In our newsletter this month:

   Mining in Madagascar
   New in Gems
   Staff Selections
   Gemstones Worth Knowing
   Customer Questions

A lot of the excitement in the international gem trade in the last 10 years has come from Madagascar. The size and scope of gem deposits there is still not well understood, but experts believe that Madagascar has some of the richest untapped gemstone resources in the world.

Madagascar is a very large island -- the 4th largest island in the world -- located in the Indian ocean about 400 km off the coast of southeastern Africa. Formerly an independent kingdom, it became a French colony in 1886 and regained its independence in 1960. With a population of about 18 million, Madagascar remains one of the poorest countries in the world, largely due to a series of recent political crises that may now finally be ending.

Historically, Madagascar's economy has been dependent on agriculture (they are the largest exporter of vanilla in the world). The discovery of significant gem deposits is very recent. It began with some small finds in the southern part of the country in the early 1990's. But the enormous sapphire deposits discovered in 1998 in the tiny village of Ilakaka (see the blue dot on the map) came as a complete surprise and led to a kind of gemstone fever not unlike the gold rush in California in the mid-19th century.

Two important new ruby deposits in the east of the country - Vatomandry and Andilamena (see the red dot on the map) - have had a significant impact on the world's gemstone industry. The first Andilamena rubies were discovered in October 2000, but these were not transparent and appeared rather dark, requiring heat treatment to improve the color and remove the purple component. Better quality rubies were found in January 2001, and within 6 weeks there were nearly 40,000 miners working in the Andilamena area. Rubies from this region occur as well-formed tabular crystals (which average 0.5 of a gram or 2.5 carats each) with slightly rounded edges. Clean, attractive rubies showing fine deep red colors coming from this deposit are rare. However some superb examples have been mined weighing in at over 5 grams.

To date a wide range of gemstones have been discovered in Madagascar: not only sapphire and ruby, but also tourmaline, aquamarine, emerald, garnet, chrysoberyl, alexandrite, topaz, andalusite, apatite, kyanite, zircon, amethyst and citrine.

Thus far, most of the Malagasy gemstones have been exported in rough form to Asia, where they are cut and sold on the world market. A signficant percentage of this material passes through our home town of Chanthaburi, Thailand, so we see a good sample of the production. Our inventory at GemSelect currently includes a number of Madagascar gemstones, including sapphire, ruby, citrine, orthoclase, iolite, apatite, beryl and color-change garnet. We expect to see a great deal more in the years to come.

Our buyers are in the market every day finding the best values for our customers. Here are some of the excellent buys we've made in the last few weeks:

• Spinel from Tanzania and Burma: Burma has been the traditional source for fine spinel, but recently we've also bought some outstanding spinel from Tanzania. We have a wonderful range of colors, including red, pink, violet and cobalt blue, in very good sized pieces, a few as large as 4 carats. The clarity and luster of these are superb. Spinel lovers will be delighted.
  
  
• Tsavorite Garnet from Tanzania: We've just received a new stock of very fine tsavorite from Tanzania. These are brilliant vivid green pieces, in sizes all the way up to 7 carats. Like all natural tsavorite, most have some slight inclusions, though we have a few rare pieces graded VVS. There is no gemstone except for the finer emeralds that has a vivid green that can match tsavorite.
  
  
• Color Change Sapphire from Africa: Another special buy -- two very fine pieces of rare color change sapphire. These appear violet or red depending on the lighting. We have two pieces, both VVS clarity: one is 1.94 carats, the other is 1.45 carats. These are quite exceptional gems.
  
  
• Top Grade Rhodolite Garnet from Tanzania: We have bought a number of pieces of a very high grade red rhodolite garnet from Tanzania. These have the pinkish-purple-red that is the most coveted color in rhodolite, with excellent clarity and luster. All the pieces are impressively large, with several over 10 carats.
  
  
• Ametrine from Bolivia: We've just added several dozen very fine pieces of violet golden ametrine. A nice variety of shapes in a range of practical sizes, at very affordable prices.
  
  
• Tourmaline from Mozambique: In the last few months we've been buying some very fine Nigerian tourmaline. We just found some new tourmaline from Mozambique that is every bit as fine. Some terrific colors here, including some wonderful pinks, in very good sizes, mainly 2.5 to 4.3 carats.
  
  
• Aquamarine from Mozambique: More exciting new gems from Mozambique! Some lovely aquamarine in delicate shades of blue and green. A member of the beryl family along with emerald, aquamarine has excellent hardness and is suitable for all kinds of jewelry. A range of shapes available in sizes between 1.3 and 2.8 carats, with one stunning piece over 6 carats. Most of the pieces are VVS clarity.
  
  
• Sky Blue Topaz from Brazil: Recently we've had very good stock in the darker London Blue topaz. We've now added some very fine pieces in the brilliant lighter hue known as Sky Blue. Most pieces are in the 5 to 10 carat size, with a variety of shapes available.
  
  
• Imperial Topaz Pairs from Brazil: This fine golden topaz has been incredibly popular in larger sizes. This is the first time we've had matching pairs in smaller sizes, ideal for earrings.
  
  
• Blue Star Sapphire from Thailand: We found some blue star sapphire in the market this week at an excellent price. These have very well-defined stars and come in a range of sizes, from about 3 to 10 carats.
  
  
• Concave Cut Smoky Quartz from Brazil: We always try to keep a good stock of the very popular smoky quartz. But this week we bought some special smoky quartz in the brilliant concave cut. The curved facets of the concave cut return more light to the eye and the effect is quite remarkable. Many of these pieces are graded IF, so here's your chance to buy some of the finest smoky quartz available in the market.
  
  
• Rutile Quartz from Brazil: We've added a new stock of the fascinating rutile quartz. Our first stock in this sold out very quickly. In case you missed it, rutile quartz is transparent quartz with inclusions of golden rutile crystals in delicate patterns. Every piece is quite unique. A favorite with collectors.
  
  
• Peridot from Burma: This week we found some wonderful Burmese peridot in the market. These are a very lively green with excellent clarity and luster. We have a good selection of shapes, including round, oval, trillion and octagon, in a range of sizes.
  
  
• Fluorite from Namibia: This is the best fluorite stock we've had in a long time, with many new pieces in green, blue, violet and bronze. An interesting range of cuts and shapes as well, with a number of pieces in the popular concave cut.
  
  
• Spodumene from Afghanistan: Spodumene comes in a number of colors, including pink (known as Kunzite) and green (known as Hiddenite). The cream and yellow varieties are known simply as Spodumene and we've recently purchased a number of interesting pieces at a very good price. If you're a collector, these are fairly rare, and with excellent color and clarity.
  
  
• Chrome Diopside from Russia: We've just acquired a small number of pieces of exceptional chrome diopside in hard-to-find larger sizes (2 to 5.6 carats). These rare pieces have outstanding color and clarity.
  
  

Each month our staff selects some of their favorite gemstones from our inventory. This month we feature some rare and special gemstones from Tanzania that we acquired in the last few weeks. Click on the gem photos to go to the detail page for that stone.

Each month we focus on one of the lesser known gemstones. This month's featured stone is Kunzite.

Kunzite is the pale pink or lilac species of the mineral spodumene. Kunzite is named as a tribute to George F. Kunz, the legendary American mineralogist and buyer for Tiffany & Co, who first described the gem in 1902. We told the fascinating story of George Kunz in our April 2007 Newsletter. Kunzite is strongly pleochroic, meaning there is a color intensity variation when a crystal of it is viewed from different directions.

Kunzite is colored by trace amounts of manganese and usually has a very pale and delicate color. The top and bottom of the crystal reveal the deepest colors and the cut has to take advantage of its effects. It is a reasonably hard gem, with a rating of 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs scale. Kunzite can often be found in large sizes, and we have had kunzites in our inventory as large as 125 carats. Kunzite sources include Brazil, Afghanistan, Madagascar, Myanmar, Pakistan and the United States.

For more information see our Kunzite Info Page.

Every month we answer questions of general interest from our customers. Please feel free to send your questions to help@gemselect.com, with "Newsletter question" in the Subject line. These month we have some questions about cabochons.

A final note -- If you send us email, please be assured that we answer all our email very promptly, 6 days a week. But we sometimes have problems with spam filters on the receiving end, so please adjust the settings on your mail client so you can receive mail from help@gemselect.com.

Happy gem hunting!

Your friends at GemSelect