In our newsletter this month:

• The Year in Gems
• Rare and Unusual Gems
• Customer Questions

The Year in Gems

In an economy that is improving only slowly, 2010 was tough for the gem and jewelry business. The price of gold remained stubbornly high, rising more than 24% over the year to nearly $1,400 US per troy ounce. Many retail jewelers struggled to survive, though a stronger holiday season gave them some hope for the new year. 2010 also saw the demise of one of the original online dealers in loose gemstones, Thaigem. They evolved into Gems TV, selling low cost gems and jewelry on television shopping channels. They were victims of the recession, high gold prices and an unrealistic business model.

While 2010 was a tough year for many in our industry, we're glad to report that it was a record year for GemSelect. With the slow market there were many opportunities for us to buy good gems, and we took full advantage, increasing our stock to more than 31,000 items. We continued to add interesting new gem varieties to our collection, such as pietersite, axinite, smithsonite and ammolite. We also purchased a number of rare stones such as unheated sapphire, demantoid garnet, alexandrite and color-change garnet. Our gem certification program with AIGS proved very popular, giving our customers the added assurance of one of the world's leading gemological laboratories.

We continued to add to our extensive library of gemstone information, with more than 50 new articles. We also had many of our information pages translated into French, Spanish and German. Gemstone lovers can now find us in connection with virtually any gemstone topic in search engines around the world. Indeed, according to the major Internet rating services, GemSelect.com is now the most visited website on the Internet that specializes in loose gemstones.

We would like to express our appreciation to all of our faithful customers, new and old, who gave us the opportunity to meet their needs, and who recommended us to their friends and family. You can expect many more new and interesting gemstones from us in the year ahead.

Best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2011 from all of us at GemSelect!

Rare and Unusual Gems
Each month we feature a rare and unusual gem from our inventory. This month we feature a very fine watermelon tourmaline from Mozambique.

Tourmaline is famous for bi-color and tri-color gems, but the aptly named watermelon tourmaline is unique among these multicolor stones. With zones of green and pink/red, sometimes separated by a thin white line, these unique pieces are highly sought after by collectors. Stones with especially vivid and bright colors, like this 2.59 carat tourmaline from Mozambique, are especially valued.

Customer Questions
Every month we answer questions of general interest from our customers. Please feel free to send your questions to help@gemselect.com.

Happy gem hunting,