Gems

Written by Yvonne Raley

Filed under

2 carats, 3 carats, emerald cut, mahenge, oval, portuguese cut, spinel, tanzania, trillion

Mahenge Spinel Revisited

Oct 13, 2014

Written by Yvonne Raley

I've decided to do another blog entry on Mahenges not only because I am totally obsessed with them but also because I recently got to pick a small batch from a 2009 parcel that my supplier's uncle released from his vault. The rest of the parcel went overseas but I got some neat stuff. I'll be listing my pretties piece by piece for the upcoming holiday season.

As you may or may not know, Mahenge...

Written by Yvonne Raley

Filed under

black opal, blue, boulder opal, cabochon, carat, green, koroit opal, opal, play of color, queensland opal, welo opal

Buying Opals, Pro’s and Cons

Sep 23, 2014

Written by Yvonne Raley

I do not carry a lot of opal jewelry in my shop, but with the month of opal coming up, I can share with you my experience with this gem. As you know, opal is a very soft stone and that makes it hard to work with – one reason I don’t carry it much. Bezel settings look nicest, yet prongs are safest if you don’t want to crack the gem or expand an inclusion to the surface. You need an experienced...

Written by Yvonne Raley

Filed under

arusha, congo, drilling, environmental, ethical, fair trade, gemstones, goma, mining, mwanga, rwanda, sourcing, surface mining, tanzania

How Are Gemstones Sourced, and is Their Sourcing Ethical?

Aug 06, 2014

Written by Yvonne Raley

That is actually a question I come across fairly often in some shape or other. I.e. are your gems ethically sourced, do they meet the Kimberly standards, are they Fair Trade? I have written about this before, but I think it is time to revisit the issue.

Three observations, an anecdote, and finally an indeterminate conclusion: First observation. Most countries in which gemstones are mined these...

Written by Yvonne Raley

Filed under

burma, embargo, myanmar, pidgeon blood, pink, pink sapphire, pre-embargo, red, ruby, spinel

A Few Little Known Facts About Ruby

Jul 23, 2014

Written by Yvonne Raley

July is ruby month, so that makes a blog entry about ruby apropos. But what can I write about ruby that hasn't already been said elsewhere? 

Not much, but let me try. Here are some of the lesser known facts about this pretty gem. 

As you surely know, ruby is the pinkish red version of the mineral "corundum". But how pinkish red does corundum have to be to be ruby, and not pink sapphire? The answer...

Written by Yvonne Raley

Filed under

ceylon, cutting, diopside, dravite, elongated pear shape, gemstone, kyanite, rough, sapphire, spinel, tanzanite, tourmaline, tsavorite, watermelon

Why Don’t All Gems Come in Any Cut?

Jun 26, 2014

Written by Yvonne Raley

I got the following question from two customers just this week: can I supply a matched pair of Merelani mint garnets, elongated pear shape. The answer – and I don’t even have to look – is “no.” (I actually did find one pair, so I was wrong, but you’ll see the astronomical price tag on my Etsy site!)

So why doesn’t any gem come in any cut? The answer is really simple. Gems are cut to maximize the...

Written by Yvonne Raley

Filed under

danburite, faceted oval, faceted round, gemstone, gemstone mine, jochen hinze, morogoro, tanzania, untreated gemstone

The Danburites of Morogoro

May 21, 2014

Written by Yvonne Raley

I love unusual gemstones, as you know, and if my gemstone dealer has anything of interest, no matter how tiny the production, he usually shows me first. So you can imagine my surprise when he had me guess what the three teaspoons of clean yellow material were that he pulled out of a little plastic bag a couple of weeks ago. I know Danburite to be clear or faint vanilla color but had never seen...

Written by Yvonne Raley

Filed under

bubblegum pink, burma spinel, ceylon spinel, faceted round, mahenge, neon pink, pear shape, portuguese cut, red spinel, spinel

The Spinel Craze

Feb 09, 2014

Written by Yvonne Raley

As you have probably noticed, I put nearly a half a dozen Mahenge spinels on my site in the last 2-3 weeks, and almost all of them sold. What is going on?

Apparently the market on spinels is extremely tight right now. While there is almost no interest in the Ceylon variety – mostly because they have grey mask, Mahenges but also Burmese reds are flying out the door. The famous neon spinels are...

Written by Yvonne Raley

Filed under

faceted round, loliondo mines, mandarin garnet, nigeria, portuguese cut, spessartite garnet, sri lanka, tanzania

Mandarin Garnet

Dec 29, 2013

Written by Yvonne Raley

I haven’t written much about Mandarin garnets because I don’t really like orange as a color, and so I’ve ignored this gem for a long time. But now I think I didn’t do it justice.

Spessartite, the garnet group that Mandarin garnet falls under, has only been on the gemstone market for a little over 10 years. Although tiny amounts have been found in Germany, California, and Sri Lanka, among other...

Written by Yvonne Raley

Gemstone Underdogs: My Favorite Under-Appreciated Gems

Jun 30, 2013

Written by Yvonne Raley

I've been buying beads and gems for about six years now, not as long as other addicts, but I buy every week, and I buy direct. I rarely buy online. Living right outside NYC provides me with a lot of opportunity to touch stuff, to loupe it, to see how it feels and acts under different lighting conditions. I have hardly seen everything, but I've seen a lot. And I think there are still gems out there... Continue reading

Written by Yvonne Raley

Where does my Tanzanite Come From?

May 18, 2013

Written by Yvonne Raley

It is rare that one gets much insight into the actual method by which gemstones arrive at the gem dealer’s booths in New York, unless, that is, one knows buyers who shop direct – “from the mines,” so to speak. I know two people who do just this: one deals in the crystals that are displayed at mineral shows, the other sells gem quality pieces. The latter goes through his uncle, who is a gem dealer...

Previous
Page 4 of 7
Next

Products

Posts & Pages

Gems

Mahenge Spinel Revisited

Buying Opals, Pro’s and Cons

How Are Gemstones Sourced, and is Their Sourcing Ethical?

A Few Little Known Facts About Ruby

Why Don’t All Gems Come in Any Cut?

The Danburites of Morogoro

The Spinel Craze

Mandarin Garnet

Gemstone Underdogs: My Favorite Under-Appreciated Gems

Where does my Tanzanite Come From?