealer at the Denver show. A client approached him with a request for a stone he specialized in, very rare, very big piece. The seller, who had bought up pretty much all the remaining supply of that stone some time ago, had one single piece available. The price tag: $40,000. The buyer balked and said he would look for something else somewhere else. Came back a month later, unable to even get a comparison price, and bought the stone.
This is a 5x4 mm Red Beryl. This is my only piece as the material is no longer on the market.
Gem dealers who deal in rare stones know what they have. They had the money to buy it, the goods are paid off so they don't owe anyone. They will have already made some money on their gems, they are not desperate, and they are proud of their gems. They do not have to sell!
Here’s another example. With many products you get a price match guarantee. Find the product for less elsewhere and your price is matched. Companies do this to keep your business because you could just as well go somewhere else. But if a gem dealer is the only one who has "the product", there’s no lower price to match. So there’s no point in asking for it. If the dealer really needs to sell, he or she may come down in price on his own. People often say that it can’t hurt to ask for a discount. But in a seller’s market it can.
This is a 5mm Cushion Paraiba. It is a turquoise blueish color, a little cleaner specimen than others I've had in the past,
So let’s say you’ve already done your homework: you’ve looked up your coveted gem at a few websites, you have determined what size and color hue it comes in, you have checked availability and prices. Is there anything else you can do to sway the seller your way? I would say show that you have done your research. Most dealers love that you can appreciate what they have and they know it will save time and headache in the transaction. Refrain from asking for payment plans, it suggests that you are not in a position to make the purchase. If the seller wants you to have the gem and they trust you, they may offer it. Don’t be afraid to say you need to think about it and walk away for a bit. Buyer's remorse sucks. If you hope for repeat business, make a smaller “good faith” transaction.
Ask for the stone to be put on hold only if you are sure you will take it. A seller who loses the opportunity to sell, especially at (gem) shows that only last a couple of days, will not put a stone on hold for you again.
And most of all, remember: gems are not a "must have" item. They are beautiful and the can be a good investment. But no gem is worth forfeiting an item you actually need!
How do you know if you are in a seller's or a buyer's market when you start making your inquiry? Simple. Start a search, go to eBay, Etsy, online sellers, go to the top dealers that you know, like maybe Pala gems, look at their collections, get the prices. If you cannot find anything, or almost nothing, it's a rare stone.
Stones mentioned are available to check out or purchase on my Etsy Shop
Red beryl : https://www.etsy.com/listing/561016361/on-sale-red-natural-beryl-emerald
Benitoite: https://www.etsy.com/listing/546385168/on-sale-benitoite-benitoite-shield-6mm
Paraiba: https://www.etsy.com/listing/557094537/paraiba-tourmaline-cushion-paraiba
Hauynite: https://www.etsy.com/listing/512634598/on-sale-hauyne-hauynite-certified
Cobalt Spinel: https://www.etsy.com/listing/539524569/on-sale-oval-cobalt-spinel-cobalt-spinel
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Opals: Some Thoughts on Their Special Allure and their Challenges for the Jeweler
If you’ve been following my shop for a few years, you will notice that I have never carried a lot of opals – not until recently! You may know of my dislike for Ethiopian opals but if not, here's why I don't really like them: I bought some Welo opals shortly after they initially came out and there was a bit of a craze – prices actually went up from a few bucks a carat to $50-70 per carat wholesale within a year or two. Shortly after purchase, the opals started cracking and turning opaque. Following common advice, I soaked them in water: Welo opals actually absorb water, unlike other opals, and I believe that they have an even higher water content as well. Anyway, the experiment backfired; the opals dried up and cracked even more. I threw them out.
Anecdote: an opal dealer friend of mine from Germany was offered the first rights to the mines in Ethiopia. Juergen is his name, and he’s been working with opals for the past 40 years if not more. Juergen claims to have been the first white person on the ground to see them. I’m not challenging this belief but Africa is a vast place and these things are hard to confirm. He went ahead and had the rough tested, but found it too unstable to get into the business. He passed.
Juergen is also my source for most of the opals that I now carry. He specializes in Australian material but also carries Mexican fire opals. He has a great eye for the material.
Mexican Fire Opal Pendant
In terms of pricing, the boulder opals I carry are a little cheaper than black opals. Boulder opals still have the host rock in which they are found, which makes a sort of natural doublet. An 'artificial' doublet is created by gluing plastic onto the back of a very thin slice of opal to increase its color and strength but I don't carry these as they have little to no value. Matrix opals, like Koroit opals, are a sub group of Boulder opals with the opal distributed as “veins” within the material, looking like a matrix. I don’t like them as much because they have too much brown but some of them can be very pretty.
Boulder Opals from my Shop
Apart from boulder opals, my favorites are black opals. Black opals are the rarest of all, they do not have any host rock, ideally they are thick, and their body tone is, as the name says, black. They are Australian as well. White opal is technically the same as black opal, the only difference is explained in its name. The body tone is a milky white color, which brings out less of the play of color in the opal.
Black Opal Pairs
The most valued opals have the largest variation of colors. Blue and green tones are the youngest in terms of geological age, red the oldest, making red the rarest of all colors displayed in an opal.
Opal pricing can be very confusing, even to the professional. Other than the few pointers I just gave, it is very subjective. The ones most people like the most, however, tend to be the highest priced as well.
So, why do I not carry a lot of opal? The short answer is that it is hard to work with. Here are some reasons:
Still, when I went to Vegas I just couldn’t resist the beauty of some of the pieces that Juergen showed me. I’ve listed most of these but I held back my favorites (why I don’t know, I can’t keep it all!). Here are photos and videos. Listings are coming up, and I am taking requests. Both of these are pairs, but I am willing to break them up if I get two interested parties.
As many of you know, I have been selling quite a few Russian demantoids on my site in the last year. Initially they came from only one source, old stock, topping out at (exactly) 3.2mm, no heat, and a very bright medium apple green, no secondary yellow. Super nice stuff, great cutting, all priced at $800/ct. I still have some of that stock, but not much, and my source is out. The price, as I said, is the price of older stock, and unless one finds a good connection, Russian prices are now much higher.
Three Colors of Demantoids
And then that’s just what happened. I finally met another demantoid seller with reasonable prices in Tucson! I found Sergey’s booth tucked away in the back of JCK, he was sharing the booth with someone, and he had only Russian demantoids, nothing else. Sergey has a geology degree and taught at the University of Moscow for a while, then – Russian economy being what it is - decided to try himself at gems selling instead. And he was very knowledgeable about his stones. His stock was all well cut, ranging from an olive green to a rich deep forest green – I think industry calls it “emerald green.” Although there is dispute, sometimes “apple green” refers to the darker color, sometimes not. There is agreement though that the top stones should be bright, they should pop, and they should not have any yellow in them. After a long discussion with Sergey and louping many of the gems, I was convinced that the material was legit – it’s a little easier to judge demantoids because you can tell a lot just by louping them and looking at the inclusions. So I took the risk and purchased some pieces. I first showed them to my other source in Tucson, it’s not something one likes to do but I just needed to know I wasn’t making a mistake. Then I took them to the lab in NY. Josh Lents, my colored stone guy at GAL, loved the colors and he explained a lot to me about how to judge the gems.
Demantoid and Kenyan Tsavorite
It’s funny in a way: Russian demantoid is the only gem – that I know of anyway – that is bought because of its inclusions, not despite them. Demantoid inclusions are actually made of asbestos – so don’t chew on them I guess! The typical horsetail type inclusion is only found in Russia (actually I’ve heard conflicting reports about this, but that’s the official story). Not all gems have them, the smaller the piece the less likely it is that it has a horsetail. But some gems have partial horsetails, and others have asymmetrical whispy inclusions that are also quite distinct. I’m including some photos here, please inquire if you are interested in purchasing them. They are getting listed on Etsy as we speak.
Horsetail Inclusions of Demantoid in the Photo
Aside from the Ural mountains in Russia, demantoids (named after the French “demant” for diamond), are also found in Namibia and Iran. Namibian material is considerably more olive in color, though it also has some nice dispersion. Iranian material is quite rare, even rarer than Russian. Some of it is also apple green.
Whispy Inclusions of Asbestos
What about treatment? Some Russian demantoids are heated at 800 F to enhance color (that is considered low heat), but this treatment is undetectable in the laboratory. So the best shot you have at knowing if the gem was heated is to know and trust your source. The treatment is permanent and stable.
You can find some photos of finished jewelry with these demantoids on the pricescope thread here.
And here's a video of one of our gems:
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