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 October 2008
In our newsletter this month:
Gemstone Certificates
New and Interesting Gemstones
Rare and Unusual Gems
Customer Questions
Gemstone Certificates
The gemstone business has traditionally been based on trust, where deals were sealed with a handshake and a dealer's word was his bond. We still think of our own business in those traditional terms, but we recognize that the world is changing. With so much business being conducted on the internet, buyers and sellers rarely have the chance to look each other in the eye and establish trusting relationships.
We have always tried to be scrupulously accurate and complete in the description of our gems, and we back it up with an unconditional money-back guarantee. But for those customers who want the added confidence of third party verification, we are now offering gemstone certificates from a respected authority here in Thailand, the Burapha Gemological Laboratory.
We test samples from nearly every parcel of gems we buy, so we have a high degree of confidence in the descriptions we provide on our website. But if you'd like a test report for the specific gemstones you purchase from us, you now have an opportunity to purchase a certificate for most gem varieties when you put an item in your shopping cart. When we receive your order, we'll take your gems to the Burapha lab and have them tested, and send you the certificates with your order.
The certificates are what is known in the trade as identification reports. They describe the specific gem by weight, size, color, cut and shape, and identify it by type, such as Natural Sapphire. The certificate also includes a small photo of the gem. The cost to produce this type of report is very reasonable, and we are currently offering these certificates for USD $20.00 per gem tested. That is much less than you would pay at a lab in Europe or America, and we also save you the work of obtaining the certificate. Please note that if you request a certificate for an item which is a pair or lot, the lab will test just one of the gems in the pair or lot.
It is important to note what these certificates do not include. They do not cover gem treatments, except those which are easy to detect such as fracture-filling. Testing for treatments such as beryllium diffusion requires specialized equipment and additional lab time. The certificates also do not certify country or region of origin, since this is an opinion that only a small number of labs in the world can offer with any confidence. And of course they are not appraisal certificates; they scientifically identify the gemstone, but they can't tell you what it is worth in the market. But if you -- or your customer -- need assurance that you are buying a natural gemstone of a specific type, these certificates will do the job at minimal expense.
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| New and Interesting Gems -- updated November 9th |
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Watermelon Tourmaline from Nigeria: Watermelon tourmaline is one of the most distinctive gems in the world. We have just purchased a small number of exquisite pieces from Nigerian with outstanding color and clarity. These are the finest we've seen this year. |
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Boulder Opal from Australia: Boulder Opal is the second most prized form of opal, after black opal. The name derives from the fact that this opal is found embedded in ironstone boulders. Boulder opal is especially attractive because, like the black opal, it has a dark body tone which adds vibrancy to the play of color. We've just purchased a small lot of excellent pieces, in sizes between 4 and 15 carats. |
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Clinohumite from Tanzania: Clinohumite is a rare mineral. It is a member of the humite group of minerals, which includes humite, clinohumite, chondrodite, and norbergite. Only three sources of gem-quality clinohumite are known: the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan, the Taymyr region of northern Siberia and the Mahenge plateau of Tanzania. Usually clinohumite is found in sizes under 1 carat but we just have acquired a small number of new pieces from Tajikistan in the 2-3 carat size. |
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Huge Topaz from Brazil: Gem-quality minerals are sometimes found in exceptionally large sizes. We've acquired some natural topaz from Brazil in sizes between 360 and 507 carats. We currently have 4 pieces in a light champagne color with outstanding clarity (all of been graded IF). Collectors take note. |
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Fluorite from Namibia: Fluorite is said to be the most colorful mineral in the world. We've just bought a new stock of some very colorful pieces, including electric greens and blues and some fascinating multicolor pieces. Most of the new pieces are in the 10 to 45 carat size, with a few larger stones, all with excellent clarity. We've recently added some very colorful cabochons as well. |
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Color-Change Diaspore from Turkey: Diaspore, sometimes marketed under the name Zultanite, is a color change gem from Turkey recently introduced to the international market. Under natural or fluorescent light, Diapsore has a kiwi green color, with flashes of yellow. Diaspore displays a champagne color under incandescent lighting, and when exposed to subdued lighting, such as candlelight, has a pinkish hue. We've recently bought a substantial number of new pieces, with a good choice of cuts and sizes. |
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Snowflake Obsidian from Mexico: Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass. It is formed when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools without crystal growth.In some stones, the inclusion of small, white, radially clustered crystals of cristobalite in the black glass produce a blotchy or snowflake pattern, and this is known in the gem trade as snowflake obsidian. |
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Unheated Sapphire from Tanzania, Madagascar and Thailand: Our unheated sapphires have been very popular and we continue to increase our stock (now over 700 pieces). For the discriminating gem buyer who will accept nothing less than 100% natural, you'll find pink, blue, green, yellow and violet pieces, all guaranteed to be unheated. You may be surprised how affordable these are in the smaller sizes. |
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Seraphinite from Russia: Seraphinite is a trade name for a particular form of clinochlore, a member of the chlorite group. The dark green color of seraphinite is enhanced by a silvery and feathery shimmer caused by mica inclusions. Seraphinite was named for the seraphim, the highest order of angels, because of the feather-like appearance of the chatoyant fibers in the stone. This fascinating gemstone is a new addition our inventory. |
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Top Grade Amethyst from Brazil: We've just acquired some top grade natural amethyst from Brazil in very large sizes, ranging from about 20 to 75 carats. These are all VVS or IF clarity in the richest purple we've seen in amethyst in a long time. If you've been looking for a very special piece of amethyst, you'll want to check these out. |
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Demantoid Garnet from Namibia: Demantoid is the rarest and most valuable of the garnets, and is one of the most difficult to find of all colored gems. It is one of the few colored gemstones with a luster and brilliance similar to diamond. We have built up a stock of more than 100 pieces of Namibian demantoid, including some very fine matched pairs. |
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Amber from Poland: Amber is the fossilized hardened resin of the pine tree, Pinus succinifera, formed mainly in the Eocene epoch of the Tertiary period, about 50 million years ago. Amber has been used since prehistoric times for jewelry, amulets and religious objects. The most prized pieces contain inclusions of insects or plants or pyrites. Most amber is found in the Baltic region. We buy amber just a few times a year from our source in Poland and we've just added a new stock. |
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Turquoise from Afghanistan: Turquoise has been known and valued for thousands of years. We've bought some new pieces from Afghanistan, in an interesting variety of blue and blue-green hues. We've also found some of the popular apple-green turquoise that we first carried last year, and some superb matched pairs in blue. |
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Huge Star Rose Quartz from South Africa: We carry many large gemstones, but none as large as these Star Rose Quartz. We've collected 9 pieces over 100 carats, with the largest weighing in at an amazing 974 carats. The star effect in rose quartz is unusual in any size, but quite rare in these very large stones. |
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Axinite from Tanzania: Axinite is a group of brown to violet-brown or reddish brown minerals that sometimes occur in gem quality. Axinite is distinctive for its strong vitreous luster when polished, and its interesting pyro- and piezo-electric properties. Axinite is also popular with mineral collectors due to its unusual crystal structure. We have found a small stock of golden brown Axinite from Tanzania. |
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Spinel from Burma: We buy fine spinel whenever we can find it, and we've recently added some very fine pieces of Burmese spinel. You'll find red, violet, orange, blue and gray in a variety of shapes and sizes, including a good selection of pairs and lots. |
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Blue Sapphire from Madagascar, Ceylon and Tanzania: One of the most classic of all colored gemstones, the blue sapphire is always fashionable. This brilliant and hard-wearing gemstone is perfect for any kind of jewelry. We've added many new stones to our stock of more than 400 blue sapphires, including a number of excellent cornflower blue pieces. |
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Jadeite from Burma: Jade has been known and treasured for more than 7,000 years. But only in 1863 was it discovered that jade is actually not a single mineral. What was traditionally called jade is in fact two separate and distinct minerals: jadeite and nephrite. Jadeite is the rarer and more valuable jade, with the most famous deposits coming from Burma. We have verified samples of our Jadeite at the AIGS gemological lab in Bangkok. You'll find a good range of colors in these, including white, green and lavender. |
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Spessartite Garnet from Mozambique: We have added a large number of new pieces to our extensive inventory of this very popular gem. We now have over 500 pieces in stock, in mandarin and red-orange, in both cabochon and faceted. The range of sizes and quality grades is extensive. Our most recent additions are in the best mandarin orange color, mainly in smaller sizes. |
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Color-Change Garnet from Tanzania and Madagascar: We've recently found some rare Color-Change Garnet from Tanzania with a dramatic color change from greenish-brown to red pink. We have a small number of pieces, mostly eye-clean, in the 1 to 2 carat size. We've added these to our substantial stock of Color-Change Garnet from Madagascar. |
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Sphene from Sri Lanka: We have added some excellent new pieces to our stock of this rare gemstone famous for its remarkable dispersion or fire. These are bright golden and green pieces in interesting shapes and cuts, including a number of rounds in smaller sizes. Sphene tends to have inclusions, but we've found a number of eye-clean pieces. |
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Emerald from Colombia: We have just received a new stock of Colombian emeralds with rich color and good transparency. These are mainly ovals and pears in smaller sizes, ideal for earrings and ring settings. |
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| Rare and Unusual Gems
Each month we feature a rare and unusual gem from our inventory. This month we feature a very large aquamarine from Mozambique.
Aquamarine is a member of the beryl family along with emerald, morganite and golden beryl. With a hardness of 7.5 to 8 on the Mohs scale, all the beryls are excellent jewelry stones. But where emerald can be fragile due to its many inclusions, aquamarine tends to be much cleaner. Even so, very large aquamarines are rarely found with perfect clarity. This 19.12 carat piece from Mozambique is an exception. Graded IF, it has the classic aquamarine blue and a very well executed step cut. It is certainly one of the nicest large aquamarines we've seen in recent years.
Customer Questions
Every month we answer questions of general interest from our customers. Please feel free to send your questions to help@gemselect.com. |
| Q: |
In your September newsletter you talked about Burmese jadeite. Is jadeite the same thing as jade? Thanks, FB, Australia. |
| A: |
What was traditionally called jade is in fact two separate and distinct minerals: jadeite and nephrite. They have different chemical compositions, hardness and density. They even have different crystal structures. All of the classic jade from China is nephrite; jadeite comes mainly from Burma. The rarest and most valuable jadeite is called imperial jade, colored by traces of chromium. It has color and transparency rivaling fine emerald, though imperial jade is slightly more yellow in tone. Jadeite is generally very expensive, while nephrite is still quite affordable. |
| Q: |
Is all red tourmaline called "rubellite"? Or only some? I'm confused about this, so your help is appreciated. JN, USA |
| A: |
It's a very good question, but not an easy one to answer because there is no clear agreement in the gemstone business about the meaing of "rubellite." Some think the term refers to any red tourmaline; others claim it should be used only for tourmaline with a vivid ruby-like red. We recently published an article on the topic of the Rubellite Rubric; click the link to read it.
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| 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
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